Unique and United Conference

CultureALL’s Open Book Experience is an interactive story-sharing session designed to foster connection through lived experience. Community members serve as “Books,” sharing powerful 7–10 minute chapters from their personal journeys. Following each story, participants engage in guided dialogue centered on shared human themes such as identity, resilience, belonging, and understanding. 

The Books represent a wide range of backgrounds, ethnicities, sexual orientations, ability statuses, and faith traditions, reflecting the rich diversity of everyday Iowans. In just 45–60 minutes, participants move beyond assumptions, discover meaningful common ground, and gain a deeper appreciation for differences. 

This session creates space for honest conversation, reflection, and connection across perspectives. 

Marketing is most effective when it moves beyond surface-level demographics and centers on lived experience, identity, and meaningful connection. This session examines how understanding audience diversity across culture, ability, age, access, and life experience leads to more intentional, ethical, and impactful marketing and design decisions. 

Participants will explore how to shift from assumption-based messaging to audience-informed strategy. Through practical examples from higher education, community organizations, and multi-platform campaigns, this session offers tools to design communications that resonate, build trust, and foster belonging. 

Participants will learn how to: 

• Define audiences beyond basic demographic categories 

• Recognize the diversity of experience within a single group 

• Create visuals and messaging that feel inclusive and authentic 

• Avoid common pitfalls that unintentionally exclude or misrepresent communities 

• Align storytelling, branding, and promotion across platforms for consistency and credibility 

Aligned with the conference theme Strength in Every Story, this session highlights how marketing becomes more powerful when it reflects real people rather than generalized profiles. When organizations honor individuality in their communications, they strengthen connection, engagement, and long-term trust. 

Every person carries a story that shapes how they lead, connect, and contribute. In this interactive session, Heather Jones-Brown and Jawanza Evans guide participants through a structured exploration of personal narrative as a tool for leadership, belonging, and transformation. Through authentic storytelling, guided reflection, and practical application, participants will identify defining moments in their lives and learn how to shape those experiences into stories that foster understanding and connection. 

This session moves beyond storytelling as inspiration and positions it as strategy. Participants will leave with a clear framework for crafting and sharing their own stories in ways that strengthen community, build trust, and create space for authentic dialogue. 

Participants will leave with: 

• A practical storytelling template to craft and refine their personal narrative 

• Increased confidence in using lived experience as a leadership and community-building tool 

• Actionable strategies for leveraging story to promote empathy, inclusion, and connection within higher education and beyond 

Aligned with the theme Strength in Every Story, this session helps participants recognize that lived experience is not peripheral to professional identity, it is foundational. When individuals understand and articulate the moments that shaped them, they elevate both individuality and collective belonging. 

This session explores the role of individuality within organizational systems and why honoring identity is essential to long-term success. Participants will examine practical opportunities organizations can implement to strengthen inclusivity, improve retention, and reduce discrimination and burnout. 

Grounded in the principles of diversity management and cultural competence, the presentation focuses on actionable strategies to better support minority professionals. Attendees will leave with a clearer understanding of how intentional policies, leadership practices, and workplace culture directly influence employee engagement, well-being, and organizational sustainability. 

This session examines how the true strength of leadership is measured not only by the leader, but by the leader’s ability to cultivate the potential of others. Drawing from Dr. Craig Leager’s 25-year career across urban K–12 districts, rural community colleges, and a national education technology organization, this presentation moves beyond geography to focus on the universal principles that drive human growth and professional excellence. 

Grounded in a “Talent Gardener” framework, Dr. Leager demonstrates how effective leaders identify latent talent, provide differentiated development, and design personalized growth pathways. While institutional contexts may differ, the fundamental human need for growth, stability, and purposeful leadership remains constant. 

Participants will explore actionable strategies that translate across environments, including: 

• Anchoring leadership development in shared values 

• Building a coaching-centered culture 

• Cultivating an adaptive growth mindset 

• Normalizing continuous feedback 

• Expanding learning opportunities and integrating them into daily practice 

• Defining clear career pathways 

• Conducting regular talent assessments to sustain growth 

Aligned with the conference theme Strength in Every Story, this session reinforces that leadership impact is amplified when leaders recognize and leverage the unique professional backgrounds of their teams. By focusing on universal development principles rather than local limitations, organizations can transform any setting into fertile ground for the next generation of leaders. 

What happens when the career you love is suddenly gone? 

In this candid and energizing session, you’ll hear the story of a Midwest professional whose corporate insurance journey spanned seven states before returning to Iowa to serve as Vice President of Agencies for a local insurance company. In March 2020, during an organizational restructure, that role was eliminated. What could have been a defining setback became the catalyst for reinvention. 

Rather than retreat, this moment sparked the launch of a Leadership and Executive Coaching and Leadership Development firm based in Des Moines. Over the past five and a half years, this work has focused on elevating leaders, strengthening teams, and building organizations grounded in people development. 

Through raw, relatable storytelling, this session explores how to navigate fear, trust your inner voice, and move forward after unexpected change. Participants will gain practical tools for cultivating resilience, reframing disruption, and leading with clarity during uncertainty. 

Attendees will walk away with: 

• Strategies to manage mindset during career disruption 

• Tools to rebuild confidence after professional setbacks 

• Insight into turning fear into forward momentum 

• A framework for leading with resilience during organizational change 

Grounded in real experience and supported by leadership development expertise, this session is a reminder that sometimes being “fired” is not the end of the story, but the beginning of a stronger one. 

At eight years old, Aaryn Frazier-Elliott became the youngest person diagnosed with Crohn’s disease in Minnesota at the time. What followed were years defined by hospital rooms, infusion chairs, invasive testing, immune suppression, and constant reminders of long-term health risks. Childhood became measured in procedures, medications, and missed milestones. 

In the midst of uncertainty, education became refuge. Academic achievement was not just success, it was stability. Identifying as a “gifted” student provided control in a body that often felt unpredictable. Yet tying identity to performance created new challenges, including pressure, perfectionism, and mental health struggles that accompanied living with chronic illness. 

This session explores what it means to build a life around perceived limitations and then use those very limitations as fuel. Aaryn shares her winding educational path from IHCC graduate to Master of Teaching candidate in ELA/TESOL at the University of Northern Iowa, and her current work with Ottumwa Schools and Iowa Vocational Rehabilitation Services. Her story examines resilience, identity formation, invisible illness, and the power of learning as both escape and empowerment. 

Participants will reflect on: 

• How chronic illness shapes identity and belonging 

• The intersection of achievement, mental health, and self-worth 

• The role of education as both refuge and calling 

• Turning limitation into fortification 

This session speaks directly to the strength that emerges not in spite of adversity, but because of it. 

This breakout session offers an abbreviated Safe Zone training designed to increase awareness, understanding, and allyship within the LGBTQ+ community. Participants will receive a resource packet that includes key terminology, helpful diagrams, and a glossary of commonly used words related to gender identity, sexual orientation, and romantic orientation. The session will also provide foundational scientific context to clarify concepts often misunderstood or misrepresented. 

Facilitated by Erica Redgate, President of the Mt. Pleasant chapter of PFLAG, and Paul Winer, father of a transgender daughter, this session is grounded in both lived experience and community advocacy. Together, they bring personal insight and practical knowledge shaped by supporting LGBTQ+ family members and engaging in outreach work. 

This training is built on a simple premise: people often fear or judge what they do not understand. By increasing knowledge and encouraging open dialogue, this session aims to reduce stigma, promote respectful communication, and equip participants with tools to create safer, more inclusive environments in their workplaces and communities. 

Participants will leave with: 

• A foundational understanding of LGBTQ+ terminology and concepts 

• Increased confidence in respectful language and ally behaviors 

• Practical strategies to foster inclusive and affirming spaces 

• Resources for continued learning and community support 

Knowledge drives understanding. Understanding opens the door to meaningful change. 

This session explores the refugee experience in Iowa and examines the critical role community colleges play in supporting integration, workforce development, and long-term success. Through both data and lived experience, participants will gain insight into the challenges refugees face and the systems that can either accelerate or hinder belonging and economic mobility. 

Vinh Nguyen shares his personal journey from war-torn Vietnam to Iowa. Born in Saigon during the height of the Vietnam War, Vinh grew up in a family of ten children where collaboration and perseverance were essential for survival. After the fall of South Vietnam in 1975 and the rapid political and economic changes that followed, his family made the difficult decision to send him to seek freedom and opportunity abroad. 

In 1981, Vinh was smuggled out of Vietnam with 134 others on a small, unsafe boat. After a perilous journey, their vessel was rescued by an oil tanker, and he was sent to a refugee camp in Thailand. He was later resettled in Des Moines, Iowa, where education and community support became central to building a new life. 

This session connects individual story to systemic impact by highlighting: 

• The realities of refugee resettlement in Iowa 

• Barriers to integration, education, and workforce participation 

• How community colleges serve as access points for language acquisition, credentialing, and economic mobility 

• Practical strategies institutions can use to better support refugee and immigrant students 

Participants will leave with a deeper understanding of the refugee population in Iowa and a clearer picture of how community colleges can serve not only as educational institutions, but as engines of integration, stability, and opportunity. 

This presentation shares the journey of a family navigating an autism diagnosis at age six and being told to expect limited outcomes. What followed was years of advocacy, setbacks, specialized interventions, and unwavering belief in potential. Despite being misunderstood, chastised, and bullied, Oliver defied the limitations placed on him, graduating from college with honors and now working in the aerospace industry. 

This session explores life after diagnosis, the emotional realities families face, and the critical role of persistence, advocacy, and refusing to accept imposed ceilings. Attendees will gain insight into supporting neurodivergent individuals, challenging deficit-based narratives, and creating systems that recognize capability rather than limitation. 

Whether you are getting ready to enter the workforce or already a seasoned professional, building your network is key to your growth. While many recognize this, the idea of meeting new people can be anxiety inducing that leads to uncomfortable or awkward interactions. 

Expanding your network is more than just exchanging business cards or social media handles. It’s creating true connection with others. It’s being purposeful in diversifying your network by seeking relationships with others who have varied careers, ages, abilities, and cultures.  In this practical workshop, participants will learn how to use intentional thought creation as an energy source in meeting new people; how to not let differences be a barrier to relationship development, and how leaning in to discomfort is key for personal growth. 

Please enter through the PVA Welcome Center, Efner Hall. All sessions will take place in the Arts & Sciences building.

Event schedule

• 8:00-8:45 Opening Keynote
• 8:45-9:00 Vendor and Networking Break
• 9:00-9:45 Breakout Session 1
• 9:45-10:00 Vendor and Networking Break
• 10:00-10:45 Breakout Session 2
• 10:45-11:00 Vendor and Networking Break
• 11:00-11:45 Breakout Session 3
• 11:45-1:00 Lunch (Extended Vendor Engagement) 
• 1:00-1:30 Panel Discussion
• 1:30-2:15 Closing Keynote
• 2:15-2:30 Prizes and Closing

Are you interested in receiving IHCC college credit by attending the Diversity Conference?

You can also inquire at the front registration/check-in table during the conference.

Certain classes are eligible for CEH credit. To receive credit, please inquire at the front registration/check-in table during the conference.