About Kimberly

Dr. Kimberly Harden is a consultant and a keynote speaker. She advises corporate, nonprofit, and academic leaders on their recruitment, hiring, retention, and promotion strategies. She also helps organizations shift from a traditional diversity and inclusion model to a model that emphasizes diversity, equity, belonging, interpersonal communication, and talent management (DEBIT TrainingTM). Dr. Harden also serves as a professor in the Department of Communication at Seattle University. In 2020, she was awarded the Sankofa Faculty of the Year Award. Before she became an educator, Dr. Harden spent over 15 years working in the healthcare sector.

Dr. Harden has spoken at various events including the Be on the Rise D&I Summit, Ignite Seattle’s Education Lab, One Woman Fearless! Summit, and the Rise to the Occasion Women’s Conference. Dr. Harden is passionate about diversity, justice, leadership, collaboration, care, and transformation. She developed her signature Dream. Plan. Do.TM program to encourage and empower others to dream big, create an action plan, and share resources. In winter 2020, the Dream. Plan. Do.TM Workbook will be available on Amazon.com, and Dr. Harden will launch the Dream. Plan. Do.TM Scholarship with the Northwest African American Museum in fall 2020.

Dr. Harden received her undergraduate degree in Communication from The University of Washington, a master’s degree in Communication and Leadership Studies from Gonzaga University, and a doctorate in Educational Leadership from Concordia University. Dr. Harden agrees with Aristotle’s assertion that “Educating the mind without educating the heart is no education at all.”