Edgy, educational and motivational speaker, author Risha Grant is an internationally renowned diversity, inclusion and bias expert. She covers these topics as NBC KJRH TV News 2 for You community correspondent and host of the JustUs series, through her Tulsa World column, Risha Talks, as a contributor to Black Enterprise Magazine, in her book, That’s BS! How Bias Synapse Disrupts Inclusive Cultures and her corresponding “BS” Video Series.
Risha Grant is diversity personified. From her race, gender and lifestyle choices, to being a young, small business owner and tackling economic issues, every area of her life intersects diversity. Her interest in societal isms like racism, sexism, ageism, classism and plain old stupidism began when she was very young, instead of playing outside, she was inside “playing” school — or more accurately — learning to count, read and write, just in case her darker skin tone cheated her out of an equal education. Risha would later learn how experiences like these would feed into her biases and with that realization, Risha planned to change the world, starting with the reddest state in the nation.
Today, Risha is the Founder & CEO of Risha Grant LLC, an award-winning diversity consulting and communications firm. Their mission is to utilize diversity communication strategies, tactics and training as a catalyst to create an inclusive culture in every company and community. Additionally, Risha created DiversityConneX.com, a highly successful online recruitment tool utilized by both small organizations and Fortune 500 companies to connect diverse professionals to their career opportunities, internships, and non-profit and corporate board positions.
She has motivated and educated numerous corporations, associations and universities and lead them to a new place of respect and understanding. These audiences have included Discover Card Financial Services, Samsung Electronics America, Cox Communications, Wells Fargo, USAA Diversified Financial Group, Boy Scouts of America, U.S. Airforce, Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City, NBA’s Oklahoma City Thunder, University of Oklahoma and Roger Williams University, to name a few.
As a national speaker, Risha uses passion, knowledge and humor to empower attendees to increase their bottom line by giving them tools to get rid of their B.S. The engaging approach of her consulting and training has helped governors, NBA teams, mayors, Fortune 500 companies, non-profit organizations and companies to reduce bias and further the understanding of Diversity & Inclusion.