Book IWD Speaker: Shantell Thomas

Inclusive Leadership, Employer Branding, Power of Partnerships: Aligning teams around purpose, goals & clarity

The technology industry is known for creating innovative products00 that shape how we live and work.

Behind every one of those innovations are people — and Shantell Thomas has built her career championing their experience.

Shantell began her career marketing technology products but quickly realized her deeper calling was serving the people behind the work.

Her professional journey spans globally recognized organizations including IBM, Avalara, Cisco, Lenovo, and Amazon.

Within those halls, she discovered her purpose: helping organizations design workplaces where people can truly thrive.

That purpose was crystallized more than a decade ago when, during a performance review, a manager told her, “You need to be a speaker.”

She accepted the challenge — and hasn’t left the stage since.

Today, Shantell has delivered keynotes and talks (both live and virtual) for major conferences and organizations including iBTechCon, Young Women in STEM, BITCON, the City of Fayetteville, M.M. LaFleur, the American Marketing Association–Triangle, and the Durham Chamber of Commerce.

She has also motivated and engaged employees at companies such as Cisco, Deluxe, Avalara, Amazon, Legrand North America, Google, and Rent.

As the Managing Founder of Inside Out Strategies {iOS}, Shantell brings together every chapter of her journey to help organizations design intentional, inclusive workplaces.

She believes the employee experience (EX) deserves the same rigor and care as the customer experience (CX) — because when people thrive, businesses do too.

She now lives in the “Silicon Valley of the South,” Durham, NC, but her unmistakable Southern drawl is a lasting souvenir from her Lowcountry, South Carolina roots.

By day, she works to use “Tech for Good” — helping companies turn inclusion, culture, and human-centered design into measurable success. By night, like many mothers, she’s simply trying to figure out what’s for dinner!

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