I have to admit that there are benefits to being a man's man. When my cousin, one of the most macho men I know, heard about Tiger's 2 a.m. car crash, he confidently said, "I bet you there's another woman involved." My cousin could have broken the story that has...

I recently came across a survey of the top ten stressors during the holidays. Surprise, family was ranked as one of our top ten stressors. As a diversity attorney, this makes perfect sense to me.

Diversity in our families is often eschewed. Let's be honest, rarely do we think of...

Last week, I received a random email from a woman I met briefly a few years ago. Although I made a few attempts to stay in touch with her over the years, she never returned my emails or telephone calls. However, now she was ready to be best...

During a recent trip to Chile, I had an interesting conversation with a Brazilian traveler about--of course--ethnicity and class. When we landed on the topic of race, he could not understand why Americans use race as a prefix for our nationality--for example, Black American, Asian American, etc. He asked me,...

I'm usually the last person to hear about pop culture scandals and other news I can't use. When Dreamgirls star Jennifer Hudson and VH-1 reality contestant "Punk" had a baby last month, I was shocked. When I watched this year's MTV Video Music Awards, I wondered who the heck is...

September seemed like the month where we should have been sending some adults back to school -- obedience school. We had Kanye West, the self-appointed arbiter of good music, snatching microphones out of MTV music award winners' hands. We had Joe Wilson, today's most popular Congressman from South Carolina, who...

Over a week ago, Joe Wilson, the Congressman from South Carolina, hurled the heckle heard around the world -- and we're still talking about it. Post-outburst, he stands by calling the President a liar and believes that the health care bill would be wrong for the American people because of...

Once again, my poor President's health care initiative has been buried by an act of someone acting stupidly. After a South Carolina Congressman shouted that the President was a liar, the news has been deluged with stories about Joe Wilson. I think more people can tell you more about Rep....

After President Obama's historic election win, the premature declaration of the day was that America was a post racial society. Both, the well meaning and impatient, were eager to put America's shameful history of discrimination and harassment against racial groups--particularly blacks -- behind them. How could America still see racial...

Teacher U, a collaboration of teaching organizations -- including Teach for America -- made a frail attempt to exhume the 1990's Ebonics debacle by acknowledging African American English in their training curriculum. After having their teachers-in-training read the article, Phonological Features of Chile African American English, which appeared in a...

Last week, as I was piecing together a diversity training presentation, I came across my "Two Wongs Don't Make a White" slide. This corny play on words was used as a t-shirt graphic by the clothing company Abercrombie & Fitch in the earlier part of this decade. Thank goodness those...

Yesterday, I cheered when I read the transcript of Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's response when a student asked about Bill Clinton's thoughts on foreign policy. Her words crisply asserted that she was the Secretary of State and that she would not be "channeling" her husband's thoughts on any foreign...

Earlier this week I realized how easy it is to throw out an affirmative action baby with the bathwater. I took a day off from my diversity consulting practice to participate in a mock interview session for an organization that provides mentoring and other support for attorneys of color. I...

My husband has often tried to convince me that men are simple to understand. For the most part, they are motivated by their sexual desires. Each time I try to argue with him otherwise, a man proves me wrong. This time it was Donny Deutsch.

This morning, on MSNBC's Morning...

Last night's teachable moment was a bust for me. My grandiose expectations in the days leading up to what was supposed to be a conciliatory meeting were steadily deflated. The meeting, which some viewed as a grown-up way of dealing with a tense issue that was blown out of proportion,...

Thomas Friedman probably did not intend to offer any insights about white-male bias in yesterday's New York Times Op-ed "59 is the new 30," but the diversity consultant in me could not ignore how his underlying theme explained why diversity is a dilemma in Corporate America and law firms:...

After gathering the pertinent facts surrounding last week's arrest of distinguished Harvard Professor Henry Louis Gates -- reading the police report, reviewing Massachusetts' disorderly conduct statute, and watching the Cambridge police's press conference -- I'm confident in my assessment. Sergeant Crowley acted stupidly.

Leave it up to Professor Gates --...

Ornery senators and the cable news pundits don't know what to make of her. We've all heard about her passion on the bench and this so-called temperament, but all we've seen during the Sotomayor Senate confirmation hearings is a serious jurist who describes her commitment to the rule of law...