Who We Are
Expertise. Innovation. Equity.
Equitable Solutions Consulting gives organizations the tools needed to successfully meet their goals to become more responsive, inclusive and fair. Healthy teams make for healthy organizations; healthy organizations are better able to maximize impact in their sectors.
Whether a public institution, a not-for-profit institution, or a business in the private sector, Equitable Solutions Consulting can help your organization maximize its human resources, increase responsiveness, and diversify its client base. For businesses, stronger organizational health and an inclusive business strategy can increase market share and maximize profits. To learn more about the services we provide, click "Learn More".
Laurelle A. Harris, Principal Consultant & C.E.O.
Laurelle (she/her) founded Equitable Solutions Consulting (EQ for short) in 2020 to pursue her passion for helping organizations develop the skills and capacity to function equitably.
Laurelle has wide-ranging expertise in areas of equitable organizational assessment and design, policy development, workplace investigations, leadership development, EDI and anti-racism education and analysis.
Laurelle Harris has academic training in Women’s Studies from the University of Winnipeg and the University of Manitoba and has undertaken graduate studies in Women’s Studies and Black Studies at The Ohio State University in Columbus, Ohio. She earned her law degree in 2001 at the University of Manitoba and has over twenty years' experience in litigation, with formal training in mediation, arbitration and conflict resolution undertaken locally and at York University in Toronto, Ontario.
Coming from a family of educators, Laurelle is passionate about education in all its forms and finds teaching to be a rewarding way to make change in our communities. Laurelle has taught Women's Studies at the undergraduate level and has also taught professional program and graduate students at the University of Manitoba’s Faculty of Law.
Through EQ, Laurelle teaches in the areas of anti-racism and organizational equity (EDI). Laurelle recently led the Winnipeg Chamber of Commerce's CODE Coalition Forum and developed a Resource Guide to assist members of the CODE Coalition to help organizations get started on their EDI journey and was a keynote speaker for the City of Winnipeg's Anti-Racism in Action Week.
Laurelle has served on local and national boards and committees and has volunteered extensively in the area of community health.
Within the legal community, Laurelle also serves as a director with the Manitoba Law Foundation and as a member of the Legal Aid Manitoba Advisory Committee. She also chairs the Manitoba Bar Association’s Equality Issues Section.
Leah A. Richardson, People & Culture Consultant
Leah Richardson (she/her) is a change leader with a passion for fostering continuous improvement within organizations. She brings a breadth of business and consulting experience to EQ with a focus on wellbeing and belonging.
Leah's background uniquely combines more than twenty years of international people-centric leadership and program management with organizational change expertise, all grounded in data-driven Lean Six Sigma and other best-in-practice methodologies.
Through such roles as Chief Operating Officer, Program Manager in Business Excellence and Business Architect across various industries and sectors, Leah has invaluable knowledge and expertise to impart as she guides executives in, and rallies teams as they make meaningful efforts to achieve sustainable, measurable, proactive organizational progress.
Leah is committed to embedding equity, inclusion and belonging into all aspects of an organization’s structure and culture, thereby supporting organizational evolution and continuous improvement in accordance with best practices. Leah’s expertise helps businesses and non-profit organizations align their organizational priorities with caring employee and client engagement.
Forever curious, Leah is driven to solve business problems ethically within the context of shifting social landscapes.
Michelle J. Jean-Paul, Education Consultant
Michelle J. Jean-Paul (she/her/elle) is an educator, academic and community connector. Her scholarship, paired with a decade and a half of leadership experience as a public school administrator, is largely centered around developing collective capacity in the areas on Diversity, Equity and Inclusion.
A much sought out public speaker and workshop facilitator in both English and in French, Michelle has worked with organizations on a local and international level. Her work extends beyond educational institutions into corporate environments such as the Winnipeg Chamber of Commerce and RBC. She is also a published author, her most recent writing featured in the Palgrave Handbook of Educational Leadership and Management Discourse.
Michelle holds a Bachelor of Arts, Bachelor of Education, Master of Education, and is presently a PhD candidate at the University of Manitoba. She currently works as Divisional Principal of Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Anti Racism Services for the Louis Riel School Division.
Michelle's preferred areas of practice are in anti-racism education, leadership development, and conducting program reviews for educational organizations at all levels, including post-secondary.
Maikka Manacsa, Office Manager & Workshop Facilitator
Maikka (she/her) joined EQ in 2021 as our Office Manger and Workshop Facilitator. Maikka holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Manitoba with a double major in English and Psychology, and excels in open source research and all things technological.
Maikka oversees all aspects of EQ’s operations, assists in data collection and analysis for organizational assessments, as well as workshop facilitation with Laurelle.
She has a passion for learning that is never exhausted, and an excellent eye for design. Maikka has wide-ranging and eclectic tastes; she loves all things related to true crime and popular culture.
Watch Laurelle's Keynote Address at RRC Polytech
Laurelle recently delivered a keynote address at the invitation of RRC Polytech during their first Inclusion Week! We are pleased to be able to share the link to the recording of Laurelle's keynote address and the panel discussion which followed about the intersections of race and dis/ability and the ways in which racism and ableism can impact Indigenous folks and folks from racialized communities. To watch, visit: https://www.rrc.ca/diversity/2022/10/19/diversity-speaker-series-laurelle-harris/