#WPC27PNW
MEET THE KEYNOTES
MONIQUE CLARK
A powerful storyteller and CODA changemaker who centers access, equity, and belonging through leadership, advocacy, and insight.
Monique Clark brings an invaluable perspective shaped by her upbringing as a Child of Deaf Adults (CODA) within Deaf culture, where American Sign Language (ASL) was her first language. Her deep connection to the Deaf and Hard of Hearing community has profoundly influenced her lifelong advocacy for accessibility, inclusion, and justice.
With over 24 years of experience in the ASL interpreting industry, Monique has worked across a range of roles including sign language interpreting, operations, employee management, and people & culture, with more than a decade in leadership positions. Her work is grounded in building inclusive systems, championing equity, and transforming how organizations understand and meet the needs of marginalized communities.
As Chief Operating Officer at SignGlasses, a groundbreaking language service provider, Monique leads efforts to revolutionize communication access through patented technology offering live sign language interpreting and captioning via smart glasses. Under her leadership, SignGlasses is redefining accessibility and empowerment for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing.
Beyond her executive role, Monique is the founder of Clark Laine, where she provides consulting, workshops, and speaking engagements centered around equity, access, and leadership development. Monique brings powerful narratives of identity, power, and resilience—inviting audiences to confront systems of oppression and imagine liberatory futures where difference is celebrated and everyone can thrive authentically.
JORDON JOHNSON
A visionary educator, bold civic engaged leader and trans advocate who is invested in racial healing and reimagining justice in our communities.
Jordon Johnson, PhD, is an educator, researcher, and civic engaged leader who puts forth practices to deeply engage with a process of transforming ourselves and systems. He is committed to building a collective movement focused on bold, compassionate, and thought-provoking actions.
As a white transman and visionary, he offers a unique perspective on how to navigate and design community-based solutions centered in feelings of belonging and create public policies that benefit everyone.
Jordon is a lead learner and embraces a vital self-reflective practice in order to foster an environment that elevates our interconnectedness as humans and centralizes community capital. His practice is based in a process of calming the nervous system and opening the heart.
ALI MICHAEL
An author and racial equity educator, fostering courage and resilience by modeling risk taking, mistake making, and repair.
Ali Michael is a nationally recognized speaker and writer. Most recently, she co-authored the inviting book, Our Problem, Our Path: Collective Antiracism for White People (Corwin Press, 2022). Ali is the author of Raising Race Questions: Whiteness, Inquiry and Education (Teachers College Press, 2015), winner of the 2017 Society of Professors of Education Outstanding Book Award, and co-adaptor of White Fragility for Young Adult Readers. She also co-edited several books with Dr. Eddie Moore Jr., including the bestselling Guide for White Women who Teach Black Boys (Corwin Press, 2017).
More recently, Ali’s research focuses on the anti-DEI campaign, how it overlaps with the attacks on democracy, and how schools can respond. She sits on the editorial board of the journal Whiteness and Education and teaches in the Diversity and Inclusion Program at Princeton University.
KIM WILLIAMS
A radical and bold leader willing to go where most won't and changing the world one person at a time with a focus on humanity, joy, and finding a new way to heal us all.
Kimberlee Williams is first and foremost a humanist, a deep believer in what is possible when humanity is centered. Her mix of authenticity and raw truth gives permission for those around her to choose progress over perfection and bring their full selves into the room.
She is known for finding humor and challenge at just the right moments, and like the best of coaches, leaning in and pushing audiences just enough to believe in the potential she sees. Her approach of connection and compassion is what makes a consultation feel like a conversation with your best friend, a workshop feel like a workout with your favorite trainer, and her presentations feel like a present from your closest confidant.
In addition to being an award-winning author, she is also the DEI manager for Kitsap County, Washington.