Critical Voices Initiative
About Us
At Critical Voices Initiative, we believe change starts with direct, honest conversations.
About Us
Our mission is to equip people with the skills to have tough, meaningful discussions so that everyone—no matter their background—is heard and respected.
We equip individuals with the skills to handle tough topics and push beyond surface-level dialogue. By focusing on disrupting the status quo and getting comfortable with discomfort, Critical Voices Initiative embraces honest words and teaches you the skills to face critical conversations head-on. By applying our techniques, you can create meaningful, lasting change.
Guided by the principle of Ubuntu—“I am because we are. We are because I am.”—our mission is to foster a world where dialogue drives understanding, respect, and connection.
Our 10-week intensive academy delivers a straightforward solution: self-paced online courses combined with live, interactive group sessions. Participants gain practical skills they can immediately apply, learning to navigate tough topics and build mutual respect. Join us at Critical Voices Initiative. We don’t just talk about change—we make it happen.
Meet the Founder
Lenora Billings-Harris is a DEI strategist dedicated to diversity, inclusion, and disrupting bias. Through her firm, she collaborates with clients to harness diversity, foster inclusion, and challenge biased decisions. Her work helps clients drive talent engagement and retention, attract customers, build community, and strengthen corporate relationships. Lenora's dynamic and engaging style motivates both virtual and in-person audiences to take meaningful actions that enhance organizational performance and bottom-line results.
Lenora has inspired audiences across over fifty-three countries and six continents. She co-authored "TRAILBLAZERS: How Top Business Leaders are Accelerating Results through Inclusion and Diversity" and authored "The Diversity Advantage: A Guide to Making Diversity Work, 3rd Ed."
Her career includes management roles with two Fortune 100 companies and the Graduate School of Business at The University of Michigan. Lenora has also held leadership positions in several non-profit organizations, including past president of Win-Win Resolutions and founding charter member of the Maricopa County Black Chamber of Commerce in Phoenix.
An internationally recognized authority, Lenora has been honored as one of the 100 Global Thought Leaders on Diversity and Inclusion by The Society of Human Resource Management and named one of the top twenty influential diversity leaders in the US by Diversity Woman Magazine. In 2021 and 2022, she was recognized as one of North America’s Most Influential DEI Leaders. Her award-winning diversity leadership research was published in academic journals worldwide. She serves on the Advisory Council of the Nido Qubein School of Communication at High Point University and holds adjunct faculty positions at two other universities. Additionally, she is a trustee of a private university in Virginia.
As a past president of both the National Speakers Association and the Global Speakers Federation, Lenora has been widely recognized for her contributions to the speaking profession. In 2016, she received the Cavett Award, the highest honor for professional speakers bestowed by the National Speakers Association, and in 2018, she was inducted into the Speaker Hall of Fame, becoming the first African American woman to achieve this honor. In recognition of her pioneering contributions, she was awarded an Honorary Doctorate in Humanities from Averett University in 2022. In 2024 Lenora was honored to receive the International Ambassador Award from the Global Speakers Federation. Looking ahead, Lenora will launch the Critical Voices Initiative in 2025, a non-profit organization dedicated to helping individuals develop the skills needed for critical and difficult conversations, which lead to stronger relationships, better decisions, and reduced violence.
Lenora’s two cats allow her to live in their home in Greensboro North Carolina
Trustees
LENORA BILLINGS-HARRIS
President & Founder
Lenora Billings-Harris, CSP (Certified Speaking Professional) is a CPAE (Council of Peers Award of Excellence) Hall of Fame speaker and an internationally recognized authority in the areas of inclusion, diversity, and bias. She has been included as one of the 100 Global Thought Leaders on Diversity and Inclusion by The Society of Human Resource Management and was named by Diversity Woman Magazine as one of the twenty top influential diversity leaders in the US. Her award-winning diversity leadership research is recognized in academic journals internationally. Additionally, she serves on the Advisory Council of the Nido Qubein School of Communication, High Point University, as well as on the adjunct business faculty of two other universities.
VALDA FORD
Vice President
Bio to come
SUSAN DANIELSEN
Secretary
Susan Danielsen has a global career history of more than 30 years that includes exceptional experience in the law enforcement, security, and media relations fields. She is a retired U.S. Army military police officer who served nearly half of her twenty-four-year career as a paratrooper at Fort Bragg, NC. She held leadership positions of increased responsibility culminating as the Chief of Law Enforcement at The Home of the Army’s Airborne and Special Operations Forces. Her military career also included three assignments as a Public Information Officer, including one in Desert Shield/Storm.Upon retirement, she was a deputy program manager for three consecutive security contracts: Doha, Qatar; Ft. Meade, MD; and, Kabul, Afghanistan.
Most recently, Susan served for nearly seven years as the first Public Information Officer for the Greensboro (NC) Police Department. She is currently enjoying retirement by going to culinary school; and, volunteering with organizations she is passionate about. She holds a B.A. in Psychology with a minor in Journalism from Rutgers University, and a M.A. in Industrial Education from Central Michigan University. Susan has one daughter ---also a Soldier.
MITCH MARGO
At Large
A former reporter for The Detroit News and Los Angeles Herald Examiner and a syndicated columnist for fourteen years, Mitch Margo is a native New Yorker and St. Louis trial lawyer. He’s witnessed the clash of cultures that are woven into his first novel, Black Hearts White Minds. Much of the story is drawn from his personal experiences, interviews, and hundreds of hours of research. He credits his eclectic law practice for a new storyline every few days.
One of Mitch’s defining moments came when a Herald Examiner editor assigned him to drive to San Fernando Valley so the paper could be the first to report a brushfire, should one start. Aware that San Fernando Valley spans 260 square miles, he interpreted the request as one to start a brushfire, so he drove to the Lakers game instead and applied to law school the next morning.
As general counsel to the Missouri Valley Conference, and a former youth coach, Mitch has an insider’s view of basketball that enables him to write about it authentically. He’s also a member of the Washington University Sports Hall of Fame, at one time holding the school record in just about every baseball statistic. He’s proud of his days as a student/athlete but hasn’t lost sight of the fact that you can’t get too much farther from Cooperstown and still be in a hall of fame.
PETER (PECE) GORGIEVSKI
Trustee
Peter is a humankind enthusiast devoted to humanitarian progress. He is a global citizen. Peter's greatest passion and focus is creating a culture of peace throughout the world. He is co-founder of GDF, Global Shipment and Unity in Diversity.
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