Lauren Dike, Senior Consultant and Director, Hummingbird Humanity 

Growing up, Lauren was often the only Black person sitting in her classroom. While working in the finance world, she was often the only URM in the room. Feeling different never made her feel unique, but rather insecure, misunderstood, and unsafe. She learned how to ignore microaggressions and racism because that was the only way to survive. She confesses that the cumulative effect of her life experiences created a Black woman who was shut down, publicly inauthentic, and tired. These feelings were reinforced every time a boss critiqued her introversion or poorly communicated feedback. On the outside she was seemingly happy and engaged, but she was often heavily distracted and overwhelmed because she felt a lack of psychological safety and belongingness.

In 2020, she decided she would commit to pursuing her passion. She decided that the next job she had would not only help organisations create more diverse, equitable, and inclusive environments, but also would allow me to bring my authentic self to work every single day.

She is a certified Diversity, Equity and Inclusion practioner. She loves designing and delivering tailored learning experiences to clients. She believes that facilitating tough yet effective conversations gives her life. She helps organisations come up with action based solutions to their DEI challenges. Most importantly, she is thriving because she is doing what she loves and she is doing it as her authentic self.