Vernā Myers

Vernā Myers is a diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) strategist, cultural innovator, and author with a career spanning legal, corporate, and academic sectors. Myers graduated from Barnard College and Harvard Law School, beginning her career as an associate attorney at Boston law firms before transitioning to public service and DEI leadership. She served as the first executive director of The Boston Law Firm Group and as deputy chief of staff for the attorney general of Massachusetts, where she enhanced statewide initiatives on inclusion and sexual harassment training. These roles provided Myers with a foundation for understanding and addressing systemic barriers in the workplace.

Myers is the founder and CEO of The Vernā Myers Company, which has worked with leaders and organizations to address barriers related to race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, and other differences. Her company provides cultural assessments, strategic diversity action plans, interactive workshops, and leadership consulting to legal, corporate, and academic organizations. Myers has delivered keynotes at organizations including The World Bank, National Geographic, 21st Century Fox, NASA, Warner Bros., the National Museum of African American History and Culture, and Qualcomm. For more than a decade, The Vernā Myers Company sponsored the annual invitation-only OPUS Conference, bringing together executives to discuss DEI topics.

Myers served as the inaugural vice president of inclusion strategy at Netflix, where she led initiatives to advance the company's DEI efforts, increase representation, and integrate cultural diversity and equity into global operations. She launched Netflix's first inclusion report and developed a curriculum for inclusive leadership, engaging more than 600 executives worldwide. Under her leadership, the inclusion team expanded across all regions and functions at Netflix. Myers later returned to The Vernā Myers Company to continue her consulting work with organizations worldwide.

Myers is the author of "Moving Diversity Forward: Going from Well-Meaning to Well-Doing" and "What If I Say The Wrong Thing?" published by the American Bar Association. Her TED talk, "How to Overcome Our Biases? Walk Boldly Towards Them," has been viewed by millions and translated into multiple languages. She has contributed to Refinery29 and Huffington Post, and has been cited by The Atlantic, Forbes, Harvard Business Review, and TED NPR Radio.

Myers has received recognition from organizations such as the California Association of Black Lawyers, the Black Women Lawyers Association of Los Angeles Foundation, CODE Crew, and Diversity Woman. She holds an honorary juris degree from Santa Clara University School of Law, is a fellow of the College of Law Practice Management, and has received the Diversity Champion Award from Pepper Hamilton LLP and the Trailblazer in Gender Equity & Diversity Award from Women Business Collaborative. Myers is known for her expertise in DEI strategy, workplace inclusion, and cultural transformation.