Disrupt the
status quo
Organizations don't have a culture problem. They have a power problem.
For the leaders who already know something is broken and are done waiting for permission to fix it.
Every leader you know has run an engagement survey. Launched a culture initiative. Hired a DEI consultant. And most of them will quietly tell you: nothing fundamentally changed.
That's because organizations keep trying to humanize workplaces without changing the structures that make them inhumane. They layer empathy onto extraction. They perform values while practicing hierarchy. And the workers inside, trained for years to equate suffering with merit and competition with excellence, become unwitting enforcers of the very system harming them.
This is the problem nobody on the conference panel wants to name. I will.
Hi, I'm Aparna — and over the past 15 years I've been the immigrant woman in rooms that weren't built for me, building things anyway: three companies, a movement of 20,000 women of color, and a body of work dedicated to the idea that workplaces can be sites of democracy instead of extraction.
Featured In.
Forbes | Business Insider | Seattle Business Magazine | Geekwire | TechCrunch | Inc
Naming the problem is the easy part. Here's how I work with organizations that are ready to do something about it:
A keynote changes how a room thinks. An activation changes how a room feels. An offsite changes what a team does next.
01
Keynotes that people don't forget by Tuesday
For conferences, all-hands, and summits. I bring the argument nobody on the panel wants to make - with the data to back it up and a framework your audience can use.
30–75 minutes. Booked by event organizers.
02
The Dignity Sessions: an experience, not a talk
For events that need the room fully present - phones down, actually participating. Created with Circle Back Club. Your audience's own voices, played back to them. Listen, reflect, move.
45 minutes to a multi-day arc. Booked by event producers.
03
Leadership offsites that end in decisions, not decks
For intact leadership teams with real work to do. Delivered through Trust by Design, the methodology I built with Rob Hadley: diagnosis first, honest conversation, and a written list of next steps with owners attached.
Half-day to two days. Booked by your own leadership or People team.
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![Is the Future of Work F*cked?]()
I Hate It Here with Hebba Youssef
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![Business Journal's '40 Under 40' in white on a black background.]()
40 Under 40
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![A woman with dark curly hair, wearing a black top with geometric patterns and pearl details, is smiling confidently against a blue background. The image includes text with her name, Aparna Rae, and elements related to a podcast episode titled 'moving beyond,' part of the Inclusive Collective series, Season 2, Episode 4. The RIFELION logo is also visible.]()
Inclusive Collective
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![Podcast cover image featuring Angela R. Howard on social responsibility at work, episode 110, with a headshot of Aparna Rae, text highlighting her achievements as a tech founder and serial entrepreneur, and a call for culture logo.]()
Call for Culture
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![Aparna Rae, a woman with dark hair and earrings smiling in front of a colorful background, with a blue banner at the top that says 'BEYOND' and the word 'NORMAL' with a microphone icon at the bottom.]()
Beyond Normal
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![Aparna Rae, a woman with dark curly hair pulled up in a high ponytail, winking and smiling, wearing a sleeveless dark blue textured top and small earrings.]()
All Voices - A Lifecycle Approach to DEI
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![Text on a white background reading 'Hiring a DEI Consultant? Here's How to Avoid Exacerbating Inequity in the Process. Inside Philanthropy.']()
Inside Philanthropy
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![Podcast cover featuring a smiling woman with short blonde hair, green earrings, and a black and white striped top against a green background with circular and line design elements. The text includes 'The Podcast', 'F!ERCE LAB', and 'With Tara Wilson'.]()
Fierce Lab
