My name is Kori. I am a story teller. 

One of the beautiful things about life is we get to redeem the parts of our story that were negative and we get to write a new ending. We tell ourselves stories all the time — about who we are, why we do what we do, what is happening around us in the world, about our value, our worthiness.

My Uncle Moh was the first person to tell me the story of me. I began to ask my parents and family members about their stories. I love to hear the stories of people, for in the stories you find understanding and direction. The stories my uncle told me helped shape my sense of identity, my sense of belonging, love for my heritage, strength and resilience of my ancestors which I draw on for strength and hope when I need to.

When I was seven years old growing up in Nigeria, I was acutely aware of the gender expectations and inequity around me. I understood that people asked when my father would have a son, as if my sisters and I were not enough. My response to the cultural values was to assert that anything boys could do, girls could do and I began my resistance to being put in a box. Understanding the messages we receive about our worth, what we can do, where we can go, and our "place" allows us to push against stifling paradigms.

The desire to advocate for those who were being marginalized or silenced, speaking up against bias and -isms started at a young age. Despite an aptitude for sciences and a focus in my college education on hard sciences, I chose law school. In 2012, after engaging in diversity and inclusion work in service to my communities, I became a full time inclusion, diversity and equity professional at an AmLaw 100 law firm and have not turned back since. My first sessions 29 years ago were facilitating discussions on bridging differences, understanding race, interacting with foreign students, gender and interpersonal racial relations. While in law school I also volunteered time supporting domestic violence victims from foreign countries and providing training to domestic violence advocates and service providers on effectively supporting clients across cultural differences. As a lawyer I served in several bar associations in leadership roles and advancing inclusion and diversity including those bar associations focused on underrerpesented and historically marginalized groups.

I love reading, writing, great food, community, entertaining and pondering deep and intense issues. I question anything that gets in the way of a beautiful, powerful, and impactful life. I am unapologetic about being bold, speaking truth with grace, questioning the status quo, being nerdy and loving nice things, and redefining one’s self as we choose. On these pages you will find me writing the stories of grace, belonging, authenticity, faith, courage and inclusion.

Kori is a people inclusion strategist, advocate, speaker, coach, writer, attorney, status quo disruptor, truthteller, wife, and mother of two curly-haired, wise, energetic, fierce, spitfire daughters. Her family is multi-ethnic, multi-racial, multi-religious, and spans multiple nationalities. She brings a fierce love of community and belonging that transcends differences to her work, ministry, and life.  She loves to sing, cook, entertain, dance in the hallways at work, and read when she is not equipping leaders to be inclusive, interrupt bias, and disrupt the status quo or helping individuals live their best and fiercest lives. At her day job she focuses on developing and implementing strategies for individual career and diversity and inclusion success, helps organizations build bridges across differences and improve inclusion, coaches, trains on people, leadership, and talent development as well as diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging topics. 

Kori is a Certified Dare to Lead™ Facilitator, a certified Gallup CliftonStrengths® Coach  and an IDI Qualified Administrator. She also is an Enneagram 1 (improver) and Conscious Reformer on the Insight Profiles Discovery wheel (blue). Her top 5 CliftonStrengths® are: connectedness, achiever, leaner, responsibility, and context. Kori took up painting during the pandemic and is energized by helping people live their best lives. When she is not "working" she focuses her voice and talent on issues of gender equity and rights, inclusion, and human and civil rights, serving in her church and community, entertaining in her home, and cherishing her phenomenal tribe and community. 

Kori is the Chief Catalyst Officer and Founder of the consulting firm Bridge 68 LLC which she created after 22 years of leading, advocating and counseling in law firms including leading Inclusion and Diversity strategies and programs in AmLaw 100 law firms. She was most recently the Chief Inclusion and Diversity Officer at international law firm Seyfarth Shaw where she rolled out several talent and inclusion initiatives including the nationally recognized collaborative The Belonging Project.

About The Dare To Lead Program

Based on the research of Dr. Brené Brown, Dare to Lead™ is an empirically based courage building program designed to be facilitated by organizational development professionals.

The most significant finding from Brené’s latest research is that courage is a collection of four skill sets that are teachable, measurable, and observable. The Dare to Lead™ program focuses on developing these courage building skills through workshops, trainings, and coaching to help individuals, teams, and organizations move from armored leadership to daring leadership.

Individuals who successfully complete the full 24-hour Dare to Lead™ program will receive a certificate of completion and are allowed to put the Dare to Lead Trained badge on their LinkedIn account.

Further information is available at daretolead.brenebrown.com