Bridging Gaps with Language: Shaping Inclusive Narratives

Participants will learn to identify and challenge biases in language and communication, developing strategies to create inclusive and welcoming messages that resonate with diverse audiences.

About the Facilitator:

Kitty McLeod has had an extensive professional career, varying from the non-profit sector to large-scale academic research projects.

She brings trauma-informed movement and yoga teacher training to facilitate large and diverse groups. Her ongoing education to become a clinical mental health counselor and board-certified coach and her skills as a master facilitator create safe spaces that encourage honest feedback from stakeholders and training participants.

Kitty is also a choreographer and dance/yoga instructor (200 Hr YTT). Her style is influenced by movement forms from Hip Hop to Pole Dance as well as Circus Arts and her Caribbean culture. She completed her training as a Dance major at Ursinus College and is currently studying in Dance Movement Therapy at Rider University.

In 2020, she founded Illumine Wellness (@illumine.wellness) to support others as they integrate safety and joy in their bodies through body awareness, play, and sound healing as well as in organizations through DEI consulting and cultural strategy. In 2024, she founded Shea Butter Babies Productions to provide a platform where Black cultural identity and artistic talents can thrive, ensuring equitable opportunities for Black artists to showcase their work through All-Black Burlesque and Variety Shows in Austin, Texas.

She currently serves on the board of The Black Professional Alliance as Vice-President, as well as on the boards of Prism Counseling and Advocacy and Impact Counseling. She was also recently appointed as a Commissioner on the LGBTQ Quality of Life Commission for the City of Austin.

Host or Publisher MINDPOP and Art Spark Texas