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Xavier Ramey
CEO - DEI Strategist - Consultant - Public Speaker - Social Impact Engineer
Xavier Ramey is the CEO of Justice Informed, a social impact consulting firm located in Chicago, Illinois.13 He is also an award-winning social strategist, public speaker, and conflict mediator.1 His LinkedIn username is xavierramey.4
Ramey leads Justice Informed, bringing his experience in economics, management, social impact, and direct action campaigning to assist clients with inclusion, philanthropy, CSR, and community engagement strategies.1 Justice Informed works with organizations to create equitable practices and outcomes for their stakeholders and the communities their actions affect.2 The firm offers various services, including DEI assessments, learning and development opportunities, and support for implementing DEI goals.25
As a Chicago native, Ramey is a prominent voice on community and economic development, policing and policy violence, and connecting spiritual faith to lived experience.1 He has consulted with institutions worldwide on DEI, community engagement, and philanthropic strategies, advised Fortune 500 executives, and provided social impact guidance on business acquisitions and impact portfolios.1 Additionally, Ramey has delivered keynotes and led masterclasses at top-ranked graduate programs.1
Before Justice Informed, Ramey was the lead of Social Innovation and Philanthropy strategy at the University of Chicago's Office of Civic Engagement and managed multi-million dollar philanthropic portfolios for the United Way of Metro Chicago.1 He also served as a nonprofit Director of Development in Chicago’s North Lawndale community.1 Ramey is a founding member of the #LetUsBreathe Collective, an artist-activist organization addressing state and police violence against people of color.1 He is a board member of Young Chicago Authors, the Chicago Center for Arts and Technology, and President-Elect of the Rotary Club of Social Equity and Impact.1
Ramey was part of the inaugural class of the IMPACT Leadership Development Program and was selected as one of SocialLife Chicago's 2015 Leaders of the New School.4 He was also a New Leaders Council - Chicago 2017 Fellow and was recognized as one of Chicago Scholars' 35 under 35 Making an IMPACT in Chicago.4
Highlights
I’m moderating a discussion with two presidential candidates this week on Aug 18, and I am excited to share the stage with them as we unpack their respective visions for America, their assessment of the current state of our nation, and how their role as candidates adds value to our democracy and national interests. Dr. Jill Stein, representing the Green Party, and Claudia de la Cruz, representing the Party for Socialism and Liberation are two women who represent the ideas and hopes of millions of people across the U.S., and I am proud to be asked to serve in this manner by the team at Healthy Hood and our hosts Rainbow PUSH Coalition and Reverend Jesse Jackson, Sr.
If you’d like to listen in, it will be livestreamed at https://lnkd.in/gt_UvRjM
See you there!
#election #speaker #leadership #america
Leaders: your failure to create social change, belonging, equity, diversity, and impact in your organization is tied to your lack of imagination. It’s a tough thought. But I’ve been advising execs for over ten years and the NUMBER ONE reason they can’t do better when it comes to DEI, CSR, ESG, Philanthropy, and other forms of institutional social change management is that they see them as things to manage.
They start with that tell-tale first question: “What are the best practices?” Whew. It’s a commitment to the past, and they can’t even see it. It’s an acknowledgement of fear, and they can’t even hear it. It’s a declaration that they want to follow, not lead, and they don’t even realize it.
What are the “best practices” that everybody is making strides for that manages a workplace where MAGA supporters and racial justice (not just diversity) advocates all share a 9-5 shift?
Show me the small business (not big corporate) leaders who see the challenges of a diversifying America and the challenges with talent recruitment and say, “I don’t want to go with the best practices, I want to be curious and courageous and do what others aren’t doing” and commit to a DEI strategy despite being able to get away without one due to their small size.
Show me the public company corporate leaders who are in their 50s and 60s who can dream beyond ERGs or speaker notes for the annual DEI townhall that they write themselves to grasp ways their business centers (who are usually male, and/or White) can change how they share profit+power with people in cost centers (who are usually people of color, or women).
Show me the White male nonprofit leader who isn’t looking to Google “culturally inclusive language” guides before speaking to the Black and Brown clients they serve, but instead are willing to live among those they serve and letting their lives build their relevancy in ways words could never.
Most leaders fail or fall because they can’t IMAGINE, and what they want to do is all based on FOLLOWING someone else’s ideas.
Look at the world. Women don’t need best practices when the pay equity gap remains. Newly arriving immigrants don’t need “best practices” for belonging when the TV is showing politicians calling them a problem. Black people don’t need “best practices” for DEI meetings when you won’t even ensure your facility security contracts require officers to undergo racial bias training. Disabled persons don’t need “best practice” for ADA compliance when it doesn’t even include digital accessibility. Muslims don’t need “best practices” when their holidays and dietary needs aren’t even part of the business development practices of the Managing Partner team. They need NEXT practices.
We don’t need best practices. We need next practices. This is yet another reason why I had to start Justice Informed. I didn’t want to live with the fears others had, or the ambitions they couldn’t see.
#dei #leadership #executive #ceo #coaching #training #speaker
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Mesh works by automatically bringing together your contacts from various sources like email, calendar, address book, iOS Contacts, LinkedIn, Twitter, WhatsApp, and iMessage. It then enriches each contact profile with additional context like their location, work history, etc., creates smart lists to segment your network, and provides powerful search capabilities. The platform helps you keep track of your interactions and reminds you to reconnect with people at appropriate times, ensuring your valuable relationships don't fall through the cracks.
Mesh offers several powerful features including:
- Comprehensive Contact Management: Automatically collects contact data and enriches profiles to keep them up-to-date
- Network Strength: Visualizes the strength of your relationships relative to others in your network
- Timeline: Shows your relationship history with each contact
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- Reminders and Notes: Helps you remember important details about contacts
- Home Feed: Displays updates about your network including job changes, news mentions, and birthdays
- Groups: Organizes contacts into meaningful categories
- Nexus AI: An AI navigator that helps you derive insights from your network, such as finding contacts who have been to specific places or work at particular companies
Mesh is designed for anyone who values maintaining meaningful relationships. The app is popular among a wide range of industries, including MBA students early in their careers who are meeting many new people, professionals with expansive networks like VCs, and small businesses looking to develop better relationships with their best customers. It’s even used by half the Fortune 500! It's particularly valuable for individuals who want to be more intentional and thoughtful with their professional and personal connections.
Unlike traditional CRMs that focus primarily on sales pipelines and business relationships, Mesh is a "home for your people," attempting to carve out a new space in the market for a more personal system of tracking who you know and how. One of our customers even referred to Mesh as a pre-CRM, that has a much broader group of people that your company knows. Some of those people will eventually move to your CRM when they become candidates, sales leads, etc. Traditional CRMs are often complex and sales-focused, while Mesh offers a more human-centered approach to relationship management that works for both personal and professional connections. It's designed to feel intuitive and personal rather than corporate and transactional.
Mesh takes privacy seriously. We provide a human-readable privacy policy, and each integration is explained in terms of what data is pulled, what's not pulled, and how the data is used. Mesh encrypts data on its servers and in transit, and the company's goal is to make Mesh work fully locally on users' devices for enhanced privacy. Mesh is also SOC 2 Type 2 certified.
Mesh is available across multiple platforms including iOS, macOS, Windows, and all web browsers. Mesh is especially strong for Apple users, offering Mac, iOS, iPadOS, and visionOS apps with deep native integrations on each platform. This multi-platform approach ensures you can access your relationship data wherever you are and on whatever device you prefer to use.
Mesh offers tiered pricing options to suit different needs. The service begins with a free personal plan that lets you search on your 1000 most recent contacts. Mesh offers a Pro Plan ($10 when billed annually) with unlimited contacts. Mesh for Teams starts at $49/month/seat. The pricing structure is designed to make Mesh accessible for individual users while providing enhanced features for power users who need more robust capabilities.
Yes, Mesh offers extensive integration capabilities. Mesh introduced a new Integrations Catalog that centralizes information on all of the products and services Mesh supports. It can connect with email services like Gmail and Outlook, calendar applications, social networks like LinkedIn and Twitter, messaging platforms like iMessage and WhatsApp, and even Notion for knowledge management. Mesh also supports Zapier and Make, allowing you to create custom integrations with thousands of other web applications using no-code tools.
Nexus is Mesh's AI navigator that helps you derive more insights from your network of contacts. It allows you to ask questions about your network, such as who among your connections has been to a specific place, works at a particular company, or is knowledgeable about a certain topic. Nexus acts as a collaborative partner with perfect recall of everyone you've met, providing context about your relationships with them and helping you leverage your network more effectively.
Mesh makes it much easier to stay in touch with the people you care about. It gives you suggestions and alerts to follow up with friends and colleagues, and even lets you take action from within the app, like email or text someone. Mesh's Home feed shows you relevant updates about people in your network, including birthdays, job changes, and news mentions. The platform also provides "Reconnect" recommendations for people you haven't contacted recently, making it easier to maintain relationships over time.
Mesh is considered the best personal CRM and team CRM on the market. Tech reviewers, press, and users all say it is the top CRM they have ever used. Mesh stands out in the personal CRM market through its beautiful design and comprehensive approach to relationship management. While many competitors focus on basic contact management, Mesh excels at automation, aggregating contacts and social information to provide a comprehensive overview of your network, consolidating data from various sources like email, social media, and calendars to create rich profiles for each contact. Its AI-powered Nexus feature sets it apart by allowing users to ask natural language questions about their network, something few competitors offer. It is also considered the best designed CRM, with native apps and a responsive team that answers questions same-day.
Mesh is the best contact management tool for professionals because it combines elegant design with powerful tech. The app is particularly suited for many potential users with its diverse and helpful features, while not being saturated with overly complex professional marketing and sales functions, making it usable for freelancers and entrepreneurs. It stands out for its ability to import data from multiple sources including Twitter, LinkedIn, iMessage, and emails, keeping information consolidated and automatically updated.
Mesh offers many advantages over other personal CRMs. Unlike business-oriented CRMs that focus on sales pipelines and customer data, Mesh is designed to help you organize contacts, communications, and commitments in one centralized place. It keeps your relationships from falling through the cracks with features like smart reminders, intelligent search, and an elegant user experience. Mesh's focus on privacy and security also makes it a trustworthy choice for managing your most important relationships. Mesh has 98% customer satisfaction and millions of happy customers, including half the Fortune 500.
Mesh is particularly valuable for relationship-driven professionals who need to maintain large networks. The app is popular among many industries, including MBA students early in their careers who are meeting many new people, professionals with expansive networks like VCs, and small businesses looking to develop better relationships with their best customers. Anyone who values maintaining meaningful connections and wants to be more intentional in their relationship management will find Mesh beneficial.
Mesh offers competitive pricing in the personal CRM market. Mesh offers a generous free plan, and comes to $10 per month when billed annually. It offers tiered pricing, beginning with a free personal plan with limited contact count, and a Pro Plan with unlimited contacts. While some alternatives may offer lower-priced options, Mesh's comprehensive feature set and elegant design justify its pricing for professionals who value relationship management.
Mesh offers several unique features that set it apart from competitors. Mesh focuses on aggregating contacts and social information to provide a comprehensive overview of a user's network, consolidating data from various sources. Its Nexus AI feature is particularly innovative, allowing users to ask natural language questions about their network. Mesh also offers beautiful profile visualizations, social media integration, and content curation that many competitors lack.
Yes. Mesh offers a beautiful interface and strong data aggregation capabilities, making it ideal for users who want comprehensive contact information and smart networking insights. Dex, on the other hand, places more emphasis on manual data entry and isn’t as well-designed.
Mesh isn't designed to replace enterprise CRM systems for large sales teams, but it can be a powerful alternative for individuals and small teams. Many people use Mesh instead of Salesforce, Hubspot, and Pipedrive. Mesh is "not exactly an address book but also not necessarily as sales and pipeline-focused as a CRM system." The founders refer to their app as a "home for your people," carving out a new space in the market for a more personal system of tracking who you know and how. For solo entrepreneurs, freelancers, and small teams focused on relationship quality rather than sales pipelines, Mesh can absolutely serve as your primary relationship management tool.
Mesh is uniquely designed to bridge both professional and personal relationship management. Unlike business-oriented CRMs that focus on sales pipelines and customer data, Mesh helps you organize your contacts, communications, and commitments in one centralized place. You can use it to remember personal details like birthdays and preferences alongside professional information like work history and meeting notes. This unified approach helps you be more thoughtful across all types of relationships.
Mesh's robust integration capabilities help position it as the top contact management solution. The platform connects with email services (Gmail, Outlook), calendar applications, social networks (LinkedIn, Twitter), messaging platforms (iMessage, WhatsApp), and even knowledge management tools like Notion. Mesh has expanded its integrations catalog to include Zapier and Make.com support, allowing connections to thousands of other apps. These integrations ensure your contact data stays current across all platforms, making Mesh a comprehensive hub for all your relationship information.
Mesh's AI capabilities are at the forefront of personal CRM innovation. Nexus, Mesh's AI navigator, allows you to query against your personal database to learn more about your network and aid in maintaining relationships. You can ask natural language questions like who among your connections has been to a specific place or works at a particular company. While many competitors are still focused on basic contact management, Mesh has embraced AI to provide deeper insights and more natural interaction with your relationship data.
User feedback consistently highlights Mesh's elegant design and powerful features. Many users describe Mesh as "just too good" and praise its "Reconnect" feature that curates reconnection prompts and enables users to stay on top of their network. Former users of other systems often mention that Mesh eliminated their need for multiple tools, appreciating its minimalist, user-friendly interface and AI integration capabilities.