All speaking topics
Karen's three Best in Class™ keynotes, and the topics she can tailor under each one.
From Awareness to Accountability: Making DEI Work
Many organizations invest in diversity initiatives yet struggle to translate intent into sustained change. Karen outlines practical frameworks that move organizations beyond performative commitments toward embedded accountability in everyday leadership and operations.
Conscious Equality: A Fresh Take on DEIB
Karen's signature framework for turning good intentions into measurable, sustainable change. Addresses institutional, sectoral, and individual levels of transformation and what it truly takes to walk the talk on diversity and inclusion.
The Business Case for Diversity, Equity, Inclusion & Belonging
Organizations that prioritize DEIB consistently outperform those that don't. Karen translates the research and real-world evidence into a compelling business case that speaks directly to leaders, boards, and decision-makers who need the numbers alongside the values.
Inclusive Design for Programs & Services
Programs and services built without diverse perspectives at the table too often leave people behind. Karen shows teams how to apply inclusive design principles from the start, so that what you build actually works for the communities you intend to serve.
The Sustainable Development Goals: Progress, Gaps & What Comes Next
With her background as a UN advisor and global development professional, Karen brings grounded perspective on where the SDGs have moved the needle and where the work remains. Ideal for organizations aligning their social impact strategy with global frameworks.
Social Purpose in Business: The Transformative Case for Why It Matters
Organizations with a clear social purpose don't just do more good, they attract better talent, build stronger trust, and sustain performance over time. Karen explores how leaders can embed genuine social purpose into strategy, culture, and everyday decisions.
Best in Class™ Leadership
The mindsets and behaviours that bring out the best in people.
See the keynote →Inclusive Leadership Fundamentals
What it means to lead with people at the centre. Karen explores the mindsets, habits, and blind spots that separate leaders who build belonging from those who quietly undermine it without realizing.
Gender Equality & Women's Empowerment
Karen addresses gender equity with the nuance it deserves, including the critical role men and boys play in creating lasting change. She covers structural barriers, women's leadership pathways, and what genuine gender equality requires from organizations.
Unconscious Bias & Microaggressions
A practical exploration of how unconscious bias operates in hiring, leadership, and everyday interactions, and what individuals and organizations can do to interrupt it. Actionable, evidence-based, and grounded in real organizational experience.
Gender-Based Analysis Plus & Intersectionality
An exploration of how overlapping identities, race, gender, disability, class, and more, shape experiences of inclusion and exclusion. Karen makes GBA+ methodology accessible and practical for organizations and policymakers.
Future of Work: Safety & Belonging Across Generations
As workplaces grow more generationally diverse, leaders need new approaches to belonging and psychological safety. Karen explores what multi-generational inclusion looks like in practice and how organizations can make it sustainable.
Changemakers at Work: Leadership for Social Impact
Change is often driven by individuals willing to challenge systems and assumptions. Karen outlines the skills, mindsets, and responsibilities required to lead meaningful change in complex environments and how to sustain momentum when facing resistance.
Women at Work: The 5 Barriers Women Face, and How to Address Them
Drawing on decades of gender equity work across sectors and countries, Karen identifies the five structural and cultural barriers that consistently hold women back at work and offers practical, evidence-based strategies organizations can implement immediately.
Tackling the Tall Poppy Syndrome
The tendency to cut down those who stand out is more common in workplaces than most leaders realize, and it disproportionately impacts women, people of colour, and those from marginalized communities. Karen names the pattern, explores its roots, and offers strategies for building cultures where excellence is celebrated, not punished.
Anti-Racism & Anti-Oppression
A grounded, non-performative look at what anti-racism requires from individuals and institutions. Karen brings clarity and a concrete path forward to one of the most difficult conversations organizations face.
Decolonization, Truth & Reconciliation at Work
Truth and reconciliation requires more than statements. Grounded in the TRC's 94 Calls to Action, Karen provides guidance on decolonization and reconciliation that is ethical, informed, and sustainable for Canadian organizations.
Multiculturalism & Cultural Intelligence
Drawing on Karen's own multicultural upbringing and decades of global work across 70+ countries, this session equips leaders and teams with the cultural intelligence needed to work effectively across difference and build genuinely inclusive environments.
Sexual Harassment & Workplace Bullying
A frank, respectful, and informed session on preventing and addressing sexual harassment and bullying at work. Karen helps organizations build cultures of accountability, safety, and respect that go well beyond policy compliance.
Building an Inclusive Workplace Culture That Works for Everyone
Culture change requires more than policy updates. Karen guides organizations through the deeper work of building cultures where every person, across role, background, and identity, can contribute fully and feel genuinely valued.
Every topic is available as a keynote, workshop, half-day or full-day training, or fireside chat. Don't see what you need? Tell Karen about your event.