TANYA M. ODOM, ED.M.

Tanya is director of the Equity & Inclusion Program at the Walton Family Foundation. She is a global consultant, writer, coach, and diversity, equity, and inclusion, and civil rights thought leader. She has worked globally for over 20 years, in over 40 countries, as a consultant, coach, storyteller and facilitator focusing on areas including: Diversity and Inclusion, Inclusive Leadership, Race/Racism, Challenging Conversations, Mindfulness, Coaching, Wellbeing, Innovation and Creativity, and Educational Equity.

Tanya’s unique portfolio career has allowed her to work in the education, private sector/corporate, not-for-profit/NGO, law enforcement, and in university/college arenas. She is the co-author of "Evaluation in the Field of Education for Democracy, Human Rights and Tolerance.” Tanya has been a contributor to the Huffington Post and cnn.com, and her work and commentary has also appeared in several publications including Diversity Woman Magazine, Bloomberg News, Fortune, among others.

Tanya was named by Diversity Best Practices as “A Diversity Thought Leader to Follow on Twitter.” Entrepreneur Magazine featured Tanya as one of the "3 Women Entrepreneurs Who Unleash Their Energy for the Greater Good."

For the last several years she has been working as a consulting and coaching partner with the United Nations as part of their gender parity by strategy. Tanya has worked with 15 UN entities in 9 different countries focusing on inclusive leadership, unconscious bias, and women in leadership. Over the last several months she has been working with several U.N. entities in their efforts to address racism and create anti-racist action plans and programs.

Over the last four years, Tanya has spent a great deal of time globally facilitating sessions, and moderating panels focused on "Challenging Conversations," where she has been creating spaces for honest and courageous dialogues focused on sharing, learning and connection.

Bree Jennerjahn