54 | Acquisition International, Influential Businesswoman Awards 2024 Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Thought Leader of the Year 2024: Nadia Nagamootoo Avenir As a petite, South Asian woman looking younger than her years, Nadia Nagamootoo has had to work hard to get noticed and gain credibility in business. Her strategy of building knowledge and adding skills to her already substantial toolkit has paid off. Today, as well as being a Chartered Occupational Psychologist, Nadia is an accredited ICF coach and holds an Exec MBA from Henley Business School. We spoke with Nadia about her company, mission, and thoughts on Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI). Contact: Nadia Nagamootoo Company: Avenir Web Address: https://www.avenirconsultingservices.com https://www.nadianagamootoo.com Nadia Nagamootoo’s company, Avenir Consulting, guides organisations through the complexities and intricacies of DEI. Founded in 2015, the Surrey-based business is on a mission to broaden the awareness, understanding and empathy of people’s unique lived experiences, whilst also providing organisations with a strong foundation on which to build a culture of inclusion. Avenir’s global team of DEI consultants, facilitators, and coaches design tailor-made cultural and leadership programmes to meet all individual business needs. Nadia said, “We’ve built long-standing relationships with many clients. This signals the deep systemic work required for cultural change, the trusting partnerships we develop through the team’s expertise and, ultimately, the impactful results we deliver together.” As Founder and CEO of Avenir, Nadia enjoys being involved in all aspects of the business and has witnessed many changes within the industry. She told us, “Since I founded Avenir, the conversation around DEI has grown and developed significantly. We were discussing equity much less back in 2015. The main topic then was gender equality. A few companies were leading the way, but mainly people were skirting around the topic of race. Following the resurgence of the Black Lives Matter movement in May 2020, and the stark inequalities evident through COVID-19, DEI conversations began to accelerate. Organisations knew that more needed to be done in their workplace but were unsure what to do.” Recently, Nadia has noted a backlash against DEI with some political and organisational leaders asking whether DEI work is necessary. She said, “There’s a discernible slowing down of change and even evidence of backward steps, particularly regarding political decisions made in the US and UK. Sadly, this has affected underrepresented and marginalised communities’ rights and the positive approach we have seen over the last decade. It will be interesting to see how this evolves throughout the rest of 2024.” One of Nadia’s proudest moments was the publication of her first book in March this year. The bestselling book, ‘Beyond Discomfort: Why Inclusive Leadership is So Hard (and what you can do about it)’, is packed with real-life stories, expert insights and practical tools to deepen our understanding of DEI. She explains, “Writing a book wasn’t something I’d planned to do, but it made strategic business sense to add credibility to my personal brand. It’s been a labour of love. Having 2 young children and a growing business, I had to use my time efficiently. I set a goal to write it in 6 months. I blocked out my Fridays to write and woke up at 5 am each Saturday and Sunday to put in a few hours before the kids woke up. There were moments when the writing process challenged me more than anything I’ve done before.” In additional to her book, Nadia also hosts popular podcast, ‘Why Care?’, which is now in its 5th year. Nadia is proud to have hosted impressive global DEI thought leaders and celebrities, provoking conversations around subjects including racial inequality, neurodiversity, sexuality, parenting and more. For the rest of 2024, Nadia is looking forward to delivering more keynote presentations at conferences and events to generate ripples of change. Where Avenir is concerned, her sights are set on onboarding new clients, including more global corporations.
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