Diversity Awareness Partnership

We Belong Keynote Speaker

Rebeccah Bennett is Founder and Principal of Emerging Wisdom LLC and its subsidiary, InPower Institute.  Launched in 2006, Emerging Wisdom is a forward thinking social enterprise that helps individuals live empowered lives; leaders build impactful organizations, and communities advance brighter futures.  At Emerging Wisdom, Rebeccah and her team conduct professional development programs, organizational improvement efforts, and multi-stakeholder transformation initiatives.  Within these areas, they provide an array of offerings, including consulting, training, facilitation, planning, coaching and professional speaking.

In 2010, Rebeccah opened InPower Institute, a division of Emerging Wisdom that serves as a center for community healing and optimal living.  Through InPower, she has formed an alliance of healers, change agents, activists, educators, faith leaders and wellness practitioners who co-create healing spaces that advance both personal well-being and community transformation.  Annually, InPower offers hundreds of programs and events that spur human growth, creativity and recovery from trauma.  Participants are supported in unleashing their personal power to create extraordinary lives and a more just and vibrant world.

Through Emerging Wisdom and InPower Institute, Rebeccah has helped tens of thousands of people and countless organizations effect positive change in the areas of organizational and community leadership, economic development, racial equity, public health and safety, environmental sustainability, diversity and inclusion and girls and women’s and empowerment.  Though her areas of interest and expertise are wide-ranging, her work is singularly focused on elevating the human condition.  Rebeccah is supported in this work by corporate, non-profit and government clients, including Anheuser-Busch InBev, Wells Fargo Advisors, Slalom, BJC HealthCare, the IL Department on Aging, the Missouri Foundation for Health, the Deaconess Foundation, Focus St. Louis, the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra, the United Church of Christ, the Urban League of Metropolitan St. Louis, the Ferguson Commission, For the Sake of All, and St. Louis and Hazelwood Public School Districts.

In addition to her professional activities, Rebeccah currently serves as Immediate Past Co-Chair of the board of Forward Through Ferguson (the successor organization to the Ferguson Commission) and as Past Chair of the board of Generate Health (formerly the St. Louis Maternal Child & Family Health Coalition).

AWARDS & HONORS

  • 2021 Woman of Achievement, Equitable Leadership Award – Women of Achievement
  • 2020 Judy Wilson-Griffin Maternal Health Equity Champion Awardee – Generate Health
  • 2019 Top 25 African-American Businesses In The St. Louis Area – The St. Louis American Foundation, St. Louis Regional Chamber & The Urban League of Metropolitan St. Louis
  • 2019 Leadership Award for Excellence in Civic Engagement – Royal Vagabonds Foundation, Inc.
  • 2018 James A. Braun Champion of Children Award – Youth In Need
  • 2018 Drum Major Award – Christian Hospital Foundation, BJC HealthCare
  • 2015 Leader of Distinction – YWCA of Metro St. Louis
  • 2015 Salute to Women in Leadership – Urban League of Metropolitan St. Louis
  • 2015 The Power 100 – Delux Magazine

FELLOWSHIPS

  • CORO Fellows Program in Public Affairs, 1998-1999 St. Louis Coro Fellow
  • The Harry S. Truman Scholarship Foundation, 1995 Truman Scholar
  • The Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation, 1995 Woodrow Wilson Fellow

EDUCATION

  • University of Michigan School of Public Policy, Master of Public Policy Degree
  • Swarthmore College, Bachelor of Arts Degree in Political Science, Academic Honors