Mohammed Bilal

Mohammed Soriano-Bilal is an accomplished diversity and inclusion consultant, a strategist, poet, and award-winning producer of both music and film. He is probably best known as the voice of reason on MTV's Real World San Francisco. As a facilitator of hundreds of diversity and inclusion presentations and trainings at colleges, universities and high schools nationwide, Bilal works to remove the blockages that stand in the way of growth.

Bilal is also the director of the film, "Towards Excellence," which explores diversity and equity at independent schools. The documentary looks closely at the problematic 80’s, when many private schools intentionally/experimentally increased admittance of African American students to meet self-imposed quotas. Through interviews with some of today’s top administrators, the film offers valuable insights for building vibrant and inclusive school communities. Bilal, who attended and taught at independent schools, unravels power and privilege, race, gender and space.

As the former Executive Director of the African American Art and Culture Complex, one of San Francisco's six cultural centers, Bilal led a strategic shift toward creative place-making development, leading to a 21% increase in revenue. He also worked as the Design Strategist at Scansion Inc., examining the confluence of equity, art, and innovation. Bilal is currently the Assistant Dean and Managing Director for Diversity and Inclusion Programs, Diversity, and First Gen-Office at Stanford University.

As a multi-disciplinarian artist, Bilal has collaborated with Santana, Public Enemy, Ben Harper, De La Soul, Danny Glover and Mos Def. His music has been featured on NBC, the CW, and at the Sundance Film Festival. He wrote a weekly column for the San Francisco Bay Guardian and his other film work includes "If I Were President," an election campaign that helped register 200,000 first-time voters of color and "Vocabulary of Change," a conversation between Angela Davis and Tim Wise.