Speaking

Michèle Newton is a renowned communicator turned TEDx speaker, advocate and educational consultant, driving inclusion and belonging. Building inclusion from a bi-racial perspective, Michèle’s “Fit Out” movement is a bold lens that provides clients and audiences a new forward-thinking approach to changing the world together.

Speaking

Featured Keynotes

"Fitting Out" - the Key to Inclusion

Spearheading the “Fit Out” movement by sharing her personal experiences growing up bi-racial, Michèle Newton activates her audiences to become more inclusive. She is a featured TEDx speaker in February 2023 at U of T’s “Radiance” event.

Michèle celebrates and validates her intersectionality and Black lived experiences through her personal journey to inclusion. She explores the intersection of being a woman, Black and bi-racial, of belonging and fitting “out” vs “in”. Through storytelling, Michèle explores her relationship to Black history and culture, and to Black women and girls, from a personal growth perspective that she calls “Back to Black”.

With an authentic presence and dynamic delivery, Michèle Newton is all about accepting who you are and fueling change through hope.

The Power of Better Together

Michèle Newton’s lived experience as a bi-racial woman led her to feel unheard and out of place in her own skin. Finding strength in her individuality, she adopted a “better together” philosophy, bringing to light the need for inclusion and belonging for all.

Michèle became an activist and community changemaker. Guided by her “better together” philosophy – growing relationships, nurturing collaborations, and facilitating partnerships- she began work to strengthen her community. Through her lived experiences, Michèle shares her approach to social change.

Focusing on the intersectional experience, Michèle invites every attendee to come as they are to create an environment of belonging. Through her raw and powerful storytelling, she moves audiences to action.

Activism for Social Change

With the pillars of her work rooted in achieving togetherness and belonging, Michèle’s mission is to unite her local community, municipalities, cities, companies and beyond. Carving out space that has never existed, Michèle is determined to create communities where young women like her daughter will have space to authentically exist and belong.

Michèle shares her approach to social change through her biracial, Black lived experiences. Starting at the beginning, she frames her keynote with her personal background, motivations and catalysts for the movement. Michèle explores the opposition and challenges encountered along the way and wraps up by inspiring social change through her call to action.

Michèle does not just tell her story, but rolls up her sleeves and continues to do the work to end exclusion. Michèle’s long-term vision and passion for connection makes her the ideal mentor for youth.

Educational Workshops

Michèle’s educational workshops and sessions are grounded in her Black-lived experiences and focused on building equity, inclusion and belonging:

Inclusive Communications
Anti-Racism – Transforming to Action
Customized Professional Development

Learn more

Additional Appearances

Key to sharing her experiences and amplifying voices, Michèle regularly makes additional appearances as a:

Panelist
Moderator and Facilitator
Host and Interviewer

Testimonials

This anti-racism and inclusion training – delivered to our mainly white communication teams – exactly hit the spot of what we needed to continue on our journey way to support the University of Waterloo’s efforts to weave anti-racism into the fabric of our institution. Michèle took time to understand our specific needs, was mindful to engage with racialized and Indigenous people on our campus to gain their insights, and delivered content to match that research. In delivery, Michèle hit exactly the right tone for us: at once supportive, challenging and inspiring

Michèle Newton, thank you for sharing such an inspiring story of your journey on Back to Black with our people at Benevity! You gave us such a personal and powerful perspective on being Black, what it means to you, the challenges you overcame and the intersectionality of your experiences. Your journey resonated with so many of us and we received such an overwhelming response of gratitude from our Benevity-ites for the time with you! We would love to have you back again.

Michèle's enthusiastic storytelling kept my students engaged while simultaneously challenging them to think critically about their surroundings and implicit biases - this resonated with my students, as many of them shared that they related to her story and stayed after class to speak to her. I would absolutely recommend inviting Michèle to share her work with anyone looking to bring conversations about diversity and/or the power of community change into their classroom!

It has been my pleasure, in my role as teacher at Innisdale Secondary School, to host presentations delivered by Michèle Newton and I would strongly recommend Ms. Newton to other educators, including administrators, as a resource person on issues related to Equity, Diversity and Inclusion. Ms. Newton's presentation skills demonstrate her experience as a polished communications professional. She inspired and educated my students as she shared information about her work.

Thank you so much for a fantastic presentation to our Senior School community. Besides the fact that you are a gifted speaker, your message was very powerful. You challenged each of us to make our school, our community and this world a more inclusive space. I am hoping that more conversations will continue to take place among students, faculty and their families.

Past Talks and Presentations

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2018

SPEAKING

Speaking

Featured Keynotes

"Fitting Out" - the Key to Inclusion

The Power of Better Together

Activism for Social Change

Educational Workshops

Additional Appearances

Testimonials

Past Talks and Presentations

Experience the passion and inspiration! Book Michèle for your next event.

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