MEET ELISA

Founder and President (she/her)

Elisa is a diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging (DEIB) consultant, speaker, researcher, author, and award-winning educator with over 20 years of experience in higher education. As someone who has experienced both the advantages of privilege and the challenges of bias, she is passionate about building cultures that fully welcome and value our differences.

For Elisa, inclusivity isn’t just a corporate buzzword; it’s her life. She is the first openly gay faculty member specializing in queer studies to be tenured at the University of Missouri-Columbia. The founder of Mizzou’s innovative Faculty Institute for Inclusive Teaching, she has expertise in antiracist and feminist pedagogies and inclusive curricular design and delivery. Throughout her career, she has received awards for her DEIB initiatives, teaching, and exemplary leadership. Her teaching and academic publications on LGBTQIA+ Studies, Women’s and Gender Studies, and Black Studies speak to her commitment to social justice.

Elisa is Associate Professor Emerita of English and Women’s and Gender Studies at the University of Missouri. She earned a Ph.D. in English from Brown University. She lives in Columbia, MO with Carolyn Sullivan, her spouse and life partner of 30 years, and their pittie mix Cookie.