2021 Plenary

Shalini Kantayya

Filmmaker Shalini Kantayya´s Coded Bias, premiered at the 2020 Sundance Film Festival. She directed for the National Geographic television series Breakthrough, Excecutive Produced by Ron Howard, broadcast globally in June 2017. Her debut, Catching the Sun, premiered at the LA Film Festival and was named a NY Times Critick´s Pick. Catching the Sun released globally on Netflix on Earth Day 2016 with Executive Producer Leonardo Di Caprio, and was nominated for the Environmental Media Association Award of the Best Documentary. […]

Dr. Nashlie H. Sephus

Dr. Nashlie H. Sephus is the former Applied Science manager/recently promoted Tech Evangelist for Amazon AI focusing on fairness and identifying biases at AWS AI. She formerly led the Amazon Visual Search team in Atlanta, which launched visual search for replacement parts on the Amazon Shopping app in June 2018. This technology was a result of former Atlanta-based startup Partpic being acquired by Amazon, for which she was the Chief Technology Officer. Prior to working at Partpic, she received her […]

By premier 2021 Plenary / 2021 Speakers March 25, 2021

Dr. Amber Johnson

Dr. Amber Johnson is the owner of The Kidult Life, a lifestyle apparel brand about being who you are no matter where you are. Dr. Amber, a Mississippi native, attended Tougaloo College, The LeMoyne-Owen College, and Jackson State University where she studied Computer Science. In 2019, Dr. Amber became the first black woman to graduate with a PhD in Computer Science from Purdue University. Dr. Amber has served as an instructor and mentor for Girls Who Code, Black Girls Lead, […]

By premier 2021 Keynote Speakers / 2021 Plenary / 2021 Speakers March 24, 2021

Dr. Barbara Whye

Barbara Whye is Apple’s vice president of Inclusion & Diversity, where she is leading the company’s commitment to building a more equitable and inclusive world by increasing diverse representation at every level, fostering an inclusive culture that brings everybody in, and ensuring equitable pay and equal opportunity for all. Barbara joined Apple in 2021 after more than 25 years of experience as an engineer, leader, and C-suite executive in the technology sector, including as Intel’s Chief Diversity and Inclusion Officer and […]

By premier 2021 Plenary / 2021 Speakers March 24, 2021

Pamela Newkirk

Pamela Newkirk, PhD, is a journalist, professor, author and multi-disciplinary scholar whose work examines contemporary and historical depictions of African Americans in popular culture. Her latest book Diversity Inc.: The Failed Promise of Billion-Dollar Business, exposes the decades-old practices and attitudes that have made diversity a lucrative business while they fail to realize diversity. The book was included on TIME magazine’s “Must-Read” books of 2019 and featured in numerous publications, including Forbes, Fortune, Fast Company, The Financial Times, The Guardian, […]

By premier 2021 Keynote Speakers / 2021 Plenary March 24, 2021

Dr. Ruby Lathon

Dr. Ruby Lathon is a certified holistic nutritionist and inspires with a powerful story of recovering from thyroid cancer through alternative treatment focused on a whole food, plant-based diet. Dr. Lathon was featured in the hit documentary, What the Health. Dr. Lathon worked as a researcher and an award-winning engineer, and now teaches others how to re-engineer their health and live disease free. Through her organization, Roadmap to Holistic Health, Dr. Lathon works with a team of experts to teach […]

By premier 2021 Keynote Speakers / 2021 Plenary March 24, 2021