DEI Crisis Leadership Forum

Annahid is the CEO of Anima Leadership, a socially innovative company offering a compassionate approach to racial justice efforts. She’s an international inclusion leader, author, and speaker with over 25 years of experience working in the trenches toward social change in the public, private, and non-profit sectors. She has coached thousands of individuals and hundreds of organizations and knows the heartbeat of DEIB change patterns like the back of her hand.
Annahid is the author of “Bones of Belonging: Finding Wholeness in a White World” (April 2023), best-selling memoir “Breaking the Ocean: Race, Rebellion and Reconciliation” (2019) and upcoming Fire and Silence: A Roadmap for Leaders of Colour (2026). She sits on the board of the Canadian Writer’s Trust and Writer’s Union and believes in the power of stories to change how we live and lead.

Shakil Choudhury is an award-winning educator, consultant and author with over 25 years of experience in the field of racial justice, diversity and inclusion. He coaches executive teams and has worked with thousands of leaders across sectors in Canada and the United States to help improve their equity outcomes. Shakil also facilitates dialogue processes to resolve inter-group conflict, having led projects internationally as well as with organizations locally. He is the author of Deep Diversity: A Compassionate, Scientific Approach to Achieving Racial Justice. Written in an accessible, storytelling manner, many have called it a “breakthrough” book on issues of systemic racial discrimination due to its non-judgmental approach that integrates human psychology with critical race perspectives. Shakil’s most challenging and rewarding management experience, however, involves his two high-spirited children repeatedly teaching him the humble lessons of fatherhood. To clear his head during the week, Shakil loves to run the beautiful ravine trails near his home in Toronto.