Vernā Myers () is an American diversity consultant , author, speaker, lawyer, and corporate executive in her role as the Vice President of Inclusion Strategy at

Netflix Netflix, Inc. is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service and production company based in Los Gatos, California. Founded in 1997 by Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph in Scotts Valley, California, it offers a fil ...

. Myers gave a TED talk in 2014 called "How to Overcome Our Biases? Walk Boldly Toward Them."

Early life and education

Myers was raised in

Baltimore Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the List of municipalities in Maryland, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, and List of United States cities by popula ...

Maryland Maryland ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It shares borders with Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware and the Atlantic Ocean to ...

. She later moved to

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

to attend

Barnard College Barnard College of Columbia University is a private women's liberal arts college in the borough of Manhattan in New York City. It was founded in 1889 by a group of women led by young student activist Annie Nathan Meyer, who petitioned Columbia ...

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

's undergraduate program receiving a Bachelor of Arts, magna cum laude in Political Science. Upon graduation, she moved to

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

Massachusetts Massachusetts (Massachusett language, Massachusett: ''Muhsachuweesut assachusett writing systems, məhswatʃəwiːsət'' English: , ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is the most populous U.S. state, state in the New England ...

to attend

Harvard Law School Harvard Law School (Harvard Law or HLS) is the law school of Harvard University, a private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1817, it is the oldest continuously operating law school in the United States. Each class ...

, receiving her

Juris Doctor The Juris Doctor (J.D. or JD), also known as Doctor of Jurisprudence (J.D., JD, D.Jur., or DJur), is a graduate-entry professional degree in law and one of several Doctor of Law degrees. The J.D. is the standard degree obtained to practice law ...

degree in 1985.

Career

In 1992, Myers was appointed the first executive director of the Boston Law Firm Group (now the Boston Lawyers Group), a consortium of firms and corporate legal departments. She also served as deputy chief of staff for the Attorney General of Massachusetts. Vernā practiced corporate and real estate law in

at Testa, Hurwitz & Thibeault, LLP and Fitch, Wiley, Richlin & Tourse, LLP. In 2014, Myers spoke on the subject of " unconscious bias" in her TED talk, "How to Overcome Our Biases? Walk Boldly Toward Them," which she gave at a TEDx event in Boston on November 15. She has also given talks on unconscious bias to organizations such as Cleveland Metropolitan Bar,

NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agency of the US federal government responsible for the civil space program, aeronautics research, and space research. NASA was established in 1958, succeeding t ...

, and the Massachusetts Women's Conference. Myers has been interviewed by television news networks such as WCVB News, MPR News, and

CNN CNN (Cable News Network) is a multinational cable news channel headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, U.S. Founded in 1980 by American media proprietor Ted Turner and Reese Schonfeld as a 24-hour cable news channel, and presently owned by the M ...

. Myers also founded the OPUS Conference, a conference centered on race and ethnicity at large law firms and corporations. She also authored two books, ''Moving Diversity Forward: How to Go From Well-Meaning to Well-Doing'', and ''What If I Say the Wrong Thing?: 25 Habits for Culturally Effective People''. In 2018, Vernā filled the inaugural role as VP, Inclusion Strategy at

She has developed the overall culture at Netflix, including inclusion frameworks for casting and production crew hiring on programs such as '' Bridgerton''. In 2021, Myers and Arianna Huffington joined to provide training courses on

LinkedIn Learning LinkedIn Learning is an American online learning provider. It provides video courses taught by industry experts in software, creative, and business skills. It is a subsidiary of LinkedIn. All the courses on LinkedIn fall into four categories: Bus ...

about diversity. Her quote "Diversity is being invited to the Party, Inclusion is being asked to dance" has been widely used by various organizations and in the press, such as by OMD, SHRM, and Academy of Eating Disorders.

Select speaking engagements

* 2016, featured speaker at ''Big Ideas'' for the 2016 Public Library Association conference * 2018, Keynote at Baltimore's Light City * 2018, Keynote at SXSW Conference & Festivals * 2022, panelist at Variety's Changemakers Summit

Bibliography

* *

References

{{Reflist 1966 births Living people American women lawyers 21st-century American women writers 21st-century American non-fiction writers Barnard College alumni Harvard Law School alumni