Scoot Over

In an era where Western societies are on increasingly shaky ground with diverse groups of minorities calling for inclusion, France's definition, and enforcement, of secularism as a solution has drawn international attention. Patrice Brodeur is a Professor at the Institute of Religious Studies at the University of Montreal. His work investigates the dynamics of power and multiple identities within intercultural, interreligious, intercivilizational, and interworldview dialogues. He recently founded a social entrepreneurship NGO called InterWorldView to improve the transformative capacities of peace builders worldwide. Brodeur’s most recent book, co-authored with Dr. Ina Merdjanova, is Religion as a Conversation Starter: Interreligious Dialogue for Peacebuilding in the Balkans, 1990-2008 (Continuum Press, 2009; paperback 2011). Mame-Fatou Niangis an associate professor of French at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, author of Identités Françaises: Banlieues, féminités et universalisme (2019) and co-director, with Kaytie Nielsen, of the film Mariannes Noires: Une Mosaïques Afropéenne [https://www.mariannesnoires.com/], a plural portrait of seven Black French women. Karim Mahmoud-Vintam is the founder and CEO of Cités d'Or, an organization and civic movement whose mission is to educate at-risk young adults in citizenship, envisioned and practiced as a secular spirituality. His most recent book is France is dead, long live France: For a second French revolution (Editions Marie B., 2017).

A recent AARP study stated that ageism could cost the US economy up to 4 trillion dollars by 2050, yet ageism is too often left out of the DE&I conversation. Ashton Applewhite is an internationally recognized expert on ageism and the author of This Chair Rocks: A Manifesto Against Ageism. [https://celadonbooks.com/this-chair-rocks] She speaks widely at venues that have included the TED mainstage [https://www.ted.com/talks/ashton_applewhite_let_s_end_ageism] and the United Nations [https://vimeo.com/188544118], and is a leading spokesperson for a movement to make age discrimination as unacceptable as any other prejudice. She can be found on Twitter and Instagram at @thischairrocks and on her websites thischairrocks.com [http://thischairrocks.com] and yoisthisageist.com [http://yoisthisageist.com]. Norma Raynes is social entrepreneur and Director of a charity called From Generation to Generation. It creates innovative solutions for young and old people bringing them together to support and inspire each other. Norma was Professor of Social Care University of Salford, Chairman Trafford South Primary Care Trust, a schoolteacher and governor, and an actor with the Quarantine Theatre Company. She worked in the USA at Harvard and MIT and the Eunice Kennedy Shriver Centre for people with learning difficulties. www.caldecottfestival.org.uk [http://www.caldecottfestival.org.uk/]

Aymann is joined by two leaders in the Diversity Equity & Inclusion space in tech who know firsthand what it takes for corporate America to truly be inclusive, and why it’s worth it for both the employees and the bottom line. Lesley Slaton Brown is the Chief Diversity Officer of HP Inc. She served as the Principal Investigator for the National Action Council for Minorities in Engineering (NACME) Computing Project and is the Co-founder of Curated Pathways to Innovation (CPI), a collective impact model focused on broadening participation and access for minorities and women in STEM education and careers. Lesley was named one of the Most Powerful Women in Corporate Diversity by Black Enterprise, a Woman of the Year in Technology by Silicon Valley’s Chapter of National Coalition of 100 Black Women, Inc. and a Top Influential Woman in Corporate America by Savoy Magazine. https://twitter.com/dailyslate [https://twitter.com/dailyslate]. TeLisa Daughtry is an award-winning serial social entrepreneur, technology & STEM,  DE&I advocate, and author. She is the Founder & Chief Technology Officer of FlyTechnista, mobile app; Founder of DEI Dojo; and Impact Investor at FemX Ventures. As an entrepreneur, mentor, and advocate; she is passionate about creating solutions to empower women, youth, and underrepresented groups to participate in technology and entrepreneurship; and has built several technology solutions and developed initiatives in support of the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals which have engaged thousands of women and girls globally. Twitter / LinkedIn / Instagram: @telisad @flytechnista

Aymann welcomes two incredibly talented and determined female artists to discuss the struggle to be seen, heard, and accepted as outsiders in their respective spaces. Claudia Gold, who for years was known to us as simply CLAW MONEY, is a pioneering graffiti writer, artist, curator, brand director, stylist, costume designer, fashion editor, historian, marketing and branding expert, author, agitator, mentor, and gatekeeper/arbiter of downtown NYC culture. She lives and works in NYC... Still! Find out more at www.clawandco.com [http://www.clawandco.com/] Rajae El Mouhandiz is a singer, composer, short film maker and (music) theater maker. She produces Maghreb pop, soul and jazz and has released the albums Incarnation, Hand of Fatima, the EP Watani and the single Gracefully. Her short docu-film HOPE! was nominated for the NFF prize. She is one of the 60 female curators of the international MUSLIMA exhibition and she gave a TEDx talk about the power of identity and music. https://linktr.ee/rajae [https://linktr.ee/rajae]

A plus-sized hijabi model and a media professor join Aymann to explore the nuance of the mediated world of body positivity and confidence culture. Leah Vernon is an international Hijabi social media influencer, award-winning author, motivational speaker, educator, and content creator. Her book, UNASHAMED: [http://www.beacon.org/Unashamed-P1515.aspx]musings of a Fat, Black Muslim is out now. https://www.instagram.com/lvernon2000/ Professor Shani Orgad is based in the Department of Media and Communications at the London School of Economics and Political Science. Her research interests include gender, feminism and the media. Her recent books are Confidence Culture (with Rosalind Gill, 2022) and Heading Home: Motherhood, Work, and the Failed Promise of Equality (2019).