Kathleen Johnson

Coach/Consultant/Educator

CEO\DEI & Anti-Racism Specialist – Kreativ Culture Strategies
 
Kathleen Johnson is the author of the book Thinking Outside the Boardroom: Creative Solutions in DEI and Anti-racism, CEO of Kreativ Culture Strategies, a coach, speaker, and healthcare executive. She is based on the west coast of Canada in beautiful British Columbia on the traditional indigenous territory of the Coast Salish peoples. In her work, she provides diversity, equity, inclusion, and anti-racism training to organizations based on creative critical thinking, conversation skills building, and emotional intelligence that is grounded in history, human rights, and the science of human behaviour.
 
A former long-time resident of Toronto, born and raised in Calgary, Kathleen relocated to Victoria, the capital city of British Columbia, in 2021 after running for federal office in her hometown, to take on the role of Ministerial Advisor in the Ministry of Education and Child Care in the BC Legislature. Currently, she resides in Vancouver and is a Senior Advisor of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion with the Provincial Health Services Authority, where she is part of a core team within People and Culture. A main part of her work is creating and facilitating courses and advising on everything from policy to crisis management for diverse teams in an organization of almost 30,000 staff.
 
In public speaking, she has spoken to groups of all sizes across the country about women’s empowerment, politics, humanism, mental health, disability, building community, compassionate leadership, and other issues as addressed in her book.
 
Earning a BA in Sociology and Cultural Anthropology in 1998 from Carleton University, she also holds a certificate in DEI from Cornell University, an International DISM (Diversity Inclusion Service Management) certification to ISO 30415:2021 standard, and coaching certificates from Certified Coaches Federation and Values Inspired Coaching.
 
Companies such as Bank of America, national non-profits, federal, and provincial institutions have sought her ability to broach difficult topics with calm, compassion, wit, and directness while advising on change management and authentic engagement for long-term growth, resiliency, and stability. In 2024, she started as a course creator and sessional instructor for Simon Fraser University’s new Equity in Healthcare Certificate program, a first-of-its-kind in Canada, and earned the distinction of being one of 4 Black women in BC to be recognized as one of Canada’s Top 100 Black Women to Watch for 2025.
 
Creativity is an essential way Kathleen approaches everything she does. A background as a makeup artist working in film, television, fashion, and weddings, she has worked on shows such as Beauty and the Beast, Suits, Umbrella Academy, Suicide Squad, and on celebrities such as Ben Affleck. Kathleen is also an amateur comedian and formerly led a hip hop/funk fusion band.
 
As host of the budding podcast The Kreactivators on Spotify and YouTube, she talks to professionals from the arts and corporate while offering her own insights on how creativity factors into solving human issues. As an author, along with her first full project as aforementioned, she has written chapters in a few compilation books with other experts on various topics such as DEI, harmony, and forgiveness.
 
Now she is an empty nester who raised 5 children with disabilities, including autism, ADHD, and schizophrenia, while navigating neurodivergence herself. Most of her children are also in the LGBTQIA+ community. Paying homage to her parents from the Caribbean who settled in Canada in the late 1960s, who set an example of love, hard work, and creating community, is what forms the core of her inspiration.