Programs and Speakers

Captivating speakers and a slate of can’t-miss sessions are waiting for you.

Deepa Iyer

Over the course of two decades supporting social movements, Deepa Iyer has played many roles: weaver, frontline responder, storyteller, and guide. Currently, she is the Senior Director of Strategic Initiatives at Building Movement Project where she builds projects, resources, and narratives around transformative solidarity practices. Deepa’s primary areas of expertise include post September 11th policies, civil rights, and Asian American/South Asian histories of community building. Previously, she has held positions at Race Forward, South Asian Americans Leading Together, the US Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division, the Asian Pacific American Legal Resource Center, and the Asian American Justice Center.

She is the author of three books, We Too Sing America: South Asian, Arab, Muslim, and Sikh Immigrants Shape Our Multiracial Future about post 9/11 America, and Social Change Now: A Guide for Reflection and Connection (Skinner House) about the social change ecosystem framework, and We Are The Builders!, a children’s picture book about community helpers. She also hosts a podcast called Solidarity Is This featuring storytellers, disrupters, and builders around the world who are experimenting with solidarity during a time of polarization.

Deepa has received fellowships from Open Society Foundations and the Social Change Initiative, and in 2019, she received an honorary doctoral degree from the Chicago School of Professional Psychology. She serves on the Advisory Council of the Emergent Fund, which resources grassroots organizing and power building in communities of color.

An immigrant who moved to Kentucky from India when she was twelve, Iyer graduated from the University of Notre Dame Law School and Vanderbilt University. More information about Deepa’s work is at www.socialchangemap.com and www.buildingmovement.org.

Dr. Dar Mayweather

Dar Mayweather is the founder of doingthegoodwork.com and is a leadership studies faculty member at the University of North Carolina Wilmington. Dar is a first-generation college student. He earned a Bachelor of Science in Criminal Justice, a Master of Science in Education, and a Doctorate in Educational Leadership. As a professional speaker, he helps students and professionals close the gap between their intentions and actions to engage, recruit, and retain people from under-represented communities. He uses inclusive leadership assessments and activities to help people understand the intersections of cultural identity and leadership behaviors. He helps people overcome the fears of doing inclusion perfectly by creating training that builds trust, empathy, and human connections. As a faculty member, he helps college students identify their natural gifts and talents to articulate them to industry leaders to get a job before graduation. 100% of students who coach with him get jobs and into graduate school before graduation. He credits much of his professional growth and success to the Social Justice Training Institute (SJTI.org), the Program on Intergroup Relations at the University of Michigan, and Dr. Eric Thomas’s Game Changers Speaker Certification Program.

Demarcus Merritt, Sr.

Demarcus Merritt, Sr. currently serves as the inaugural Assistant Director for Belonging & Engagement with George Mason University’s Housing & Residence Life Unit. Demarcus has served as a progressive thought leader in varying front-facing and mid-level leadership roles to interpret, impact, interrogate, and improve the respective college student and Student Affairs professional experiences. Some of his most focused interests and high impact practices include improving practices regarding the infusion of diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging, development of anti-racist practices and allyship, addressing barriers and ineffective practices within professional staff recruitment and hiring models, issues concerning Black Men and holistic wellness, and enacting effective strategies with the development or rehabilitation of campus to community partnerships. Demarcus Merritt, Sr.’s most salient and joy-serving identities include being a Black man, a fiancé, a father of two Black boys and one heavenly daughter, and a devoted member of Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, Incorporated. As an entrepreneur, he is the Chief Operating Officer and Diversity Doctor of The Demarcus Merritt Signature Experience (The DMSE); which is a professional consulting and training firm that fosters a transformative experience through education and empowerment that provides for “professional impact with a personal touch.”