Cheryl Groce-Wright with Kaleidoscope Collaborative RVA
Title: Founder and CEO of Kaleidoscope Collaborative RVA LLC, a Richmond-based consulting firm created to support and facilitate collaborative relationships to assist individuals, schools, communities and businesses seeking to be proactive and effective toward racial justice and equity.
Education: Bachelor of Arts, State University of New York at Oswego, 1982; master’s in education, University of Pennsylvania, 1988; MBA, Virginia Commonwealth University, 2003
Career: SUNY Oswego, 1982-84; University of Pennsylvania, 1984-93; Rubicon Inc., 1994-98; VCU’s psychology department, 1998-2003 and 2011-12; Friends Association for Children, 2004-05; The Collegiate School, 2005-10; Neighborhood Resource Center of Greater Fulton, executive director, 2012-19; and Kaleidoscope Collaborative RVA, founder and CEO, 2010-present
Where in the metro area do you live?: Northside
Best business decision: “Getting my MBA in VCU’s Executive Track MBA program. The camaraderie and team-oriented nature of the coursework and projects was the best way to learn and practice business knowledge and content for someone coming from an educational and research background.”
Worst business decision: “Starting a consulting business to teach and facilitate racial equity in 2010, two years after the Great Recession. The best news about that now is Kaleidoscope Collaborative was 10 years ahead of its time, for the work that I wanted and hoped to do then. In this age of racial tension and unrest, organizations like Kaleidoscope Collaborative will be necessary to facilitate a true shift in systems and institutions to confront racism in all its forms — intolerance, bias, microaggressions, all the way up to institutional and systemic discrimination.”
