Why SunShower Learning?
SunShower Learning offers specialized, best-in-class DEI training that drives meaningful change toward a more inclusive and successful workplace.
- 20+ years of best-in-class DEI training and courses
- 5-star reviews on Google Reviews and Trustpilot
- Dozens of training and diversity awards
- Distinguished team of world-class DEI experts
- Experience with small businesses, multinational organizations and everything in between
- Client list spanning all industries: insurance, healthcare, retail, hospitality, government and more
- Hundreds of thousands of employees trained
- Blended training formats with activities, knowledge checks and “What would you do?” scenarios
- Scalable from 100 to 100,000 and applicable for leaders and individual contributors
- Plug & play SCORM on your LMS or SunShower’s secure LMS
- Personalized implementation support
- HRCI CE-certified programs
- Compliance with the highest WCAG standards of accessibility
- Available in multiple languages, including Canadian French and Spanish
Through creative storytelling, sophisticated film production and compelling instructional design, SunShower Learning courses make a memorable, emotional impact and stand apart from ordinary courses that merely check the DEI box.
Experience with organizations of all sizes
SunShower Learning’s client list spans small businesses, multinational organizations and everything in between and covers an array of industries: insurance, healthcare, retail, hospitality, government and more. From Fortune 100 companies to universities and non-profits to small business, SunShower commits fully to support your organization with state of the art course work and training.
Dozens of training and diversity awards
SunShower’s work has been repeatedly recognized for its production quality, storytelling, instructional design and more:
- Brandon Hall Best DEI eLearning
- The Telly Award (dozens)
- International E-Learning Award
- The Communicator Award
- VEGA Digital Award
- Arcturus Award
- Videographer Davey Award
- Interactive Media Council BEST IN CLASS award
- Diversity Journal’s Innovations in Diversity Award
- Webby Awards
- US Business Insurance Awards for Excellence in DEI
SunShower’s longevity and reputation are unmatched.
5-star reviews on Google Reviews and Trustpilot
SunShower Learning regularly receives the highest reviews. Why?
Because we support you to get the most value from your license. We offer personalized support to help you get the courses installed on your LMS and also to help you roll-out the training to achieve high completion rates.
A distinguished team of world-class DEI experts
Joel is pleased to share more about the team of authors, speakers and facilitators who have collaborated with us to create these important programs. The collective intelligence and experience are only outweighed by the passion these talented leaders bring to the work.
Leslie Aguilar
Founder, International Training and Development
Leslie wrote the book Ouch! That Stereotype Hurts and collaborated with Joel Lesko from SunShower Learning to produce the wildly popular and multi-award winning video, online course and eLearning. She also collaborated with Joel to create the follow-up program, Ouch! Your Silence Hurts. The Ouch! series has been enthusiastically used by tens of thousands of organizations around the world with significant personal and organizational results.
Leslie is an author, consultant and curriculum developer in the areas of DEIB, multicultural and multilingual competence and multicultural customer service. Watch the interview with Leslie here in which she offers valuable insights into the practical applications of Ouch! techniques.
Courses in the SunShower library
Hideko Akashi
Founder, Liberation Consulting
Hideko has over 20 years of experience in the educational sector, challenging individuals and institutions to think critically about issues of diversity, privilege, social justice, inclusion and equity and to create healthy, meaningful work cultures.
Hideko has worked with SunShower to create learning experiences around the myths of the model minority and AAPI experience.
Courses in the SunShower library
Hideko is collaborating with SunShower on three new courses launching in early 2024:
Myths and Models: AAPI Inclusion
Expanding the Gender Binary
Pronouns
New products coming soon!
Mary Chlopecki, Esq.
Workplace Investigations, Training & Consulting, Senior Investigator and Counsel, Georgetown University
With 20+ years of diverse experience, and a Juris Doctor from George Mason University School of Law, Mary is a trusted legal advisor and EEO specialist, serving clients in the public, private and nonprofit sectors.
Mary has deep competency in conducting professional, end-to-end, confidential workplace investigations.
Mary is a seasoned trainer with a record of success developing and delivering an array of live and virtual programs, and she’s experienced in designing and performing work environment studies and climate assessments.
Courses in the SunShower library
Within Our Power: Preventing and Addressing Sexual Harassment Together
Tina Dyer
Founder, Grafted Together Consulting
Tina is a leader in the areas of global diversity and inclusion, a public speaker and an organization development professional with proven success in designing and implementing DEI strategies and initiatives, coaching senior leaders and enhancing employee engagement, retention and productivity.
Tina is a Somatic Abolitionist Practitioner with years of experience in coaching around Racial, Equity, Diversity and Inclusion. She has collaborated with SunShower to conduct online live trainings across many industries.
Tina is developing a new course with SunShower that will help people build a capacity mentally, emotionally, and physically for staying present and engaging in conversations across dimensions of diversity, especially race.
Courses in the SunShower library
Self-Care and prepping for conversations of Racial, Equity, Diversity and Inclusion.
New product coming soon!
Greg Gale
Founder, Insight Out Consulting
For over 25 years, Greg has held DEI leadership positions in both Fortune 100 companies and non- profit organizations and has implemented DEI solutions throughout the US and globally.
Greg has high-level experience developing DEI strategy, coaching leaders to develop inclusion skills and creating insightful and actionable group learning experiences.
Greg has led workshops with SunShower in Inclusive Leadership and has worked with our clients to aid them in the Enterprise roll-out of our eLearning courses.
Courses in the SunShower Library
Greg is developing a new course with SunShower to help white male allies gain skills to be champions for inclusion and equity.
New product coming soon!
Robin Denise Johnson, Ph.D.
Founder, RDJ Training
Dr. Robin is a Harvard Business School trained Ph.D. and wrote an award-winning dissertation on diversity, work-life balance and empowerment.
Dr. Robin’s BA is in International Relations / World History from Brown University, and her Masters in Social Psychology is from Harvard. She was also faculty at Darden University of Virginia, Cal Poly Pomona and UCLA as well as a visiting professor at Ozyegin Business School in Istanbul, Turkey.
Dr. Robin has collaborated with SunShower on the series, Being a Kind Leader, which includes 3 modules - 6 Soft S.K.I.L.L.S., Developing Trust and Living Your Values (coming soon). The SKILLS and Trust courses have both won multiple awards.
Courses in the SunShower library
Be a Kind Leader: Six Soft S.K.I.L.L.S.
Being a Kind Leader: Developing Trust
Being a Kind Leader: Living Your Values
Debra L. Lacy, Ed.D.
Director of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion TeamHealth
Dr. Debra Lacy is the Director of DEI at TeamHealth. Previously, she was Director of DEI at Texas Children’s Hospital and Assistant Director of the DEI Office at Liberty Mutual Insurance.
Debra received her Doctor of Education in Learning and Organizational Change from Baylor University. Her thesis, published, was on the impact of inclusive leadership on organizational culture.
Courses in the SunShower library
Debra and Joel collaborated to create the Inclusion in Action eLearning course that was used internally at Liberty Mutual to train more than 35,000 employees. Then they created the commercial version of Inclusion in Action that is available for any organization to use.
Debra and Joel are collaborating to create a new eLearning course, De-Mythifying DEI.
New product coming soon!
Yolanda Lewis-Ragland, M.D.
Attending Physician , Children's National Health Center
Dr. Yolanda Lewis-Ragland is a double-board-certified physician in pediatrics and obesity medicine, owner and CEO of Family Fitness and Wellness for Community Health, and founder of Dr. Yolanda Cares Foundation, her nonprofit organization focusing on reducing health disparities in at-risk communities at home and abroad.
For 20 years, Dr. Lewis-Ragland has lived and practiced in one of the poorest and most traumatized communities in the nation’s capital, gaining the trust and respect of residents and, more recently, actively addressing heart disease in African Americans through her annual Heart-to-Heart Red Carpet Affair. She has published, Navigating a Triple Pandemic: Healthcare Workers of Color Confront Racism in America, Health Disparities in Medicine, and the Trauma of COVID-19.
Dr. Lewis-Ragland is collaborating with SunShower to work on a new program, Let’s Talk: Health Equity
New product coming soon!
Lisette Martinez, MBA
Chief Equity, Diversity, Inclusion and Belonging Officer, National Audubon Society
As a fervent advocate for the transformative power of inclusion within enterprises, Lisette has launched and scaled award-winning DEI organizations and programs that align with the company's mission, vision and values. Throughout her career, she has successfully established, designed and led scalable, company-wide diversity models at renowned institutions such as Jefferson Health, Yale New Haven Health System and TriHealth, integrating DEI into their core infrastructures. Lisette has further demonstrated her commitment by creating supplier diversity, community partnership and leadership development initiatives aimed at increasing diverse spending and broadening organizational impact. Previously, she held the position of Executive Vice President and Chief DEI Officer at Jefferson Health, a 198-year-old legacy organization with 18 hospitals and 10 colleges with over 50,000 employees and students. Lisette was appointed by the National Audubon Society to spearhead efforts across the organization, integrating equity, diversity, inclusion and belonging (EDIB) practices seamlessly into the fabric of Audubon’s operations. Her role involves refining policies and procedures and championing data-driven change initiatives. Lisette collaborates closely with the Conservation and People and Culture teams to embed EDIB principles in Audubon’s conservation initiatives across the Western Hemisphere.
Courses in the SunShower library
Danita Oliver
VP, Global Diversity, Culture & Belonging
As a seasoned builder of holistic strategies, Danita looks to drive change while expanding opportunities. She has extensive experience building and developing teams, strategic planning, goal setting and implementing effective grassroots employee programs.
As a strategic thought leader and culture architect, Danita focuses on cultivating diverse workforce engagement and environments where employees can experience belonging.
Danita is partnering with SunShower to develop a course on growing culture by planting one seed at a time - Culturvate for success.
New product coming soon!
Steve L. Robbins, Ph.D.
Speaker, Author, Inclusion & Belonging Consultant, Founder SL Robbins & Assoc.
Dr. Steve Robbins is a master storyteller. He blends art and science to motivate people to be better humans. His style has been described as a mix of Bill Nye the Science Guy, The Big Bang Theory and Saturday Night Live.
Steve is well-known for his concept on Unintentional Intolerance which is featured in the SunShower course, Inclusion Insights. Our micro-learning course consists of 11 insight nuggets in which Steve tells stories and challenges our automatic assumptions.
Courses in the SunShower library
Marsha Ross-Jackson, Esq., MPA
Senior Lecturer, Associate Dean of DEI and University Ombudsperson at Chicago-Kent College of Law. Founder, BoldWorks
Marsha is the Senior Lecturer, Associate Dean of DEI and University Ombudsperson at Chicago-Kent College of Law.
Marsha is also an experienced attorney, arbitrator, facilitator and consultant who provides training and advice on a variety of employee relations and leadership topics, including, diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging.
Marsha has delivered many live online trainings with SunShower in the areas of unconscious bias, microaggressions and inclusive hiring, consistently receiving rave reviews.
Derald Wing Sue, Ph.D.
Researcher, Author and Faculty,
Teachers College, Columbia University
Dr. Sue is a pioneer in the field of multicultural education and the psychology of racism and antiracism.
Dr. Sue is one of the leading researchers and authors on microaggressions. Dr. Sue’s books include Microaggressions in Everyday Life, and Microintervention Strategies.
Dr. Sue collaborated with SunShower to produce Disarming Microaggressions and the 21-Day Plan for Disarming Microaggressions.
Courses in the SunShower library
Disarming Microaggressions
21-Day Plan for Disarming Microaggressions
Sondra Thiederman, Ph.D.
Speaker, Author, Founder of Cross Cultural Consultants
Dr. Sondra Thiederman is one of the nation’s leading experts on unconscious bias and workplace inclusion issues.
Sondra is a researcher and speaker known for providing practical skills for defeating unconscious bias/implicit bias in the workplace.
Sondra collaborated with SunShower to create three powerful and award-winning courses that continue to be favorites today: Defeating Unconscious Bias, Diversity Dialogue Blunders, and Unconscious Bias in FOCUS.
Courses in the SunShower library
Connie Watson, Ed.D.
Lead Consultant Watson & Assoc.
Dr. Connie Watson excels at getting the people side of your business right from building leadership capacity to increasing team performance.
Dr. Watson is a researcher and author of assessments focusing on the area of well-being and mental health.
Connie has been a frequent collaborator with SunShower for workshops and webinars on inclusive leadership, psychological safety, Ouch! and other topics.
Committed to Accessibility
Our purpose
Remove barriers to learning for the 15-25% of employees who would otherwise be ignored and left with incomplete access to the training.
Our commitment
Compliance with the highest WCAG 2.0 standards of accessibility.
Our method
Design courses that give the learner agency to engage with the courses in the manner they prefer. Test and update our courses continually to meet best practices.
Personalized Implementation Support
When you license an eLearning course, we offer a turnkey solution and stand behind you for the duration of your license.
Our purpose
- Reduce your stress as you install the course on your LMS
Our commitment
- Deliver high completion rates and maximize your investment
Our method
- A team of experts with experience in rolling out the training
- Personalized guidance to help you cascade the training across your organization
- Training materials and resources you can use to embed the training
- Optional train-the-trainer sessions
SunShower courses are known for having emotional impact and teaching skills that can be practiced. Interactive activities, knowledge checks and What would you do? scenarios
Blended learning formats
eLearning courses – self-paced, asynchronous, interactive and award-winning
• Scalable from 100 to 100,000 learners
• Plug & play SCORM on your LMS or SunShower’s
• Adherence to highest standards of accessibility
• Personalized implementation and roll-out support
Trainer’s Toolbox – use our videos, Leader’s Guide, PowerPoint files and handouts to conduct your own training
• 24/7 access to online digital materials
• Never misplace the video files again!
Interactive live training – SunShower experts facilitate customized live workshops in person or on Zoom
• Engaging and thought-provoking
• Customized for your group
What people are saying
Our Recent Insights
My Mid-September Reflections
As I sat down to write this email, I found myself scrolling through the mailing list and recognizing so many names—people I’ve had conversations with that still stand out. Whether it was about Ouch!, purchasing a license or discussing trends in the DEI training and development space, those exchanges have stayed with me.
The Great Detachment: Why Employee Engagement is at Risk—Especially for Gen Z
Employee disengagement is becoming an increasingly critical issue for companies worldwide. With a staggering cost of over $8 trillion globally, the implications of a disengaged workforce are far-reaching. Amidst this landscape, the "Great Detachment" looms large, with younger employees, particularly Gen Z, leading a significant shift in workplace dynamics.
Understanding Employee Responses to DEI Initiatives: Insights and Strategies
A recent study sheds light on a previously underexplored aspect of DEI training. While much focus has been placed on the facilitators, trainers and the content of DEI programs, this study examines how employees actually respond to the training. Published in Harvard Business Review, the research titled “4 Ways Employees Respond to DEI Initiatives” identifies four categories of employee reactions: excited supporters, calm compliers, torn shapers and discontented opponents. The study advocates, and we at SunShower Learning concur, that recognizing these diverse responses allows managers to tailor their approaches, moving beyond a one-size-fits-all model in DEI training and practices.
SHRM’s Removal of “Equity” From DEI Framework: A Step Backwards Amid Growing Backlash
Inclusion without equity fails to address the systemic barriers that prevent equal opportunities and outcomes for all employees. Equity goes beyond treating everyone the same; it involves recognizing and addressing the unique challenges faced by different groups and providing the necessary support and resources to ensure fair treatment and opportunities for success. Without equity, inclusion efforts may still fall short, as underlying disparities and biases remain unaddressed.
Navigating the Shifting Landscape of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Programs
In essence, the rebranding of DEI programs signifies a maturation of the diversity discourse. It’s a recognition that achieving meaningful change demands a multifaceted approach that transcends superficial symbolism. As organizations embrace this evolution, they must remain steadfast in their commitment to fostering truly inclusive cultures and advancing equity for all individuals, irrespective of background or identity.