Talking Boldly: When Inclusion Meets Politics at the Office

Vernā Myers is an inclusion strategist, cultural innovator, and social commentator. She’s well-known for her high-energy keynotes, her captivating insights, and her ability to help people bridge differences and connect more meaningfully. A Harvard-trained lawyer and founder of The Vernā Myers Company, Vernā took on the inaugural role of VP, Inclusion Strategy at Netflix in 2018 where she now leads a diverse team of talent in curating and implementing strategies to integrate cultural diversity, inclusion, and equity into all aspects of the organization’s global operations. Vernā is the author of two best-selling books published by the American Bar Association: Moving Diversity Forward: Going from Well-Meaning to Well-Doing and What If I Say The Wrong Thing? 25 Habits for Culturally Effective People. Her inspiring TED talk, How to Overcome Our Biases? Walk Boldly Towards Them has been viewed over 4 million times and translated into 27 different languages. She also developed two separate micro-courses on bias and allyship which are available on LinkedIn Learning. Vernā has been cited and featured in various publications including The Atlantic, Bloomberg BNA, Business Insider, Diversity Women’s Media Inclusion Magazine, Forbes, Fortune, Harvard Business Review, Soul Vision, and TED NPR Radio. She’s also been a subject-matter guest on CNN. For the last two decades The Vernā Myers Company has helped organizations eradicate barriers based on race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation and other differences with the aim of establishing a new, more productive and just status quo. She continues to convene conversations with guest speakers on her online talk show Sundays with Verna. Vernā and The Vernā Myers Company offers their own brand of e-learning courses on various DEI topics on their online learning platform www.tvmcu.com. Vernā and The Vernā Myers Company own the trademark to her popularly used saying, “Diversity is being invited to the party. Inclusion is being asked to dance.”® Vernā graduated from Harvard Law School and received a Bachelor of Arts, magna cum laude, from Barnard College, Columbia University. Specialties: Diversity Consulting, Professional Keynote Speaker, Inclusive Leadership & Training