Kjell van Zoen (they/them)

DEIB & equitable operations coach. Facilitator, educator, speaker, and culture nerd. Serial entrepreneur. Forever student of change.

 

Born in the Netherlands in 1977, moved to the U.K. in 1989, moved back to the Netherlands in 2002, moved to Portland, Oregon in 2004.

 

🏳️‍⚧️ Trans Non-Binary Queer 🏳️‍🌈
Working with INTERSECTIONAL.group
Connect with me at Linkedin/in/kvanzoen

 

Services

Solo Services

  • Speaking engagements
  • Facilitating a Racial Healing Handbook reading and discussion group for white &/or white male-presenting folk
  • Coaching, facilitation and workshops on:
    • white male-presenting allyship
    • white power & privilege - including how people can lose and gain power and privilege (e.g. I lost some in coming out as non-binary and queer)
    • one-on-one coaching based on needs
  • Operations coaching and consulting:
    • Organizational and communication systems design
    • Lean value stream mapping & rapid process improvement events (aka Kaizen events)
    • Lean operations workshops
    • Leadership peer support and coaching

Services Provided w/ Intersectional.group

  • Roleplaying workshops that can help demonstrate multi-angled DEI work that goes beyond race and explores:
    • intersectionality, empathy, curiosity and how to practice them
    • power and privilege
    • learning and unlearning
    • bringing intention to listening and conversation
    • myths and stereotypes
    • engaging non-citizen employees
    • from allyship to upstandership
  • Facilitating a Racial Healing Handbook reading and discussion group for all folk
  • Hosting dinner events as a more engaging and interactive alternative to the standard workshop model

 

Biography

I’m a non-binary, multicultural, organizational culture nerd who loves to inspire people towards being less racist, sexist, ableist, ageist, homophobic, transphobic, and the intersectionality of all of those plus more. Combined with my background in business I enable organizations, teams, individuals, and leaders to develop efficient, resilient, agile, and equitable operations and communications systems.

I’ve been a serial entrepreneur since 1997, and have founded and run multiple businesses in multiple countries and cultures. I have worked as a CEO, publisher, graphic designer, business coach/consultant, educator, and more. My two decades plus of interest in operational excellence and efficiency have led me to adopt DEI as the most holistic approach to lasting behavior change and efficiency.

I have developed and taught workshops, facilitated conversations, coached on, and presented on collaborative culture, behavior change, white allyship, holistic financial systems, lean efficiency, energy efficiency, and more.

I was born in the Netherlands in 1977, moved to the U.K. in 1989, moved back to the Netherlands in 2002, and moved to Portland, Oregon in 2004. I came out as non-binary in 2022.

I’m a home barista and coffee snob who also enjoys hiking, biking, yoga, travel, sci-fi books, writing, art & design, music, guitar, photography, and food.

Why?

I am an advocate for climate justice. We are facing a climate crisis that will affect our entire ecosystem. In order to achieve climate justice, we need to come together. Only through global collaboration can we avoid the unthinkable.

I believe that any culture (be it business, geographic, religious, etc.) to provide a truly inclusive experience for all that interact with it requires embracing intercultural theory, intersectionality, lived experience, neurodiversity, and trauma as key drivers in how we see ourselves and each other. This can provide us with the sensitivity and vulnerability needed to create a third space or culture in which to meet, communicate, create belonging, organize, and thrive together.

Towards this goal, all of us (but especially those with power and privilege) must be willing to do the inner work, allow for (some) experimentation and mistakes, and balance the short term gains against the long term payoff of a culture of belonging for all. This work is messy, the bar is high, and very few have gotten close to achieving it. As such the payoff is immense.