Rapid Growth Media recently showcased Dr. Sandra Upton. Below is an excerpt from the featured article…

When Sandra Upton, Ph.D., stepped up to talk about her new book, “Make It Last: A Roadmap and Practical Strategies for How to Do DEI,” she looked onto the faces of the top leaders doing diversity and inclusion work across West Michigan.

Among those who turned out to support the renowned Grand Rapids-based diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) expert were Joe Matthews, Gentex’s vice president of diversity, equity, and inclusion, and Graci Harkema, international diversity, equity, and inclusion speaker and best-selling author of the memoir “Rising: From a Mud Hut to the Boardroom—and Back Again.”

“Dr. Upton was one of my mentors,” says Harkema, who met Upton while a student at Grand Valley State University. “Still to this day, I leaned on her for different challenges that I may have with clients. I’m here to support her because she has supported me in so many avenues and really inspired me in so much of my work.”

The book launch on Feb. 20 wasn’t held at a bookstore but rather at Grand Rapids tech firm Atomic Object, which co-hosted the event with The Right Place, the region’s economic development organization.

“We love being able to host events like this to bring the community together,” said Atomic Object Co-CEO Shawn Crowley, adding that he was impressed with the advance copy of the book he read.

“There’s a lot of interesting points she makes,” he said. “I think we’re on the track as far as the guidelines that she points out. I found that, having a network of people in this space with a lot of different experiences, what I really value is hearing about the work they’ve done in the trenches of other organizations.”

Click here to read the full article on Rapid Growth Media.

Photo credit: Tommy Allen, Rapid Growth Media