Allison is an inclusion trainer, learning designer, public speaker, and change consultant. Her foundation of skills are built on over a decade in the classroom before she earned her Masters in School Leadership from UNC-Chapel Hill in 2008. Her thesis focused on cultural shift within systems to close both achievement and discipline gaps.
After 20 years as an educational leader, she entered the world of advocacy to address structural racism through education and community organizing. She was awarded several grants to complete projects focused on increasing awareness and commitment to equity in local communities. In 2015, she co-founded Red Fern, LLC a consulting company focused on creating Virtual Reality (VR) experiences to increase human understanding. She continues to lead Red Fern as the CEO.
In 2018, Allison joined the Dialogue Company as a co-facilitator, along with Dr. David Campt, of the Ally Conversation Toolkit (ACT) Workshop. Allison has worked with large and small corporations, non-profits, governmental agencies, and universities to increase capacity for effective dialogue about race and equity.
Allison is a Certified Professional Coach, and is available to help individuals at managerial and leadership levels to learn more about themselves, and to develop practical strategies for overcoming workplace hurdles they are facing. Click here to book a free 30 minute session to learn more.
She uses multiple methods of inquiry including, but not limited to, the Intercultural Development Inventory™ and the Conflict Style Inventory™ to assess current beliefs and institutional culture and structure. She then crafts learning interventions to help individuals and groups connect anti-racism efforts to performance metrics and tangible outcomes.
Allison is a certified High Performance Learning Journey (HPLJ)™ learning designer focusing on diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) through customized, tailored solutions. As a learning intervention designer, Allison partners with clients to understand their goals with regard to justice, equity, diversity and inclusion (JEDI).
She has taught scores of large-group workshops for corporations and nonprofits large and small, facilitated large and small group dialogues, and designed many multi- stage learning journeys – all with the focus on raising individual awareness to recognize and overcome bias and barriers to equity and inclusion.
As a keynote speaker, Allison engages audiences to see inclusion as a entry way to building high performing teams, unlocking the power of curiosity, and advancing each individuals potential to create belonging.
Allison is heavily involved in her local community, having served on the Human Relations Commission, the Board of her religious congregation, the executive board and equity committee of the NC Council of Churches, and the Secretary in her local branch of the NAACP.
“Allison’s insights and wisdom on allyship have changed my life. She helped me see how my own flawed thinking can be used to influence others. I am so grateful for the chance to work with her.”
Jill, workshop graduate
