DiversityTalk

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DiversityTalk Creating and understanding equity, diversity, social responsibility and inclusion.

Friendsgiving is really about being around people you care about, sharing food, conversation, laughter, and just being t...
10/06/2026

Friendsgiving is really about being around people you care about, sharing food, conversation, laughter, and just being together.

In that spirit, DiversityTalk is giving away 5 tickets to Brown Sugar Friendsgiving this Saturday, October 10.

The first 5 people to DM us will receive a ticket. You can claim up to 2 tickets, one for yourself and one for a friend.

Please only claim a ticket if you know you can attend. We really want all 5 tickets to be used and for people to actually come out and enjoy the evening.

Expect good food, conversation, connection, and community.

DM us if you’d like a ticket and we’ll get back to you as soon as we can.

Looking forward to seeing y’all on Saturday.

Today, DiversityTalk turns 6. 🎉What started as a simple desire to create space for meaningful conversation has grown int...
06/17/2026

Today, DiversityTalk turns 6. 🎉

What started as a simple desire to create space for meaningful conversation has grown into something I could not have fully imagined. DiversityTalk began from a place of advocacy, curiosity, audacity, and a refusal to stay only in the rooms where these conversations felt comfortable.

I wanted to build something that could enter different spaces, ask harder questions, open up new ways of thinking, and support the shifts needed across systems, communities, and institutions.

Six years later, DiversityTalk has grown from an idea into a health and social development company, a consulting practice, a team, and a growing network of like-minded people working across communities, sectors, and borders. We have moved from conversation to strategy, from advocacy to implementation, from lived experience to subject matter expertise, while continuing to learn, evolve, and stay grounded in purpose.

This journey has carried anxiety, sleepless nights, stress, tears, joy, gratitude, and more lessons than I can count. It has also brought partnerships, trust, meaningful work, international opportunities, and the surreal feeling of watching something I once imagined become real.

I am deeply grateful to every client, collaborator, colleague, community partner, team member, and supporter who has trusted DiversityTalk, invited us into important rooms, and helped shape this journey.

To be celebrating six years while in one of my favourite places in the world, London, feels especially full circle as DiversityTalk steps into new spaces, new markets, new partnerships, and new possibilities.

We are 6 🥹

Here’s to the work, the growth, the conversations, and everything still to come🥂

With gratitude,

Ika Washington
Founder & CEO, DiversityTalk

Preparedness is often framed as an emergency management issue, but it is also a public health issue.The ability to withs...
05/11/2026

Preparedness is often framed as an emergency management issue, but it is also a public health issue.

The ability to withstand a crisis is shaped by everyday conditions: housing stability, food access, income security, social connection, language access, disability inclusion, medication continuity, and trust in institutions.

When those conditions are weak, emergencies deepen existing inequities.

Strong preparedness planning asks harder questions before a crisis happens: Who is most exposed? Who has the least margin for disruption? Who is missing from the planning table? What systems need to be strengthened now?

Prepared communities protect everyone.

The experience of living through COVID-19 made “pandemic” a household term, but as news cycles now focus on the recent A...
05/11/2026

The experience of living through COVID-19 made “pandemic” a household term, but as news cycles now focus on the recent Andes hantavirus cases, the term “outbreak” is resurfacing. These words are often used interchangeably, yet they signal very different levels of urgency and geographic reach.

A disease like the seasonal flu or malaria is considered endemic because it is a constant, predictable presence. It maintains a baseline level that health systems expect and manage through routine care. An outbreak, such as the recent clusters of Andes hantavirus in South America, occurs when cases suddenly spike beyond that expected baseline in a localized area. Because an outbreak is confined to a specific region or institution, the response is focused entirely on rapid containment to stop the spread before it grows.

When that spread moves beyond a local cluster to affect a wider region or an entire country, it is reclassified as an epidemic. A historical example would be the 2014 Ebola surge in West Africa. The pattern shifts from localized to regional, moving quickly and unpredictably through communities and requiring active interventions like widespread testing and public health mandates.

The term pandemic is reserved for when an epidemic officially goes global, crossing international borders and affecting multiple continents simultaneously. This was the reality of COVID-19. Because the scale is worldwide, the response must be equally massive, requiring international coordination and synchronized policy changes to manage exponential growth. Understanding these distinctions helps clarify why a local outbreak is handled differently than a global crisis.

We are in Vienna this week for the 69th Session of the UN Commission on Narcotic Drugs ( ). 169 side events. 23 exhibiti...
03/09/2026

We are in Vienna this week for the 69th Session of the UN Commission on Narcotic Drugs ( ). 169 side events. 23 exhibitions. Member States, civil society, NGOs, and the scientific community will all in one room, trying to find common ground on the world’s most complex drug policy challenges. Drug policy is health policy, and health policy requires equity and justice in policy. As we attend and engage this week, we’ll be sharing what we’re hearing, learning, and thinking throughout the week. Follow along.

DiversityTalk is Black-owned, operated and managed. We are so proud to say that our team consists of majority of self-id...
03/08/2026

DiversityTalk is Black-owned, operated and managed. We are so proud to say that our team consists of majority of self-identifying women!
So, naturally this International Women’s Day, we are celebrating, while actively naming the gap between acknowledgment and accountability, and demanding and working with organizations close it. We know from our shared lived experiences that health equity and justice cannot be achieved through statements alone, and it requires governance, policy, and structural change.

A question to you: What is your organization doing differently this year?

We’re in the news 📰Leaves of Legacy is featured in the Toronto Caribbean Newspaper ahead of this week’s exhibition.This ...
02/21/2026

We’re in the news 📰

Leaves of Legacy is featured in the Toronto Caribbean Newspaper ahead of this week’s exhibition.

This Black History Month, we’re bringing forward a powerful, evidence-informed exploration of cannabis, culture, criminalization, and African diasporic heritage. This is about policy, memory, ritual, resistance, and the realities shaping our communities today.

📍 Feb 25–27, 2026
📍 STACKT Market, Toronto
🎟 Free entry | Registration recommended

If you’ve been meaning to come, this is your sign. Let’s make history visible.

DiversityTalk

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Toronto, ON

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