Tim'm West
Scholar, Educator, Activist, BraveEducator.com
“In my own learning and development I have encountered no one as astute, passionate, and experienced around areas of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusiveness as Jenni Oki. I especially appreciate her balanced approach to aligning theory with practice, centering and exemplifying what bell hooks has called social justice praxis. Her ability to be responsive and empathetic across a broad range of identities and perspectives is unmatched. With clarity around systems change and strategic thinking she strikes a balance between modalities of leadership that are shrewd and imaginative.”
Jovian Zayne
OnPurpose Movement
“Jenni is a complete joy to work with and she has the unique ability to translate what is highly academic into applicable action steps that can transform dysfunctional teams into harmonious ecosystems. She is incredibly skilled as a practitioner and facilitator, while also carrying a deep and robust academic and theoretical understanding of diversity, equity and inclusion best practices.
Simply put, I am, and always will be better because of my work with Jenni.”
Vivian Lu
Co-Founder, The Microaggressions Project
"Since I began working with her in 2006, in both academic and activist settings, I have learnt immensely from her ability to not shy away from directly engaging with pressing social issues simply because people are uncomfortable or inexperienced. Her work continues to bring together an unusually wide range of conversations and knowledge practices – from US-based social justice activism, teaching and public education work, and life experiences across the African continent and the USA – to her critically unique perspective on the complexities and dynamism of race, inequality, and justice in contemporary society.”
Alice Chen
Founder & Principal, Wayfinding Wisdom LLC
“Jenni is a skilled coach, designer, strategist and facilitator who has really helped me to develop an academic language and vocabulary to talk about issues of race, equity and identity. Through participating in spaces that Jenni has designed/facilitated and through collaborating with her, I've developed a rich set of lenses and tools to help me see, articulate, and disrupt the injustices I experience, witness and participate in in an organizational context.”
Anasstassia Baichorova
Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Partner,
Teach For All
“Jenni is an inspiration- hard working, exceptionally intelligent and committed to being led by progressive, collective wisdom. It has been a privilege to learn and work with her. This last year we worked together on a Global Conference in Bogotá, Colombia and her session on decentering dominant culture raised all the right questions and shared so many helpful tools that i am seeing being used throughout our organization.”
Carrie Ellis
Principal Consultant, Celestial Consulting LLC
“Through her knowledge of critical theory, research-based approach, and deep care for people, Jenni has led thousands of people to deeper understandings about identity, power, intersectionality, and the pathways to anti-oppression and liberatory consciousness. She is an exceptional designer and an engaging facilitator who makes these complex topics accessible and practical helping those with whom she works find their role in diversity, equity, and inclusiveness efforts.”
Jen Mayer- Sandoval
Founder and Principal Consultant,
Becoming Better Together
“Jenni is a masterful strategist, designer and facilitator and possesses the rare combination of being both strongly rooted in academic literatures and being an exceptional practitioner. She critically examines the issues at hand while simultaneously leveraging her considerable theoretical knowledge to quickly and adeptly analyze root causes and posit research-backed and practical solutions at the individual, team, and system levels. Her endless curiosity, deep sense of empathy, and learning-orientation enable her to meet people within an organization where they are while helping them co-construct strategies for a different, more equitable future.”
Karen Manahan
Senior Managing Director, Knowledge & Learning, Teach For America
“Jenni is a brilliant visionary, a compassionate practitioner, and someone who is comfortable on the ground in the moment and at the 30,000 foot level thinking about systems, structures, history, context and the long-term. Jenni's leadership has moved our organization to be a more diverse, equitable, and inclusive community more than anything else in the ten + years I have been here. And I have personally grown exponentially in the years I've had the great good fortune to call her a colleague, mentor, and friend.”
Brett Gardiner Murphy
Public School Teacher & Editor-
Inside Our Schools: Teachers of Failure & Future of Education Reform
“As a founding teacher at my former school, Jenni’s leadership was deeply felt as chair of our social studies department- we were the first department to have full vertical alignment within the school, and her facilitation of team discussions around culturally relevant pedagogy pushed teachers to regularly evaluate and improve their practice.
As with everything that Jenni does, as a teacher and teacher leader, she lived her values every day: from how she crafted her curriculum to her relationships with students; from her work with colleagues to her ability to implement school-wide change.”
