Special Guest: Gwendolyn VanSant

CEO and Founding Director of BRIDGE

An experienced organizational change consultant and coach who works at the intersection of diversity leadership, equity and inclusion, and strategic planning. She serves as a non-profit leader as the CEO and Founding Executive Director of BRIDGE and the principal & owner of a consulting firm, Equity in Practice, LLC. A skilled community organizer, Gwendolyn is also a well-recognized thought leader on racial justice, reparations, gender equity and anti-poverty work. She is a pioneer in integrating research-based positive psychology practices into her equity and inclusion approach.

In September 2021, Gwendolyn received national recognition as the Drum Major for Justice by the National Community Action Council Council for her anti-poverty mutual aid response at a community level to the negative impact of COVID on the most vulnerable communities and the design of the New Pathways program to provide education in equity and justice across all sectors in the forms of labs, talks, conferences and learning modules including speakers like Angela Davis and Dr. Beverly Tatum. In 2021, Gwendolyn also published a chapter for her IDEA approach in the textbook, "Diversity Matters: The Color, Shape and Tone of 21st Century Diversity.