Dr. Rachel-Yvonne Talton is CEO of the award-winning firm Synergy International Limited, Inc. Synergy’s purpose is to help organizations enhance the intersection of employee leadership, inclusive culture, and consumer needs. Synergy uses a unique combination of expertise in research, leadership development and diversity, equity and inclusion to better understand consumer, employee and community behaviors and leverage opportunities for cohesion and growth.
In addition to Dr. Rachel’s success as an entrepreneur, she is an award-winning published scholar and keynote speaker in the areas of leadership, diversity, employee and consumer engagement and trust.
FWM: Tell us about Synergy International Limited, Inc.
I founded Synergy International Limited, Inc. twenty years ago in 2002. I still can’t believe it’s been 20 years! Synergy’s purpose is to help organizations enhance the intersection of employee leadership, inclusive culture, and consumer needs. Synergy uses a unique combination of our expertise in research, leadership development and diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging to better understand consumer, employee and community behaviors and leverage opportunities for cohesion and growth.
We were founded after my then-husband had a sudden heart attack and passed away. Soon after, I spoke to my mentor, who was the managing partner of Deloitte at the time and shared with him that I didn’t love my job anymore. He asked me a great question – what do I love? And it was there that I decided that what I love is creating opportunities for a company to understand its consumer’s unmet needs and giving their employees the tools and resources to exceed those needs. That’s synergy… and my company was born! Our first client was Kent State University, who needed a diversity, equity and inclusion plan.
FWM: What are some of the resources offered by your organization?
We offer our clients a suite of services, including diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging strategies and tactics; employee and consumer research; and leadership development strategies, including executive coaching. We have a number of clients, ranging from Amazon, Toyota, Lbrands, and rag + bone to Summit County and other government entities, to nonprofit organizations like the Columbus Urban League and Promusica Chamber Orchestra.
We are proud to offer many services in the DEIB space, including inclusive leadership, assessments, DEIB planning, ERG/ARG support, community engagement, and other services. We also offer executive coaching to leaders from around the world, helping them to navigate strategic challenges and take advantage of opportunities. Finally, we offer several research products to our clients, including employee and consumer research – qualitative, quantitative, observational, and secondary research.
FWM: Share an example of the ways in which Synergy supports these organizations.
For Amazon, we offer executive coaching to several of the AWS leaders, including inclusive leadership consulting services.
We are excited to also be working with one of our clients on their first event for global Black women leaders. We look forward to providing strategic council for the event itself, as well as a strategic framework to support the managers of these Black women leaders. After the event, we will share this framework with the Latina, Asian, LGBTQ+ and other marginalized groups of that organization, as well.
For some of our clients, we provide strategic counsel for projects that support underserved groups. For example, in Summit County, we are working with the County Executive Ilene Shapiro in designing an Upward Mobility program for the residents of Summit County. Summit was one of only eight counties to be selected for this work through the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
For Toyota, we are working with several of their top Black women leaders for an entire year to build leadership tools, provide resources for advancement and sponsorship, and to build power in their already powerful collective. These projects are exciting, as we continue to see growth in the leaders and in their relationships as the year moves forward.
For most of our clients, we provide inclusive leadership assessments and tools, and provide coaching on how to become more inclusive, more effective, and more engaged as leaders. We conduct retreats, seminars, and workshops as well.
FWM: You have been featured as an expert in brand strategy and market research on ABC News, Fox News and others. What key topics are you discussing today?
We have been highlighted on many local and national news programs for our leadership development programs, particularly those designed to help women to succeed. I have done speeches around the world on topics ranging from my doctoral research area of leadership trust (both gaining and maintaining trust, as well as repairing it when it has been breached), on developing cohesive teams, on diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging, and on how to integrate work and life. I just wrote an article for Enterprising Women called “The Great ReAwakening: Women are Taking Back Their Corporate Narrative” which speaks to the future of work for women, and the new decision-making process we are undertaking.
I am also a co-founder of The Bow Collective, The Black Owner & Women’s Collective is an organization and sisterhood of the Nation’s top 1% of Black Women Enterprises, there are 50 members and together we have revenues of over $250 Million per year and employ almost 1500 people. As “Business Philanthropists” we work together to bring awareness, business opportunities, and capital resources to black women enterprises and to help support emerging Black women in business. As a member of Chief, The BOW Collective, ICWW, my sorority Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. and the Links, Inc. I am quite busy supporting women to flourish in their careers, businesses and lives!
FWM: You are also the CTO (Chief Transformation Officer) of Flourish Leadership, LLC. Flourish is also engaged in Diversity, Equity & Inclusion workshops. Tell us more.
I founded the Flourish Conference for Women in Leadership and Flourish Leadership, LLC in 2015 to help women leaders across the globe design strategies to integrate their work and life, and flourish in these and many other areas. The conferences were a great success, and thousands of women across the country were able to attend them. Since COVID-19, we have suspended the in-person events, although so much of what I designed is being used with our Synergy clients today.
To that end, my book, Flourish: Have it All Without Losing Yourself, focuses on six currencies of your life that have (or should have) primacy. Of course, one of those is the currency of professional success and wealth. Another currency is the state of our mental, physical and emotional health. We also measure the health of our relationships. Relationships with our significant others, with family and friends, with colleagues, and with those in our community—both local and global. We measure success by our level of spiritual clarity, or mindfulness about our purpose. Yet another currency is our level of service: how we improve the lives of people and the world around us by giving. And finally, we measure the legacy we leave behind, the impact that we have long after we have left this earth. The science confirms that each of these elements leads to a longer, more fulfilled life when they are integrated in a healthy manner.
Of course, being culturally competent is integral to flourishing, and everything we provide our clients supports the integration of cultural competency across these six currencies.
FWM: Do you have any upcoming events or speaking engagements?
Because it is Black History Month, I am excited to be speaking for several organizations and groups. I just did a talk called “From Allyship to Advocacy: Honoring Black History and Culture 24/7/365” for rag + bone and another called “Moving Research Forward: How Leaders Can Be More Inclusive and Effective” for the North Central Chapter of the Insights Association. On April 1, 2022, I will give the keynote address for the Tri-C Women’s Summit called Daring to Reinvent Ourselves with Passion, Perseverance, and Purpose.
https://www.linkedin.com/in/racheltalton/ and/or on Facebook at: https://www.facebook.com/Dr.RachelTalton
