Gwendolyn VanSant is an experienced organizational change consultant and coach who works at the intersection of diversity, leadership, equity and inclusion, and strategic planning. She serves as a non-profit leader as the CEO and Founding Executive Director of BRIDGE and the principal & owner of consulting firm, Equity in Practice, LLC. A skilled community organizer, Gwendolyn is also a well-recognized thought leader on racial justice,reparations, gender equity and anti-poverty work. She is a pioneer in integrating research-based positive psychology practices into her equity and inclusion approach. Gwendolyn currently serves as the Vice Chair of the Town of Great Barrington W. E.B.Du Bois Legacy Committee and has served on the Host Committee for the Elizabeth Freeman Monument. She is on the United States Attorney Office Civil Rights Task Force, Advisory Board of Greylock Federal Credit Union’s Community Development Financial Institution (CDFI) program, incorporator for Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts and she is a board member of the Berkshire Taconic Community Foundation, Unitarian Universalist Meeting of South Berkshire, Trauma Research Foundation and Shakespeare & Company. Gwendolyn also served on the Massachusetts Department of Public Health COVID-19 Communication Advisory Panel. A longtime activist, Gwendolyn has founded several initiatives based on the principles of equity and justice, the inherent dignity and worth of individuals, and our interconnected web of humanity. Her most recent accomplishment in 2020 is leading the community effort to rename the middle school, W.E.B.Du Bois Middle School over the finish line in the last 3 years. In September 2021, Gwendolyn received national recognition as the Drum Major for Justice by the National Community Action Council Council for her anti-poverty mutual aid response at a community level to the negative impact of COVID on the most vulnerable communities and the design of the New Pathways program to provide education in equity and justice across all sectors in the forms of labs, talks, conferences and learning modules including speakers like Angela Davis and Dr. Beverly Tatum.In 2021, Gwendolyn also published a chapter for her IDEA approach in the textbook, Diversity matters: The Color, Shape and Tone of 21st Century Diversity.