Dr. A.C. Fowlkes

Dr. A.C. Fowlkes is a globally recognized clinical psychologist, mental health executive, and CEO of Fowlkes Consulting LLC. He is a leading voice at the intersection of LGBTQ+ inclusion, mental health, and executive leadership, known for transforming how organizations understand equity, leadership, and human complexity.

He does not just speak about systems. He has led them.

Dr. Fowlkes has held senior clinical leadership roles within high-acuity mental health environments, including serving as a Psych Associate Senior within the second-largest prison in Virginia, where he oversaw large-scale mental health services in one of the most complex systems in the country. He also played a key role in developing the first treatment program in the United States for female sexually violent predators, helping to redefine standards in forensic mental health care.

Through his consulting work, Dr. Fowlkes partners with organizations across a wide range of industries, including finance, healthcare, corrections, aerospace, fashion, retail, and mental health systems, among others. He is brought in when the stakes are high and surface-level solutions are no longer enough.

His leadership is not theoretical. It is lived.

At 17, Dr. Fowlkes became pregnant. At 18, he became a parent. Around that same time, he experienced homelessness while caring for his infant son. That early intersection of responsibility, instability, and survival did not derail his trajectory. It sharpened it. It shaped the way he understands systems, not as abstract structures, but as forces that either hold people or fail them.

That perspective has never left him.

But what sets Dr. Fowlkes apart is not just his expertise. It is his willingness to be fully seen.

As a transgender man, he speaks openly about medically transitioning in the workplace while holding leadership. He names the realities of visibility, bias, and identity without abstraction, bringing a level of clarity that organizations cannot ignore.

As a psychologist, he refuses to sanitize mental health. He speaks candidly about the completed suicide of his younger brother and the lifelong impact of that loss. He also speaks openly about his own ongoing relationship with suicidal ideation. Not as a confession, but as a deliberate act of leadership. A way to normalize what is often hidden and to challenge individuals and organizations to move beyond performative wellness into something real.

This commitment to truth is powerfully captured in his TEDx talk, “I Can’t Do This Alone: Suicide, Cancer, and Gender Dysphoria,” where he brings audiences into the lived intersection of grief, identity, illness, and survival. The talk is both deeply personal and universally resonant, challenging the silence that often surrounds mental health while calling for collective responsibility and care.

He is also the author of "Transgender Inclusion: All the Things You Want to Ask Your Transgender Coworker But Shouldn’t," a widely recognized guide that brings clarity, compassion, and practical insight to conversations many people are unsure how to navigate.

And in the midst of navigating a rare and aggressive form of breast cancer, Dr. Fowlkes has continued to lead and speak. He shares the complexity of receiving a life-threatening diagnosis that ultimately resulted in gender affirming surgery, holding both grief and alignment at the same time.

This is why his voice carries.

It is grounded in lived experience, sharpened by clinical expertise, and executed through executive leadership.

Dr. Fowlkes is a former Forbes contributor, with published work that continues to inform conversations on leadership, inclusion, and mental health. He currently serves as a board member of The Trevor Project and has been recognized by LinkedIn as a Top Voice among leading thought leaders on LGBTQ+ issues across the United States and Canada.

Through Fowlkes Consulting, he partners with organizations ready to do more than signal values. His keynotes, fireside chats, and advisory work are direct, disarming, and deeply impactful. He challenges leaders to confront what is uncomfortable while equipping them to lead with clarity, courage, and accountability.

Dr. Fowlkes does not offer performative inclusion. He offers transformation.

And for organizations willing to engage at that level, the impact is lasting."