DEI Matters: Ep 13 - Building Belonging

In this episode of DEI Matters, we speak with Kisha Payton, Chief Belonging & Inclusion Officer at Escalent, about building cultures of belonging in the insights industry. Kisha shares how Escalent’s Inclusion Network is shaping change, the challenges of sustaining DEI amid political and budget pressures, and why equity must remain at the center of inclusion efforts.

Recorded August 7, 2025

Kisha Payton is the Chief Belonging & Inclusion Officer at Escalent, a top research, data analytics and advisory firm. Kisha brings 20 years of cross-sector experience in nonprofit, legal, and for-profit spaces to challenge conventional thinking on inclusion. At Escalent she drives the integration of belonging & inclusion across the enterprise, leads the client-facing Cultural Advisory Group and focuses on building a lasting, holistic inclusive infrastructure. Before joining Escalent, she spent 14 years at C Space, where she established the employee‑resource‑group program and led the company’s DEI ThinkTank.

Kisha earned a Juris Doctor from Duke University and a bachelor’s degree in English from Spelman College. She is widely recognized for her innovative communications and change‑management initiatives and her passion for creating inclusive cultures.