About Us
We're passionate about creating a more inclusive world.
About Us
We're passionate about creating a more inclusive world.
OUR MISSION
We believe that awareness and skills are keys to helping us create more inclusive communities. We believe in measuring results and that training can help build new skills and let us reflect on our default behaviors.
WHO WE WORK WITH
Organizations with a deep commitment to creating an inclusive community and measuring the outcomes. Get Inclusive courses are deployed in corporations, academic institutions (students, faculty, and staff in 2-4 year colleges) and non-profits.
We believe that harnessing the power of self- reflection can ignite positive action.
We believe that harnessing the power of self- reflection can ignite positive action.
MEET OUR TEAM
Waqar Ali
Founder and President
Waqar (pronounced wha-car, but no one can pronounce it like his mom so he just likes to go by “Ali”) is very scared of mosquitos. He has been bitten by mosquitos in Dubai where he was born and also countless times in Pakistan, Turkey and Abu Dhabi where he grew up. He has been trying to learn how to speak English in the US for the past 22 years and speaks several other languages poorly, including Spanish and Urdu. He covered up his inability to use the articles “a” and “the” by accumulating masters degrees in the wrong subjects. He has an MS from Columbia University in Financial Engineering, an MBA from MIT Sloan and an MPA from Harvard Kennedy School.
Diane Thompson
Co-founder and Director of Operations
Diane says, “I wish I were funnier” and her children couldn’t agree more. She wasn’t trying to be funny when she declined a job offer from a Fortune 100 company after the interviewer was unable to answer her question: “why should I work for you?” She perfected this skill during her undergrad studies at the University of Michigan where she gravitated towards serious professors. She contributes her seriousness on the Board of the Kennedy Center in Connecticut. There are two things that bring Diane infinite joy, her grandkids who think she is funny and, of course, happy customers. (This is the 6th iteration of Diane’s bio, the other 5 were too funny and this one will not be shared with her)
Kim Swanson
Co-founder and Content Advisor
Kim left Ohio after graduating from the Ohio Northern University and realizing that the tranquil mid-western state did not offer the intensity of spicy food that she was destined to dominate. Her quest for that challenge took her to Senegal as a Peace Corps volunteer where she focused on Gender and Development in Education. After a short stint in Bangladesh as part of the US State Department’s Teaching Excellence and Achievement Program, she moved back to New York to begin her career as an ESL teacher in NYC public schools. She then worked at the Columbia University Teachers College as an Assistant Director of Teacher Development and Support. Currently she is taking a lead role in curriculum development for Get Inclusive in exchange for spicy Pakistani food.
CAMPUS SaVE ACT CONTENT ADVISORS
Sheila McMahon
Sheila is currently a Sexual Assault Services and Prevention Specialist at Brandeis. Prior to her current role, she worked at the Center on Violence Against Women and Children at the Rutgers School of Social Work. She spent four years as director of the Women’s Resource Center (WRC) at Boston College, where she built a campus-community coalition to gain support for and implement a campus-wide peer-led bystander intervention program. Sheila also created educational programs, and chaired the WRC Advisory Committee, the Body Confidence Committee and the Sexual Assault Network. She also has several years of experience in social work including individual case management and therapeutic approaches as well as community organization and policy advocacy.
Sheila received her BA in English and women’s studies magna cum laude from Boston College and earned her MDiv at Harvard University. She went on to complete leadership training at Boston College’s Carroll School of Management and her MSW from Rutgers University School of Social Work. She will graduate with her PhD in social work in May 2014, during which she has been a researcher for a grant examining the effectiveness of a bystander education intervention using peer theater for first-year students.
Sharon Zucker
Sharon teaches courses focused on Violence and Abuse in Adulthood and Social Policy at Rutgers School of Social Work. She joined the School of Social Work in 2013 as a Program Coordinator and Instructor at the Center on Violence Against Women and Children.
Sharon also coordinates the MSW Certificate Program on Violence Against Women and Children, which includes approximately 70 MSW students each year. Sharon earned an MPA at the University of Colorado, with a Certificate in Domestic Violence, fueling . focused on domestic violence, and has fueled her passion for working in the VAWC field. Prior to joining the School of Social Work, Sharon worked as Prevention Education Coordinator at the Rutgers Office for Violence Prevention and Victim Assistance.
Ms. Zucker’s research interests include prevention of interpersonal violence, and how policy affects victims and perpetrators of gender based violence.