Crowd Favorite at Education Startup Weekend Providence

September 25, 2016, Diversity Talks was named Crowd Favorite after spending an entire weekend developing a business model that would increase equity in education. 

From an educator perspective, Kiara strongly believed that the current training structure for professional development exhausted all options around the topic of diversity. As a black lesbian, she has attended hours of diversity professional development led by cisgender white men but in reality the most diverse populations are the students and their voices should be brought to the forefront by leading the professional development. Taliq on the other hand, knew that he wanted to create empathy in classrooms while Taiwo felt that a shared online platform would engage educators and students more effectively.

The team worked to create a business that would provide a safe space for vulnerability by asking adults and youth to become comfortable with being uncomfortable.