• Ask the right questions.

 

• Identify the right targets for your products and initiatives.

 

• Engage with communities of color.

 

• Design your offerings around the preferences and needs of the people you are trying to reach, not the other way around.

 

• Listen to what your customers/audience have to say.

 

This is all advice that makes good sense, nonetheless, too often, important factors such as race, ethnicity, gender and class are neglected in the rush to roll out a new product or initiative.

 

In an increasingly diverse country, you cannot afford to ignore these distinctions as they speak directly to what will appeal to and move your customers the most. To miss these factors also makes for lost opportunities in gaining access to new markets and audiences.

 

CDS is dedicated to serving technology, food, and wellness sectors. Our professional teammates are experts in understanding how the social dynamics of gender, sexuality, ability, age, ethnicity, and socioeconomic class affect one's relationship to food, health, wellness, and technology.

 

About Our Services

 

Diversity and Inclusion: Research, Strategies, and Education

• Teaching organizations involved in education and food/health sectors about the benefits of integrating more diverse approaches for outreach, marketing, and pedagogies.

• Implementation of educational technologies and social media for marketing and development of an organization, business, or institution's food and wellness goals.

• Critical assessment of how people's perceptions of food and wellness are shaped by social and structural power dynamics (race, class, age, gender, ability, region).

• Incorporating 'ethical' and 'green' food and wellness trainings and options that reflect the diverse needs of employees, clientele, or students.

 

Webinars and On-Site Trainings

• Introduction to Diversity and Inclusion for Food and Wellness Industry

• Mindfully marketing food and wellness products to under-represented groups

• Using social media to impact social change, boost morale, and increase profits within the food and wellness sector

• How race and gender experiences impact ethical consumption philosophies, such as veganism and vegetarianism.

 

About CDS and Our President, Dr. A. Breeze Harper

 

Dr. A. Breeze Harper is an adept researcher  and strategist who has 10+ years of experience working on issues of diversity and inclusion, technology, food, sustainability and health.

 

She can quickly understand and assess your organization’s goals, design a customized research plan for your project and perform subsequent precise analysis of the findings in order to determine the best strategy going forward. She can also ensure that your project’s messaging is appropriate and sensitive to the population you want to reach.

 

Some projects to which she has contributed:

 

• Consultant for “Pursuit of a Green Planet” (documentary by film maker Keith Tucker)

• Content editor for Sister Species: Women, Social Justice, and Animal Advocacy  by Lisa Kemmerer, PhD (University of Illinois Press, 2011) 

• A Well-Fed World Foundation  (research and writing project consultant)

• Handpick, Inc. (new media partnerships and research into social media usage by certain 'fodoe' demographics)

• Middlebury College: Eat Real Symposium, Food Injustice (critical food and diversity programming).

• Pacific Lutheran University. (critical food and diversity programming)

• Occidental College: Equity and Excellence Initiative (consultant and speaker).

• Princeton University: Ivy League Vegan Conference (keynote speaker).

• Scripps College: Re-visioning Food Sovereignty: U.S. Supply and Consumption.

• Southwestern University: Sustainable Strategies to Reverse A Global Crisis

• The Sistah Vegan Project. Organizing, planning, and facilitating the annual Black women’s food and health conference.

 

E-mail out team now, if you are ready to find out how she can help your organization achieve its goals.