Join Change Catalyst Founder & CEO Melinda Briana Epler with KR Liu, Head of Brand Accessibility at Google in conversation about how we can make the working environment more inclusive for people with disabilities.
We talked about KR Liu’s incredible journey to becoming an advocate, based on her own story of struggling in the workplace with dealing with hearing loss.
We learned:
- The importance of speaking up and making the disabled community part of every department in a company.
- The dramatic statistic with regards to the representation of the disabled community in the workplace and even more for the Black disabled community
- The simple actions you can put in place to help to make this community more visible. 1 in 4 people experience disability at some points including permanent, temporary or situational.
Learn more about KR Liu www.krliu.com/
Additional resources:
- “Crip Camp” on Netflix:
- Andrea LaVant’s conversation on CripCamp and ADA30 with former President Barack Obama
- “Being Heumann” by Jennifer Heumann
- “Disability Visibility Project” by Alice Wong
Quotes
- ” Every day I have the power to influence someone’s life”
- “50% of the people killed by the police are black and have a disability”
- ” Disability is something we all experience at some point in our lives”
- “If anything, we want people to feel empowered by us on what we have been able to achieve. That’s really, really important that people understand the contribution that disabled people have made to society”
KR Liu
Head of Brand Accessibility at Google
Diagnosed with severe hearing loss at the age of three, KR has spent over two decades of her career being a strong advocate amplifying the voices of the disability and LGBTQ community. KR is a nationally awarded advocate in accessibility marketing, policy and inclusive design. She’s been awarded a U.S. Congressional award; 2019 Future Women’s Leader by Yahoo Finance, Silicon Valley’s Top 40 Under 40 and 2017 Women of Influence for her work in disability inclusion. As the Head of Brand Accessibility at Google’s Brand Studio, her role is to help bring a disability lens to the marketing of the products we make and the stories we tell so that everyone sees themselves.
Host: Melinda Briana Epler
Melinda Briana Epler has over 25 years of experience developing business innovation and inclusion strategies for startups, Fortune 500 companies, and global NGOs.
As CEO of Change Catalyst, Melinda currently works with the tech industry to solve diversity and inclusion together. Using her background in storytelling and large-scale culture change, she is a strategic advisor for tech companies, tech hubs, and governments around the world. She co-leads a series of global solutions-focused conferences called Tech Inclusion, where she has partnered with over 450 tech companies and community organizations and hosted 43 solutions-focused diversity and inclusion events around the world.
Previously, Melinda was a Marketing and Culture Executive and award-winning documentary filmmaker – her film and television work includes projects that exposed the AIDS crisis in South Africa, explored women’s rights in Turkey, and prepared communities for the effects of climate change. She has worked on several television shows, including NBC’s The West Wing.
Melinda is a TED speaker. She speaks, mentors and writes about diversity and inclusion in tech, allyship, social entrepreneurship, underrepresented entrepreneurs and investing. She has spoken on hundreds of stages around the world, including SXSW, Grace Hopper, Wisdom 2.0, the World Bank, Obama White House, Clinton Foundation, Black Enterprise, Google, Indeed, Capital One and McKinsey.
Watch Melinda’s TED Talk
Speaking Engagements
Change Catalyst Co-Founder Melinda Briana Epler has spoken across the globe in hundreds of venues and virtual events. Empathy, Allyship, Advocacy, Microaggressions, Inclusive Leadership, and Building Inclusive Teams are just some of the topics Melinda has spoken on. Let us know about your next speaking engagement needs! Melinda has also spoken on how to build organizational capacity to advance diversity, equity, and inclusion, such as how to lead behavior change or how to build allies and advocates.
Testimonials
The show shaped my scope of reasoning on the dynamics in the corporate world, brand building, harmony across board with team mates. Your series has helped me feel less alone and less daunted by the challenges I face as a leader at a company that is used to moving fast with decisions and making swift progress across the board. I so earnestly want to grow and deepen my perspective when it comes to diversity and allyship; it’s not always clear how to do it. This series has felt like a path I can follow and revisit and draw strength and insight from. Thank you.
This show has given me clear opportunities to learn in the midst of 2020’s numerous social and personal challenges, including engaging remote content. I’ve learned new terms, heard new voices, diversified my interests and internalized personal narratives that have inspired me to get more active.
I watched many of your live shows in 2020, and I learned something from every discussion. They were inspiring on many levels. Early on during the pandemic (especially), the show also provided me with a sense of community that I was sorely needing. Thank you.
