Aria Florant
Aria Florant
Reparations Advocate
Brooklyn, NY
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TOPICS
Activism
Diversity
Equity
Race
Leadership
Women of Color
Aria Florant is Co-Founder and CEO of Liberation Ventures (LV), which is building the power to win federal comprehensive reparations for Black Americans. Prior to LV, Aria has been a researcher, management consultant, organizer, teacher, and nonprofit practitioner. She defines belonging as holding difference with love, and all of her work drives toward a singular mission: building a world where all people’s whole selves belong. She is rooted in a Black feminist ethos, loves a good Cabernet, and calls Colorado, East Palo Alto, Brooklyn, and the wilderness home. Aria has spoken on over a dozen stages, including TedXHarvard Kennedy School, Forward Global, Women Donors Network, and more.
SPEAKING TOPICS INCLUDE:
Racial injustice: racism, the racial wealth gap, systemic racial injustice, systems of oppression
Solutions to racial injustice: racial repair, reparations
Identity: mixed race identity, identity development and complexity, proximity to whiteness
Belonging: holding difference, shame, wholeness, integrity, alignment, healing
Adaptive leadership: adaptive vs. technical problems, authority vs. leadership, building strong holding environments, understanding stakeholder landscapes, etc.
Leading multicultural/multiracial institutions: distributing power, authority dynamics, interdependence, accountability, governance, fundraising
Navigating the private sector as a Black woman: asking for help, cultivating sponsorship/mentorship, controlling your own narrative, etc.
I've had the privilege of witnessing Aria's talents as a speaker on multiple occassions. Her recent address at the Women Donors Network in 2023, however, was a standout; she has always been engaging and clear, but integrating her personal experiences and her mother's story into her discussion on reparations truly elevated her presentation. By sharing her vulnerability, she connected deeply with her audience, fostering a genuine connection to the mission of Liberation Ventures. The session was both moving and remarkable.
By sharing her own story so powerfully and vulnerably, Aria invited us to do the same. She unzipped us. She held the room of 200 women donors rapt. But she didn't stop there. She zipped us right back up with a call to move our values in solidarity with others, to build a world in which all of us are free.
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