In 2016, Deb Biddle took a leap of faith and founded High Performance Development Solutions LLC, a company aimed to help organizations, both profit and nonprofit, with diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI).

“I started this work from the encouragement of a friend. She kept telling me, ‘Debbie, you can do this!’ One day I listened and I haven’t looked back.”

Biddle recognized the need for such work in the community, and realized how she could make a difference.

“The activity around Tony Robinson’s killing reignited my desire to make an impact for equity and inclusion using the skills I have in business, leadership, management, speaking, advising and coaching,” Biddle said.

In 2019, Biddle rebranded her company as The People Company which is what it is known as today. She and her colleagues work with their clients to set goals regarding DEI and guide them on how to accomplish those goals. Their work also includes leading workshops and trainings for their clients, as well as providing assessments on how well they are already doing in terms of DEI.

Different organizations reach out to The People Company for assessments and coaching, finding them through referrals and word-of-mouth. Consultants from The People Company collaborate with these organizations, offering a wide range of services in addition to training and DEI assessments, such as developing infrastructure for diversity and inclusion.

Biddle spends her days basically doing everything necessary for these assessments and workshops, including meeting with potential clients and a lot of writing.

“My least favorite part is sometimes being overwhelmed by the enormity of the work. It is important, weighty work that does not end,” Biddle explains. “We all have room for growth, power to create understanding, and capacity to build inclusion.”

In recent months, Biddle and The People Company have found themselves extra busy, hiring two new consultants and a DEI Associate to handle marketing and analysis.

Initially, the surge of COVID-19 cases in the United States caused The People Company, like many other businesses, to hit a snag in what was supposed to be a very prosperous year. Fortunately for Biddle, that swiftly changed.

“Many clients quickly became comfortable with working virtual,” she said. “Others were compelled by seeing the harsh realities of racial inequity as evidenced by coronavirus and the murders of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor.”

When she is not busily preparing workshops or answering a lot of emails, Biddle enjoys spending time with her family, singing, and making art.

Biddle finds immense meaning in her work and is thankful she is able to help make the world a more accepting place.

“I thank God for the doors He’s opened and how He has blessed me to be able to do work I love and make an impact in the lives and organizations of those seeking to think better, do better and be better at what matters most,” she says. “I am blessed to get to do it, despite the challenges.”