Lunch and Learn: How diversity, equity and inclusion helps businesses grow

I am the founder and Director of Diverse Matters. I am responsible for the overall running of the company and for the design and delivery of a range of diversity and inclusion solutions for clients across the voluntary, public and private sectors. I have over 25 years experience of working in Diversity, Equality, Equity and Inclusion and can support you with: Diversity, Equity and Inclusion training Diversity consultancy, advice and support Diversity and Inclusion audits Review and development of Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and People policies Delivery of Listening sessions/focus groups to seek feedback from your teams Equality analysis You can find out more here My background Prior to setting up Diverse Matters, I was the Head of Equality, Diversity and Inclusion for Victim Support.  I led the organisation to become a Stonewall top 100 employer,  achieve the ‘Leaders in Diversity’ and ‘Investors in Diversity’ accreditation from the National Centre for Diversity and the charity was the first national charity to achieve ‘Leaders in Diversity’ status. Natasha achieved further recognition by being shortlisted in the Excellence in Diversity Awards and ‘National Diversity Awards’ in the ‘Diverse Company’ category. I also worked as the Head of Development for Equal Approach (Now EA Inclusion). EA Inclusion is a leading inclusive recruiter, diversity consultancy and training provider, supporting organisations to attract, recruit, recognise, retain and promote diverse talent, and make workplaces more inclusive. Natasha worked with organisations from a wide range of sectors including finance, recruitment, design, retail, legal and the public sector to support them to become more inclusive in their practices. This included a wide range of services including audits, training, policy and strategy development.  I have also carried out the role of Head of Diversity Inclusion and Wellbeing for law firm Mills & Reeve. Due to this experience and knowledge, I have significant experience in delivering a wide range of diversity and inclusion programmes to companies nationally that focused on areas including unconscious bias, disability/mental health and embedding diversity and inclusion, supporting diverse communities, race inclusion and LGBT+ training. Natasha is also an experienced guest speaker, facilitator, and chair and has held senior positions including chairing regional and national panels within the public and voluntary sector. I have carried out Associate roles for Pearn Kandola, Business Disability Forum (BDF), National Centre for Diversity (NCD), Irish Centre for Diversity and Righttrack learning consultancy as a Diversity consultant/trainer. I have been the recipient of Stonewall Cmyru's LGBT+ 'Ally of the Year' Award 2018 and Runner up/Special mention - the National Centre for Diversity 2016 'Inspirational Person Award’ and also named in the Class of 2021 for the Women, Influence and Power in Law UK for her work at Mills & Reeve. Diverse Matters was a finalist in the 2022 Inclusive Companies Award – Best Diversity and Inclusion Consultancy and winner of the 2020 Midlands Enterprise Award for Best Workforce Diversity & Inclusion Consultancy. In 2021, our founder and director was also named in Acquisition International’s Influential Businesswoman Awards. In 2024 I was also honoured to win the MBCC Excellence in Diversity & Inclusion award and Entrepreneur of the Year at The Women's Awards.