Talks & Interviews

  • Meet Canada’s Best Employers For Diversity 2023 | FORBES Magazine

    Gathering this information is a crucial first step in determining where to channel DEI resources, says New York-based human resources and diversity consultant Alex Love. “A really good starting place is to have a climate assessment or employee survey to understand where the current growth opportunities are and where the challenges are,” says Love. Ideally, organizations should also reassess periodically by “allowing employees to continue to give feedback about what’s going well and what’s not,” says Love. Read more.

  • Staffing, Culture & Customer Service Strategies That Keep Fans Coming Back

    Leaders are grappling with staffing shortages from management to part-timers, while managing DEI priorities and rising costs of everything from concessions to personnel. Seasoned experts in the field will advise on staffing protocols that focus on building a team and culture that ultimately keeps fans coming to events and drives a profitable bottom line.

  • Personal AI: Design with the Gender Galaxy in Mind with Alex Love

    Personal AI held “Design with the Gender Galaxy in Mind” on Tuesday, June 29th, 2021 with panelists Kristie Kaiser, Personal AI, and Alex Love, DEI & HR Expert. What is “gender expression?” Are “male” and “female” gender identities? How can I explicitly recruit non-binary individuals as part of my DEI goals? In this session with Personal AI’s Head of Design, Kristie Kaiser (she/her), and DEI and HR expert Alex Love (they/them), we dive into the important world of the gender galaxy as we seek to design teams, products, and services that respect the gender identities of all individuals. Read more.

  • Alex Love Shares Their Story with Roadtrip Nation

    Alex Love sits down with Roadtrip Nation to speak on their journey and experiences in developing inclusive workplaces and encouraging Fair Chance Hiring across businesses. In particular, they give insight on their time at Vice Media where they developed a Fair Chance Hiring program for people that have been impacted by the criminal legal system. To watch the entire interview, please click here.

Press & Media

  • Cry, Baby: Why Our Tears Matter by Benjamin Perry


    What happens when we cry - and when we don't? One of our most private acts, weeping can forge connection. Tears may obscure our vision, but they can also bring great clarity. And in both literature and life, weeping often opens a door to transformation or even resurrection. But many of us have been taught to suppress our emotions and hide our tears. When writer Benjamin Perry realized he hadn't cried in more than ten years, he undertook an experiment: to cry every day. But he didn't anticipate how tears would bring him into deeper relationship with a world that's breaking.

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  • Molly My Mag Interview, Summer 2022 Issue


    Creating diverse, equitable, and inclusive environments is a priority that requires authenticity and vulnerability. We had the opportunity to interview DEI and HR professional Alex Love to learn more about how groups respond to training and what that commitment means. Think about how these points might apply to your own life, business, and relationships. Being open-minded and starting conversations is the first step toward change.

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  • Untapped Talent: How Second Chance Hiring Works for Your Business and the Community by Jeffrey D. Korzenik


    This work shares the business case and best practices of “second chance hiring,” employing people with criminal records. The first and only book of its kind, “Untapped Talent” is meant to inform and inspire business leaders to broaden their hiring to this population. This is a disciplined and realistic look at this issue – not everyone with a record is ready for employment, and even those that are may require additional support.

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Podcasts

The State of DEI Initiatives In Our Industry

Gatherers Chrystal China and Alex Love reflect on the last few years of DEI work throughout the industry, looking at where progress has been made, where it has been stymied and how the work relates to more broad Communications and HR practices.

Late-Career Transitions and DEI Backsliding

A panel of Gatherers considers the challenges organizations face in supporting later-career flexibility and fulfillment, and how workers can find their own opportunities. Then, we reflect on a a dispiriting year for corporate DEI initiatives, with dwindling roles, flagging participation and decreased public pressure.

Advertising Week’s Great Minds: People and Culture

In this episode, Ren Akinci is joined by Alex Love of Alex Love Consulting. Alex is an advocate for fair chance hiring practices. But what exactly is fair chance hiring? It’s a transformative approach that emphasizes giving individuals with a criminal record a fair opportunity to reintegrate into the workforce. It’s about second chances, breaking down barriers, and fostering inclusivity.

Join us as we unravel the significance of fair chance hiring, exploring how it not only benefits individuals seeking employment but also contributes to building diverse, resilient, and socially responsible workplaces.

Will Work 4 Podcast

D & B sit down with Alex Love of Alex Love Consulting to hear how they support corporations, organizations, and leaders to have critical conversations with their managers and staff to align company values with practice. Alex also contributes at LevelSet, an organization that provides custom support to clients committed to hiring people who were formerly incarcerated. It's a great episode for those interested in creating a workplace that is humane and equitable.

FastForward with Alex and Ben

FastForward is a thought-provoking new podcast exploring technological developments through the lens of ethics and the future of humanity. Each episode asks how technological advancements came to be, who benefits and who is ultimately impacted by such developments. FastForward is hosted by Alex Love, a human resources and DEI consultant, and Rev. Benjamin Perry, a minister and author.


In this episode, Alex and Ben discuss Boston Dynamics robots that climb, jump and do parkour. Join us as they discuss the implications behind this technology which is potentially helpful in many ways but equally has the potential to be leveraged to devastating consequences.


In this episode, Alex and Ben discuss artificial intelligence, the Siris and Alexas of the world. What are the long-range implications of using this kind of technology? The devices in our homes are listening to our conversations and gathering information. Where and how is the information used, and will it work against us in the future?


In this episode, Alex and Ben tackle the topic of food scarcity. Is technology the answer? Vertical farming at first glance seems like a great solution, but what about the costs? Join us as the discussion turns to GMOs, vertical farming, and the technologies that could potentially solve these issues, none of which are silver bullets.

Fair Chance Hiring

After decades of building high barriers to employment for people with past convictions, companies are increasingly recognizing that there is a motivated and productive talent pool waiting on the sidelines. The unemployment rate for individuals that were formerly incarcerated is 5x higher than their peers, yet research shows that employment outcomes are equally strong -- and in some cases stronger -- for people with past justice involvement. Fair Chance Hiring helps maximize access to talent for employers while ensuring that past convictions do not prevent qualified people from joining the workforce.

Monique Williams & American Family Insurance Institute

Alex Love and Salomon Moreno-Rosa sat down with Monique Williams, Planning and Portfolio Manager of the American Family Insurance Institute for Corporate and Social Impact. Monique discussed with Envoy American Family Insurance’s journey to becoming an industry leader in fair chance employment. Through goal setting, creating talent pipelines with local workforce-oriented reentry organizations, and developing internal HR tools, they expanded access to qualified job seekers and made a lasting impact in their communities.

From Pilot to Companywide Strategy with Ken Kuwamura, Union Pacific

Ken Kuwamura of Union Pacific Railroad breaks down how they have developed their talent acquisition strategy to include Fair Chance opportunities. Union Pacific began their Fair Chance Employment pilot in Houston in 2021 and since then have grown their efforts to Los Angeles and the Twin Cities. Ken discusses how working with experts like Envoy helped create new inroads with local community organizations and connect to existing training programs as a way to identify new talent. Lastly, Ken discusses Union Pacific’s future plans to continue to expand their Fair Chance Employment nationwide.

Campaign for the Fair Sentencing of Youth with Catherine Jones and Anna Melbin

Anna Melbin, Director of Strategic Partnerships, and Catherine Jones, Co-director of Outreach and Partnership Developments, at the Campaign for the Fair Sentencing of Youth (CFSY) sit down with Levelset to discuss the organization’s mission and what makes for an effective partnership with a corporate partner. CFSY is a non-profit organization that focuses on racial justice and equity by leading efforts to ban extreme prison sentencing for children in the legal system.