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A person with short, curly hair is smiling and wearing glasses, a light blue denim jacket, and a light blue t-shirt. They are standing against a light grey wall.

Meet Sumi (they/she)

A lot happened in 2005: Destiny’s Child split up, YouTube was officially launched, and I had to pick modules for my final year of my undergraduate degree at the London School of Economics. 

In a parallel universe where I made a different decision, I’m a criminologist. 

But I chose ‘race and ethnicity’ and caught the diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) bug.

“You light up when you talk about DEI”

— Sumi’s best mate

A person with short, curly hair and glasses is smiling at the camera, standing on a sunny residential street with trees and buildings in the background. They are wearing a white t-shirt.
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And here I am now, 20-ish years later, helping people take inclusion off the "too hard" pile

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I’ve done lots of things, including:

  • Trained hundreds, maybe even thousands, of people on DEI (I really regret not keeping a tally).

  • Audited and trained big companies with more staff than a football stadium, national charities, political parties and an extremely prestigious institution that I wish I could tell you about but I can’t.   

  • Did an MA in Race and Ethnicity, a personal development coaching diploma (comes in handy for having change-convos), and because that diploma completely ignored systemic inequality, a Feminist Theory Coach certification. 

But a few years ago, I found my sweet spot: working with growing charities and social-justice-minded solopreneurs. 

I know it sounds like a totally random mix, but the core challenges are exactly the same for both. You care deeply, but you're scared of getting it wrong, and you keep pushing DEI down your to-do list because time and money are tighter than the big guys. 

(The only difference is that solopreneurs say DEI and charities say EDI. Why? Pffft, I dunno)

Since then, I've helped more than 70 of you to actually do DEI, not just talk about it.

A person with short, curly hair and glasses is standing in the middle of a residential street, looking directly at the camera. They are wearing a light blue t-shirt and blue jeans, with houses and parked cars visible in the background.
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How I work

Make it fun

I nearly did a PhD on humour as an anti-racist tool. But then I remembered how I called a helpline the day before my MA dissertation deadline because I was a sobbing mess. I still stand by my belief that humour is a powerful tool for social change. 

Keep it simple

There’s a lot of jargon and tricky topics to navigate. DEI isn’t easy, but I’m on a mission to make it as easy as it’ll ever get.

A person with short, curly hair and glasses is looking off to the side with a smile. They are wearing a light blue t-shirt, and the background is a blurred image of a city street with buildings and a wooden planter.

Focus on action

Knowledge is important, but so is translating it into practice. That’s the bit that all of my clients struggle with, so that’s where I focus (obvs, if there’s a knowledge gap preventing you from taking that next step, I’ll close it)

Compassion without collusion

Or as someone (anonymously) wrote on a feedback survey “Sumi tells it like it is without being a d*ck” 

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Tell me who you are and I’ll tell you how I can help

A person with curly hair is sitting on a white sofa, using a laptop on their lap.
It's just me
A group of people standing together, smiling for a photo.
We’re a charity