Susan Long-Walsh
Susan Long-Wash is the Founder and CEO of Susan Long-Walsh & Associates (SLWA), an equity consulting and strategy firm that helps organizations build more human-centered inclusive cultures of belonging to move rhetoric to action.
A creative builder of capabilities and a sought-after speaker, Susan has shaped DEI initiatives at notable organizations, including Microsoft, Starbucks, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, and T-Mobile.
Her TED Talk, “The Path to Building an Anti-Racist Workplace,” amplifies Susan’s deep knowledge, incredible insights, and the critical message about diversity and inclusion using her tool TheBRIC, to create equity and psychological safety in the workplace for learning, innovation, and the opportunity to have the best job in your career.
Susan’s favorite book right now is Take My Hand by Dolen Perkins-Valdez because, as she says, “[Perkins-Valdez] is a brilliant writer that pulls you into the past in ways that break your heart, yet gives you hope. Such relevant work around what we don’t know and should about our country’s history.”
When she’s not doing work for the SAL board or SLWA, Susan enjoys family and friends and bringing great women together. The geek in her loves “doing my heart work,” researching and amplifying her voice with data around equity and how to create psychological safety and inclusive cultures where employees truly feel they belong in the workplace for everyone to learn, innovate, kick ass, and have fun.
Susan is also an Executive Board member at Stolen Youth and a member of the International Women’s Forum – WA (IWF-WA), where she serves on the DEI Committee. She adds, “I still really like and love my husband of 43 years. We’ve raised three kids, and each has an amazing pedigree of kindness and justice toward others. They’re also smart and wickedly funny!”
One of Susan’s favorite SAL events was Bryan Stevenson. To quote him: “We all have a responsibility to create a just society.” Susan says, “That’s what I wake up to and go after every day.”
Susan has two personal mottos from her grandmother: “If you cut us, we all bleed the same,” and “If you know better, you do better.”