Against the backdrop of an especially difficult year, Moore encourages leaders to evolve, adapt and inspire others, while keeping an eye on the big picture and the future. He will address these goals in the context of the public health, political and financial challenges that local leaders face.

Moore is a frequent panelist on news and commentary shows, and has spoken in depth about navigating the difficulties of the COVID-19 public health emergency, the social unrest surrounding recent police killings of people of color, and a contentious election year. On the June 26 episode of “Real Time with Bill Maher,” Moore stressed how important it is for elected officials to be clear and honest with the public as the nation’s challenges mount and its political divide widens.

“I think that what people are yearning for right now, what people are craving right now, is truth, and it’s transparency, and it’s honesty,” Moore said.

As Moore explains how America can persevere through these turbulent times, he often draws upon the challenges and adversity that he has overcome in his life. He lost his father at a young age, was raised by a single mother, and overcame a troubled childhood to graduate from the Valley Forge Military Academy and Johns Hopkins University, going on to become a Rhodes Scholar studying international relations at Oxford University.

After completing his studies, Moore served as a captain in the U.S. Army’s 82nd Airborne Division, leading combat paratroopers in Afghanistan. During President George W. Bush’s administration, he served as a White House Fellow to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, and he is a lifetime member of the Council on Foreign Relations. He has also worked in the financial industry, as an investment banker for Deutsche Bank in London and for Citigroup in New York.

As Robin Hood’s CEO, Moore oversees efforts to reduce poverty by partnering with more than 250 nonprofits to provide food, housing, education, legal and workforce development services to residents of New York City.

Previously, Moore founded BridgeEdU, a Baltimore-based startup giving underserved students college transition support to improve their chances of academic success.

Moore is the author of several books, including “The Other Wes Moore,” “The Work,” “Discovering Wes Moore” and “This Way Home.”

His most recent book, “Five Days: The Fiery Reckoning of an American City,” examines the aftermath of Freddie Gray’s 2015 death in police custody in Moore’s hometown of Baltimore. While addressing the roles that poverty, discrimination and economic injustice play in such tragedies, Moore urges the country to take an unflinching look at its problems in order to move forward.

“The pride and promise of America are too strong to allow our scattered past to hinder its prospects,” Moore writes. “Loving your country means fighting for the institutionalization of its core goodness. Loving your country does not mean lying about its past.”

To achieve progress in society, Moore urges people to learn from the past and to recognize that “our fates are profoundly intertwined.”

“Understand that the best way to protect our own future is to protect the future of others,” Moore writes. “To use our power to demand justice. We aren’t asking that everyone end up in the same spot. We are asking that everyone get a fair shot.”

Whether implicit or conscious, bias is the number one threat to humanity and any organization’s success, she says. She created the term “Bias Synapse” – or BS – as a way to explain our brain’s involvement in the processing and validation of bias.

“My edgy equity training facilitates honest, authentic conversations about unconscious bias, inclusive cultures and microaggressions,” she says on her website. “My goal is to lead my audience to a new place of respect, understanding, authenticity and inclusion.”

Although diversity can be an uncomfortable topic, Grant’s approach helps attendees understand the concept without feeling judged. She will share her perspectives as a woman of color and truths about unconscious bias, microaggressions and other actions that perpetuate discrimination and inequality. She’ll also offer practical advice for finding respect, understanding and inclusion.

“Dancing around a topic is not my forte,” she says on her website. “I like to wade right into your BS (and mine) to explain how bias is a roadblock to acceptance and inclusion.”

She calls sexual harassment, racism and bias “the dire consequences of a dearth of diversity in the workforce.”

Grant’s presentation will give attendees:
• An understanding of diversity and inclusion
• A thorough awareness of their biases
• A realization of how their biases originated
• A recognition of the symptoms and results of bias
• Tools to address bias internally and externally
• Tips to navigate the “hot spots” of workplace diversity

She asks difficult but necessary questions, such as:
• How do we address the present social unrest and racial injustice, and what are some steps we can take now to promote inclusion?
• What are the next steps that we need to take as individuals to help to repair the rifts and move toward a society that’s both diverse and inclusive?

Motivated by her passion to recognize her own BS and correct societal “isms” – like racism, sexism, classism and “plain old stupidism” – Grant says her mission is to expose the value of diversity and inclusion while shining a light on the economic impact it creates.

Grant is the CEO and founder of Risha Grant LLC, an award-winning, full-service diversity communications, recruitment, training and consulting firm. She has nearly 20 years of experience working in “one of the reddest states in the nation,” Oklahoma, where she covers diversity, inclusion and bias as community correspondent and host of the “Risha Talks” series on KJRH in Tulsa. Through her Tulsa World column, “Risha Talks” and as a contributor to Black Enterprise magazine, she has motivated and educated numerous corporations, associations and universities. Her clients include the NBA’s Oklahoma City Thunder and the University of Oklahoma.

In her book, “That’s BS! How Bias Synapse Disrupts Inclusive Cultures and the Power to Attract Diverse Markets,” and her corresponding “BS” video series, Grant has led audiences to new places of respect and understanding.

Grant earned degrees from Kansas State University (broadcast journalism) and Northern Oklahoma College (mass communications), both of which she attended on basketball scholarships.

She has been named a 2019 Top 100 HR Influencer by Engagedly, a 2018 Inclusive Leadership Award Winner, and Entrepreneur of the Year in 2017.

Short videos of Grant speaking can be found on her YouTube channel.