Panel: Building Effective Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Strategies for 2022 & Beyond
Join a panel of DEI leaders as they share their best practices, strategies, and goals for creating more inclusive workplaces in 2022 and beyond. You'll also gain fresh insights from Traliant's new national survey on emerging DEI trends and predictions. This is an opportunity to gauge your organization's progress and take away actions for making real change.
Joe Morano
A certified Human Resources and Labor Relations professional with over 30 years of education, labor and civil rights investigation experience, Joe fills multiple roles at the Culinary Institute of America’s many campuses including service as a Title IX/VAWA compliance officer and Co-Chari of the CIA’s Diversity Council. Before becoming a college administrator, Joe served as a practicing attorney, representing and counseled numerous K-12 public school districts throughout New Jersey in complex legal matters. A graduate of Syracuse University and Brooklyn Law School, Joe also received his Certificate in Human Resources Management and Personnel Administration from Fairleigh Dickinson University. He also is a certified as a Professional in Human Resources (PHR) from HRCI and as a Title IX Coordinator and Investigator by the Association of Title IX Administrators (ATIXA).
Nichole Hoskins
Nichole Hoskins, J.D., SHRM-CP, CDE is a culture-focused people management professional currently serving as a Director of People & Culture for a Detroit-based agency where she focuses on Diversity, Equity & Inclusion, Talent Development and Performance Management.
Nichole uses her experience as a DEI Advisor, Inclusive Workplace Specialist and Certified Diversity Executive to develop strategic inclusion interventions for the agency focused on creating an inclusive workplace culture. Prior to joining Mars, Nichole served as the leader of Human Resources for a bio-pharmaceutical company.
Samia M. Kirmani
Samia M. Kirmani is a principal in the Boston, Massachusetts, office of Jackson Lewis P.C. and co-leader of the firm's Workplace Training group and member of our Corporate Governance and Internal Investigations Practice Group. She is also a member of the firm's Corporate Diversity Counseling Practice Group and the pay equity and sexual harassment resource groups. She concentrates her practice in employment counseling, training, and policy development on behalf of management.
Samia regularly conducts interactive and engaging training programs for boards, executive leadership teams, managers, employees, individuals, in-house counsel, and human resource professionals on various workplace topics, such as discrimination and harassment prevention; diversity, equity, inclusion, and bias; conducting workplace investigations, and the range of workplace law topics.
She provides practical legal advice to clients on various employment law issues, including harassment and discrimination; diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives; pay equity; health and leave management; reductions in force; retaliation and whistleblower matters; individual separations; and employee relations issues. Samia also conducts and advises clients with respect to investigations, including those involving leadership, boards, managers, employees, and third parties. She also assists clients with creation, revision, and implementation of workplace policies. She also routinely conducts management and employee trainings on topics in employment law, including sexual harassment prevention, diversity and inclusion, and best management practices. Samia serves as a firm resource on drafting and implementing national arbitration agreements. She defends employers in employment-related administrative proceedings at the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and the Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination.
Samia is a frequent speaker, commentator, and author for various audiences and publications on workplace law topics, such as harassment, investigations, diversity and inclusion, discrimination, pay equity, arbitration agreements and class action waivers, and related matters.
Prior to joining Jackson Lewis, Samia served as in-house counsel at a technology company, focusing on employment and dispute management.
While attending law school, she was a solicitations editor for the Boston College International and Comparative Law Review.
Adrienne Lawrence
Adrienne Lawrence is an on-air legal commentator and inclusion speaker who does more than just talk. The progressive mind reaches audiences through informative, thoughtprovoking conversation—particularly on matters within the realm of gender and racial equity. Adrienne recently wrote “Staying in the Game: The Playbook for Workplace Sexual Harassment,” which was published by Penguin Random House and received numerous accolades, including two 2021 International Book Awards and the 2021 Axiom Business Book of the Year Award in the category of women and marginalized groups in the workplace. When she’s not educating professionals on diversity and inclusion as a Principal Consultant for Jennifer Brown Consulting, Adrienne’s contributing to the leading online news network “The Young Turks,” where her legal and social justice takes garner millions of views across social media platforms.
The former “big law” litigator left the practice of law in 2015 to start her broadcast career at ESPN as an anchor and legal analyst. After going public in 2017 about the rampant sexual harassment and misogynoir at ESPN, Adrienne became the first on-air personality to sue the sports network for workplace sexual harassment and retaliation. She later became a Women’s Media Center Progressive Voice of 2018 and among Take The Lead’s 2020 Top 50 Women Who Can Change Journalism.
Adrienne’s commentary is showcased by major outlets such as NPR and Buzzfeed, her insight included in publications like Los Angeles Times, USA Today, and Forbes, and her works featured in Harvard Business Review, Bitch Magazine, among others. Adrienne also makes time to share her knowledge with groups at large forums such as South by Southwest (SXSW), The 3% Movement, The Amber Rose Los Angeles Slutwalk, and more. A frequent guest lecturer, Adrienne shares her insight with minds at U.C. Berkeley, London School of Economics, and other colleges around the world.
A devoted California native, Adrienne’s currently living her best life in sunny Los Angeles.
