Dr. Sharoni Little
CEO, The Strategist Company, LLC
Dr. Sharoni Denise Little is a global strategist and expert in workplace inclusion and equity, bias mitigation, educational equity, and executive leadership and strategy. She advises corporate, educational, government, and community organizations to devise holistic, inclusive, and data-informed strategies and solutions.
As CEO, The Strategist Company, LLC, her current and former clients represent myriad industries. Dr. Little served as the inaugural Head, Global Inclusion at Creative Artists Agency (CAA), a leading global entertainment, and sports company, where she developed and instituted a strategic and sustainable organizational framework to embed vital inclusive business systems and practices throughout the organization.
Prior to joining CAA, Dr. Little, an Emerita Professor, served as the Vice Dean and Senior Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Officer at the University of Southern California, Marshall School of Business.
In addition to the Marshall School of Business, Dr. Little taught graduate and executive courses in the USC, Rossier School of Education, USC, Dworak-Peck School of Social Work, and the USC Sol Price School of Planning. Her USC leadership included serving on Presidential and Provost Search Committees, as well as several campus governing bodies.
A noted author, Dr. Little’s research includes, book chapters, “Ain’t She A First Lady?” Michelle Obama, Black Women’s Narratives, and the Rhetoric of Identification,” in Michelle Obama and the FLOTUS Effect: Platform, Presence, and Agency (2020), and “’Don’t Lean—Jump In’: The Fierce Urgency to Confront, Dismantle, and (Re)Write the Historical Narrative of Black Boys in Educational Institutions,” in The Guide for White Women Who Teach Black Boys (2018) and her forthcoming book, “The Perpetual Surveillance of Black Men” (2024). Committed to innovative and sustainable organizational solutions, she serves as an Associate Research Scientist at the Center for Effective Organizations.
A thought-leader and sought after speaker, Dr. Little has been featured in various media outlets, including her two TEDx talks, Storytime: Confronting and Disrupting Marginalizing Narratives (2020), and The Gift of Corrective Lenses (2016), as well as the Financial Times, The Sports Business Journal, Inclusion Magazine, The Hollywood Reporter, Paley Center for Media, Marketplace, the Los Angeles Times, Forbes, ABC, CBS, NBC, Fox News, and PBS.
An educational and social advocate, Dr. Little serves as a Board Trustee at Compton Community College and was selected as an Inaugural Trustee Fellow for strategic thought-leaders developed in partnership with the California Community Colleges and the Aspen Institute’s, College Excellence Program. She is the Vice Chair of the California Community Colleges’ Women’s Caucus, is a member of the California Community Colleges, Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility statewide steering committee, is Parliamentarian for the National Association of Community College Trustees, Black Caucus, and has served on various Boards and Commissions.
Dr. Little earned her Ph.D. from Indiana University, an Ed.D. from the University of Southern California, and her Bachelor and Master of Arts degrees from California State University, Los Angeles, and several professional certifications, including the Society of Human Resources Management, Senior Certified Professional, Cornell University, Diversity and Inclusion, and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab (J-PAL), Evaluating Social Problems program.
