SAFAYA FAWZI
Equity Leader | Excellent Operator | Diversity & Inclusion Professional
Safaya Fawzi is Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion professional who actively supports organizations in leading, educating, training, and communicating around systems change.
Safaya has been facilitating, designing, and leading training crowds large and small at all levels of understanding about topics ranging from basic diversity, equity, and inclusion 101 to advanced racial equity conversations, as well as conversations on other types of diversity (gender, sexual orientation, religious diversity, disability, immigration status, class) since 2013.
She is a passionate speaker, leader, and learner with a background in national associations and large nonprofits, as well as local and national government. She has extensive operations and administrative management skills, and experience being a direct supervisor and team leader in these contexts.
Currently, Safaya works as the Associate Director in the Office of Diversity & Inclusion at the American Bar Association. She works to advance Goal III of the ABA: Eliminating Bias & Enhancing Diversity & Inclusion in the legal profession. She leads demographic survey/data collection, coordinates events, manages communications and team-building, and supervises marketing efforts. She is also an expert with the Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Experts Hub run by Catalyst:Ed, and a board member and Secretary of the national disability inclusion organization Kids Included Together (KIT).
Prior to the ABA, she was Manager of D&I Administration at YMCA of the USA, managing service delivery and training as the first point of contact for 800+ YMCA associations, and coordinated her department's work with logistics, budgeting, administration, and Salesforce/CRM processes. She supported the execution, project management, research, and design of trainings and learning solutions on implicit bias, race and racial justice, disability, faith/religious diversity, LGBTQ+ inclusion, immigrant inclusion, and D&I primers, educating hundreds of YMCA staff and volunteers. Prior to her Manager role, she was a Public Ally/AmeriCorps Member at the YMCA of the USA through Public Allies Chicago.
Safaya has exhibited a dedication to diversity inclusion, training and research during her time as Multicultural Affairs Coordinator (MAC) at Wellesley College, where she was elected to coordinate voices across multiple cultural groups, representing more than 2300 students. As MAC, she organized campus-wide events and counseled college administration to expand, diversify, and strengthen inclusion practices around communication and policies with students.
During her time at Wellesley College, Safaya was selected out of more than 500 students to serve as a Fellow for the Madeleine Korbel Albright Institute for Global Affairs. Through a small grant from the Institute, she worked at the State Department Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor in the office of International Religious Freedom. Safaya has made it her mission to affect change through impactful policies, social justice education, and starting conversation on challenging but necessary topics.
She has a bachelor’s degree from Wellesley College. She is passionate about doing 1000-piece puzzles and crosswords in her freetime. Safaya hails from Chicagoland. Safaya also recently completed an instructional design program--request access to check out her fledgling online portfolio of mini DEI trainings.
Safaya has been facilitating, designing, and leading training crowds large and small at all levels of understanding about topics ranging from basic diversity, equity, and inclusion 101 to advanced racial equity conversations, as well as conversations on other types of diversity (gender, sexual orientation, religious diversity, disability, immigration status, class) since 2013.
She is a passionate speaker, leader, and learner with a background in national associations and large nonprofits, as well as local and national government. She has extensive operations and administrative management skills, and experience being a direct supervisor and team leader in these contexts.
Currently, Safaya works as the Associate Director in the Office of Diversity & Inclusion at the American Bar Association. She works to advance Goal III of the ABA: Eliminating Bias & Enhancing Diversity & Inclusion in the legal profession. She leads demographic survey/data collection, coordinates events, manages communications and team-building, and supervises marketing efforts. She is also an expert with the Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Experts Hub run by Catalyst:Ed, and a board member and Secretary of the national disability inclusion organization Kids Included Together (KIT).
Prior to the ABA, she was Manager of D&I Administration at YMCA of the USA, managing service delivery and training as the first point of contact for 800+ YMCA associations, and coordinated her department's work with logistics, budgeting, administration, and Salesforce/CRM processes. She supported the execution, project management, research, and design of trainings and learning solutions on implicit bias, race and racial justice, disability, faith/religious diversity, LGBTQ+ inclusion, immigrant inclusion, and D&I primers, educating hundreds of YMCA staff and volunteers. Prior to her Manager role, she was a Public Ally/AmeriCorps Member at the YMCA of the USA through Public Allies Chicago.
Safaya has exhibited a dedication to diversity inclusion, training and research during her time as Multicultural Affairs Coordinator (MAC) at Wellesley College, where she was elected to coordinate voices across multiple cultural groups, representing more than 2300 students. As MAC, she organized campus-wide events and counseled college administration to expand, diversify, and strengthen inclusion practices around communication and policies with students.
- See news about Safaya's project, "Converge", which focused on expanding engagement with diverse campus spaces
During her time at Wellesley College, Safaya was selected out of more than 500 students to serve as a Fellow for the Madeleine Korbel Albright Institute for Global Affairs. Through a small grant from the Institute, she worked at the State Department Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor in the office of International Religious Freedom. Safaya has made it her mission to affect change through impactful policies, social justice education, and starting conversation on challenging but necessary topics.
She has a bachelor’s degree from Wellesley College. She is passionate about doing 1000-piece puzzles and crosswords in her freetime. Safaya hails from Chicagoland. Safaya also recently completed an instructional design program--request access to check out her fledgling online portfolio of mini DEI trainings.
