Janet Stovall

Inclusion advocate, speechwriter
UPS's Janet Stovall has developed a business approach that addresses corporate racism head-on — and has created methods to help dismantle it.

Why you should listen

As one of only a handful of Black students on campus at Davidson College in North Carolina in the mid-80s, Janet Stovall witnessed racism and exclusion firsthand. Rather than retreating, this experience inspired Stovall to explore and initiate difficult conversations about race. By graduation, she had devised a plan to kickstart diversity initiatives that even now is recognized and referenced as the catalyst for changes that created a more diverse and inclusive Davidson. As an executive communications expert, Stovall has developed a business approach that addresses corporate racism head-on and has created methods to help dismantle it. At UPS, she is the primary speechwriter for the CEO and other senior leaders.

Stovall is working towards a Master's degree in integrated marketing communications from Georgetown University. In her spare time, she's exploring how people of color navigate predominately white colleges and corporate America, and the cultural and culinary links between past and present people of the African Diaspora.

Janet Stovall’s TED talk