Diversity & Race Archives - The Lavin Agency

Minnijean Brown-Trickey

Civil Rights Legend who Helped Desegregate Public Schools | Member of the Little Rock Nine

When we challenge what we know to be morally wrong, we grow as a society.

Khalil Gibran Muhammad

Professor of History, Race, and Public Policy at Harvard Kennedy School | Author of The Condemnation of Blackness | Co-Host of Some of My Best Friends Are

Bringing people of color into our companies isn't enough. We must transform our cultures so they can achieve their full potential.

Bill Strickland

An Extraordinary Business and Community Leader | MacArthur Genius | Founder, Bidwell Training Center

Give people the tools they need, treat them with respect, and they will perform miraculous deeds.

LaToya Ruby Frazier

Award-Winning Photographer | Member of the TIME100 | MacArthur Genius

Art is a weapon. Photos can change society—our view of ourselves and our communities.

Titus Kaphar

Award-Winning Painter and Sculptor | Writer and Director of Exhibiting Forgiveness | MacArthur "Genius" Fellow | Author of Redaction

Art has the power to reframe our history—revealing the past we've lost and the future we're working towards.

Bryant Terry

Award-winning author of Black Food | James Beard Leadership Award Winner | Founder of 4 Color Books

We need to open a transparent dialogue about food insecurity, structural racism, and poverty.

Mira Nair

Director of Queen of Katwe, Salaam Bombay!, The Namesake, and The Reluctant Fundamentalist

Every film is a political act; it’s how you see the world.

Waneek Horn-Miller

Olympian, Activist, and Speaker on Indigenous Health and Reconciliation

Your struggle is your motivation in disguise.

Angela Davis

Legendary human rights activist

We have to talk about liberating minds as well as liberating society.

Spike Lee

Oscar-Winning Director of BlacKkKlansman, Do the Right Thing, and When the Levees Broke

Film plays a central role in illuminating modern issues of race and representation.

Jeff Chang

Social Historian, Cultural Critic & Community Organizer | Author of We Gon’ Be Alright and Can't Stop Won't Stop

Real solidarity and racial justice begins when we bring community into everything we do.

Nikole Hannah-Jones

Pulitzer Prize-Winning Creator of The 1619 Project | Executive Producer of the Emmy Award-Winning 1619 Project Hulu Docuseries | MacArthur Genius

Black history is American history.

Negin Farsad

Director of The Muslims Are Coming! | Author of How to Make White People Laugh

The antidote to our political polarization? Laughter.

Lera Boroditsky

Cognitive Scientist | Expert in the Fields of Language and Cognition

How do humans get so smart? Language: it shapes our minds and the world around us.

Annette Gordon-Reed

Pulitzer Prize-Winning Author of On Juneteenth | Harvard Law Professor | MacArthur Genius

The legacy of Juneteenth, the holiday which marks the end of slavery, continues to influence us and our fight for racial justice today.

Isabella Hanson

Founder of the "I Matter" Poetry and Art Competition | Teen Vogue 21 Under 21 Honoree | Winner of the Princeton Prize in Race Relations

You can change the world, no matter who—or how old—you are.

Diversity & Race

In North America, new and inclusive definitions of community have emerged despite a sometimes fractious cultural climate. Lavin’s diversity speakers challenge social injustices, celebrate differences, and put it all in a larger perspective.