SCG
STATEN
CONSULTING
GROUP
Our Mission
SCG's mission is simple: we aim to provide comprehensive and effective diversity, inclusion, and anti-racism education, training, and programming to transform the way you do business.
Our Vision
We envision a world where organizations view it as their duty to actively engage in transformative anti-racist work. We envision a world where diversity is prized and where inclusive work spaces that appreciate what all team members have to offer are the norm. We envision a world where diverse employees are as important as bottom lines. We envision a world where our services are no longer necessary.
Our team
Daedra Staten, esq.
she/her/hers
Founder | Chief Diversity Consultant
Daedra is SCG's Founder and Chief Diversity Consultant. She is an attorney, expert facilitator, instructional designer, recruitment specialist, and mediator. After years of working in the higher education and non-profit sectors, she founded SCG to bridge the gap between theory and practice, as a professional home where experts from marginalized and minoritized backgrounds can use their lived experience and subject-matter expertise to teach others. Daedra has been in the diversity and inclusion space for over fifteen (15) years - first, as a student, and now as a teacher and professional. She has lived abroad in South Africa and traveled abroad extensively (visiting nearly 50 countries) during her work as a professional diversity recruiter and DEI consultant. Having completed her legal studies in UCLA Law's Critical Race Studies program - the only program of its kind - she is an expert in the history of race, racial formation, and racism in the United States, and is well versed in the theoretical and systems frameworks informing identity in its varied manifestations in the U.S. and abroad. Daedra has worked at the institutional level, developing diversity, equity, inclusion, and anti-racism programming for major law schools, universities, and community colleges, as well as in the corporate and non-profit sectors, where she develops and delivers programming and organizational strategy for a variety of companies. She has designed and delivered training programs for Google, Bazooka, BMW, Fever-Tree, and (The Western Section of) The Wildlife Society. She has facilitated trainings for thousands of people, including executives, working professionals, and students, and she is just getting started.
Education:
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Instructional Design Certificate, | ELVTR | (2024)
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Admitted to the State Bar of California, January 2017
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University of California - Los Angeles (UCLA) - School of Law (Los Angeles, CA), J.D. in Critical Race Studies (focus in International & Comparative Law)
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University of Southern California (USC), Dual-B.A. in International Relations Global Business (Marketing) & Philosophy (Ethics, Law & Value Theory)
Michael Reid
he/him/his
Senior Consultant | Instructional Designer | Facilitator
Michael joins SCG with a background in linguistics, cultural and equity consulting, facilitation, research, writing, and higher education recruitment and administration. Michael is a seasoned facilitator and instructional designer, having consulted on a wide array of projects touching on linguistic equality, cross-cultural communication, inclusive recruitment practices, and race and identity issues. He has also chaired and sat on multiple boards doing equity and diversity work. Impressively, Michael works in six (6) languages: English, Greek, Japanese, Spanish, French, and Portuguese. Michael firmly believes that Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Justice work must be culturally responsive if it is to be relevant and effective. Moreover, he believes that experiences of discrimination, oppression, and inequity are informed by the history, culture, and conditions of the people that experience them. Before moving into consulting and facilitation full-time, Michael worked in higher education as a professor and director of international recruitment and hosted as weekly radio show focused on international media analysis.
Education:
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Eastern Washington University (Cheney, Washington), Master of Arts in Public Anthropology and Critical GIS
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Eastern Washington University (Cheney, Washington), Bachelor of Arts, French Language & Literature, Japanese Language & Linguistics Minor
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Dr. Jenny VaZquez-newsum
she/her/hers
Senior Consultant | Facilitator
Dr. Jenny Vazquez-Newsum is a leadership strategist, author, the Founder of Untapped Leaders, and a Senior Consultant at SCG. Over the past two decades, Jenny has facilitated training for thousands of leaders, ranging from established executives at large corporations to high school students beginning their leadership journeys, and has witnessed the untapped capacities that exist across all stages of career paths. Through her prior work as Vice President of Leadership Training and Programs at Coro Southern California, Jenny designed and facilitated cohort-based programs for leaders across all sectors and industries. At Untapped Leaders, she has designed and delivered customized sessions for organizations such as Southern California Grantmakers, the Downtown Women’s Center, FoodCorps, Caruso, and many others.
Education:
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University of Southern California (USC) (Los Angeles, CA), B.S. in Business Administration
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New York University (New York, NY), M.P.A.
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University of California - Los Angeles (UCLA) (Los Angeles, CA), Ed.D.
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Pristina Alford
she/her/hers
Senior Consultant | Media, Culture, PR
Pristina Alford is a public relations executive with nearly two decades of experience working across a multitude of industries within the lifestyle space. Over the course of her career, she has represented clients within culture, hospitality, luxury, professional sports, food & beverage, alcohol & spirits, consumer lifestyle, fashion, and entertainment. A skilled, tenacious, and highly sought-after publicist, Pristina has executed high-level integrated PR campaigns providing strategic counsel and planning, media relations expertise, and large-scale red-carpet event experience for her clients. Pristina has worked for top PR firms in New York City and Los Angeles including Rubenstein Communications, 5WPR, MWW, Exposure PR, Purple PR, and most recently, DKC News, as the SVP of Lifestyle + Culture. Her career client roster is incredibly diverse, including brands such as Kappa, Edition Hotels, Moet Hennessy, Collective Design Fair, 1800 Tequila, Jose Cuervo, Viola Cannabis, FaZe Clan, BMW, Skullcandy headphones, and more. Prior to leaving DKC News, Pristina launched DKCulture, a division of DKC dedicated to bridging the gap between "the culture" (i.e. Black clients) and GenZ. In 2024, Pristina founded Alford & Co. Public Relations, a Millennial-owned, GenZ-led PR outfit that amplifies voices for forward-thinking brands and talent.
Education:
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Cornell University, Certificate Program, Diversity & Inclusion (2022)
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New York University, Master's Degree in Corporate Communications
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St. John's University, Bachelor of Science, and a four-year starter on the Women's Soccer Team
Rhonda C. Hight, RCC
she/her/hers
Senior Consultant | Facilitator
Rhonda C. Hight is a training consultant, Registered Corporate Coach, and Senior Consultant at SCG with over 30 years of consulting experience. Rhonda works with organizations domestically and internationally to design and deliver developmental training programs. While an employee at The Coca-Cola Company, she decided to pursue her dream of being an independent consultant and established her own consultancy, Let’s Talk, LLC, focused on human resources consulting. As a Registered Corporate Coach, she works with individuals and in-tact teams to develop and enhance leadership capabilities and stimulate professional growth. Rhonda has delivered hundreds impactful trainings, and many keynote speeches for a wide array of clients, including The Coca-Cola Company, Microsoft Corporation, The New York Times Regional News Group, Office Depot, The Weather Channel, Spelman College, Georgia State University, U.S. Fish & Wildlife Alaska Division, and a plethora of government, small business, and nonprofit organizations. A relentless seeker of knowledge, Rhonda is a content expert on various topics pertaining to professional development, and building respectful workplace cultures. She has obtained various professional licenses and certificates which she brings to bear in her work, including training and certifying several hundred legal and human resources professionals to provide services to their own organizations over the course of 25+ years.
Education:
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Registered Corporate Coach
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Certified Facilitator: Lead in 30 (LI30)
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Senior Master Certified Instructor - Civil Treatment Curriculum
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Certified Facilitator: Everything DISC Behavioral Assessments
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Chadwick University (Birmingham, AL), Business Administration & Management
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University of Phoenix, Human Resources Management & Personnel Administration
Zoe Holland
she/her/hers
Senior Consultant | Facilitator
Zoe has almost two decades of learning & coaching expertise from the hospitality, retail, transport, engineering, pharmaceutical, tech, non-profit and
creative industries. She brings a zest for lifelong learning into everything she does and is highly skilled at opening up and guiding insightful dialogue to help people challenge their own way of thinking. Zoe’s energy and passion for Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging (DEIB) started very early in her learning career. She focused her learning approach around those ‘insight moments’ and watched as participants changed the way
they behaved when Neuro-Linguistic Programming and coaching were applied. She takes a human-centered approach to her work and looks at individuals separately: understanding their personal stories to unpick the way each person looks at the world and why that might be. She then helps the individual to look internally at their approach and supports them to reframe the way they look at each area to create inclusion. Having developed diversity & inclusion learning programs that raised
awareness and changed behaviors, thinking patterns, and the way employees interacted with each other within previous businesses, she has always had a drive to enable others to do the right thing. The idea is to activate personal accountability for how each individual behaves.
When people are connected to their own self-awareness and feel they can make a difference, they will do everything within their ability to do the right thing. This is
a powerful approach that creates inclusive working environments that enable belonging.
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Education:
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Institute of Leadership & Management, Level 7, Executive Coaching & Mentoring
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Neuro-linguistic Programming, NLP Practitioner Certificate
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CIPD, Associate's Degree, Human Resources Management
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Warwickshire College, HND Media Production, Arts, Entertainment & Media Management
Drew Staten
he/him/his
Director of Communications & Strategy | Project Manager
Drew is a professional writer, creative, and activist dedicating much of his time to work at the intersections of the LGBTQIA+ and BIPOC communities. He is a people person, a gifted communicator, and has worked across a variety of fields, from higher education to freelance writing to DEI to the service industry to mental health. He brings an abundance of talent to the SCG team, including his gift for connecting with people, speaking to diverse crowds, researching, writing, strategizing, training trainers, and working with BIPOC+ individuals in the field of mental health. Previously, he has served as the Assistant to the Director of Training & Programs at BEAM (Black Emotional & Mental Health Collective), as the Office Manager for a Black-owned, LA-based medical practice, and a freelance copywriter for Group Hug, Inc. (drafting social media copy write for brands such as Hulu, Freeform, and SyFy and reviewing content to prepare media questions for journalists). His educational background in creative writing and international relations, his time living abroad in the Philippines and Spain, and his broad-based professional experience provide him with an exceptional set of skills and experience to serve SCG in a variety of capacities, especially in content curation, program design and development, organizational strategy, and client engagement.
Education:
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University of Southern California (USC), Dual-B.A. in International Relations and Creative Writing
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Cornell University, Certificate Program, Diversity & Inclusion (2021)
Zachary Ritter, Ph.D.
he/him/his
Facilitator + Consultant | DAI & Higher Ed.
Zack received his Ph.D. in higher education from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), focusing on Asian international students' cross-racial interactions. He is currently Interim Associate Dean of Students at California State University, Dominguez Hills, and helps run the Office of Community Standards Restorative Justice Department and Basic Needs Housing and Food Insecurity Program. Zack also teaches Social Justice History. Prior to joining Cal State Dominguez Hills, Zack served as the Interim Associate Dean of the Office for Institutional Diversity at Harvey Mudd College and as the Associate Director of the Office of Campus Diversity and Inclusion at the University of Redlands. He recently co-edited a book called Marginality in the Urban Center: The Costs and Challenges of Continued Whiteness in the Americas and Beyond and a new co-edited book called "A Peculiar Institution: Whiteness, Power, and Resistance to Change" (forthcoming).
Education:
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University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) in Higher Education
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UCLA, Master's Degree in Education
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UCLA, Master of Education (M.Ed.) in Higher Education
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UCLA, Bachelor of Arts in History
J.D. barton, psy.d.
he/him/his
Facilitator + Consultant | Mental Health & LGBTQIA+
Dr. J.D. Barton is a therapist and clinical psychology graduate from Pepperdine University. He completed his predoctoral internship at UCLA Counseling and Psychological Services. His research explores techniques for implementing culturally-affirming practices within therapy and institutional settings. J.D. has developed expertise in trauma and identity-affirming cognitive-behavioral theory. He has worked in a diverse number of settings including university counseling centers, hospitals, neuropsychology clinics, and community mental health.
Education:
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Pepperdine University, Doctor of Psychology (PsyD) in Clinical Psychology
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Pepperdine University, Master of Arts (M.A.) in Psychology
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University of Puget Sound, Bachelor of Arts (B.A.) in Comparative Sociology