139 // Aiko Bethea // Founder - RARE Coaching & Consulting // Redefining Leadership

Aiko Bethea, Founder of Rare Coaching & Consulting, joins Jerry to share how her biracial Japanese Black identity and growing up in a Japanese speaking household shaped her decision to pursue education, law, and eventually founding her own leadership development firm. Bring a notepad and learn more about Aiko at RareCoaching.net//Meet AikoAiko is a leader, builder, and connector who has successfully navigated leadership roles in government, philanthropic, nonprofit, and private sectors. In each sector, Aiko created inaugural roles to meet growing organizational needs. She served as director of compliance for the City of Atlanta and deputy director of grants and contracts management at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Most recently, she was the head of diversity and inclusion for Fred Hutch Cancer Research Center.The founder of RARE Coaching & Consulting, Aiko guides leaders and organizations to remove barriers to inclusion. She has been recognized by Forbes as one of the top seven antiracism educators for companies and by CultureAmp as a DEI influencer to follow. Aiko is a senior director of the Daring Way™ and Dare to Lead™ facilitator communities of the Brené Brown Education and Research Group. She oversees development and implementation of the overall strategy for the communities, as well as the specific DEI and belonging strategy for the global 1500+ member facilitator community. Aiko’s writing has been published in Harvard Business Review, Forbes, and the upcoming anthology You Are Your Best Thing. She holds a law degree from UNC-Chapel Hill and a bachelor’s from Smith College.Connect with AikoWeb: https://www.rarecoaching.net/Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/RARECoachInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/rare_coachTwitter: https://twitter.com/rare_coachLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/aikobethea/// Support Dear Asian Americans:Merch: https://www.bonfire.com/store/dearasianamericans/Buy Me a Coffee: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/jerrywonLearn more about DAA Creator and Host Jerry Won:LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jerrywon/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jerryjwon/// Listen to Dear Asian Americans on all major platforms:Transistor.fm: http://www.dearasianamericans.comApple: https://apple.dearasianamericans.comSpotify: https://spotify.dearasianamericans.comStitcher: https://stitcher.dearasianamericans.comGoogle: https://google.dearasianamericans.com  Follow us on Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/dearasianamericans Like us on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/dearasianamericans Subscribe to our YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/dearasianamericans // Join the Asian Podcast Network:Web: https://asianpodcastnetwork.com/Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/asianpodcastnetwork/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/asianpodcastnetwork/Dear Asian Americans is produced by Just Like Media:Web: http://www.justlikemedia.comInstagram.com: http://www.instagram.com/justlikemedia