DEI got radioactive. The underlying problem — can employees trust that they'll be treated fairly — never went away.
Aparna Rae and Rob Hadley speak on what actually rebuilds trust at work: not values statements, but visible, measurable, operational change.
Audiences leave with a framework they can use Monday morning, not a feeling that fades by Tuesday.
What we speak on
Most culture efforts fail for the same reason — they treat trust as a feeling instead of an operating system. Trust at work is at an all-time low, and most organizations respond with more values statements, more all-hands meetings, more theatre. None of it moves the number.
Trust by Design
We reframe trust as something you build the same way you build any other operational system — with clear policy, consistent process, and data that tells you the truth.
Audiences leave with the two-pillar framework (trust cultivation + policy clarity) and a first move they can make in their own organization within a week.
Best for: All-hands, leadership offsites, HR/People leadership audiences, culture-focused conference tracks.
The DEI Reframe
Unfair systems still cost you your best people. Quietly dismantling equity programs because the language is a [perceived] liability, doesn’t make problems go away.
This talk gives HR and business leaders a practical translation framework for describing equity work in terms finance, legal, and operations stakeholders can get behind — without losing the substance. For a moment when the old language stopped working but the problems are all still there.
Best for: HR conferences, ERG chapter events, People leadership summits, legal/compliance-adjacent audiences.
Built for two kinds of rooms
Corporate events
All-hands meetings, leadership offsites, People/HR team kickoffs, and internal culture events for mid-market companies, nonprofits, and startups who want substance over a feel-good hour.
**Note: We don't do motivational filler. Every talk ends with something the audience can put into practice before they're back at their desks.
HR & industry conferences
SHRM chapters, HR technology and people-analytics conferences, and nonprofit/philanthropy sector gatherings looking for sessions that give HR practitioners something they can use, not just something they enjoyed watching.
Why Us
Research-backed. Practically applied.
Aparna Rae is a 3x founder, consultant, Forbes contributor, and facilitator whose work sits at the intersection of people strategy, organizational equity, and leadership development. Her writing on workplace dynamics reaches tens of thousands of readers each week, and she brings the same substance-first approach to the stage that she brings to her columns — naming what's actually happening, not the polished version.
Rob Hadley spent nearly 20 years working inside large organizations before anyone could pay him to help fix them from the outside. At Liberty Mutual, he led one of the most extensive analytical assessments of representation gaps and process biases of any Fortune 500 company. He holds an MBA from the Wharton School and a Certificate in Diversity & Inclusion from Cornell University.
FAQ
-
A trust and equity keynote speaker helps audiences understand why workplace trust breaks down and what specific, operational changes rebuild it. Unlike a general motivational speaker, Aparna Rae and Rob Hadley ground every talk in research and real organizational data, translating abstract culture problems into practices audiences can apply immediately — clearer policies, better process design, and honest measurement.
-
A keynote speaker delivers a focused talk — typically 20 to 60 minutes — designed to shift perspective or spark a conversation, while a facilitator stays with a group for the full working session, managing process and group dynamics. Aparna and Rob do both: they're frequently booked as keynote speakers for conferences and all-hands events, and separately as facilitators for multi-day leadership offsites. Many events book a keynote to open and a facilitator to run the working sessions that follow.
-
Our standard speaking rate is $8,500 per keynote, plus travel for in-person events. We offer a sliding scale for nonprofits and mission-driven organizations — reach out with your budget and we'll tell you honestly whether it's a fit.
-
Trust by Design speaks on three core topics: why culture strategies fail without operational follow-through, how to talk about equity when the language has become politically difficult, and how to define and defend what "merit" actually means at your organization. Every talk is adaptable to the specific audience — HR leadership, all-hands, or conference tracks — while keeping the same research-backed, practical core.
-
Submit a speaking inquiry through the contact form on this page, or reach out directly with your call-for-speakers deadline and submission requirements. We'll respond with a tailored abstract, bio, and headshots within 48 hours. For HR conferences and industry events specifically, we're glad to submit directly through your call-for-speakers portal.
-
Trust by Design treats equity as an operations problem, not a values problem — drawing on Lean process design, statistical variance monitoring, and organizational audit methods usually reserved for finance and manufacturing, applied to people processes instead. Rob's background auditing representation gaps at Fortune 500 scale, paired with Aparna's facilitation and communications expertise, means audiences get a talk that's both emotionally honest and operationally rigorous — not one or the other.