Karen Fleshman

Founder, Racy Conversations

San Francisco

Karen Fleshman, Esq. is an attorney, activist, single soccer mom, and a nationally recognized expert on racism, feminism, workplace fair practices, police brutality, and politics.

Working in nonprofits and local government, Karen came to understand that racism is the underlying problem in our society.

In 2014, Karen founded Racy Conversations, a workshop facilitation company, to help people feel more willing and able to communicate honestly with each other, and to do so with increased empathy and understanding. Racy Conversations are held in communities and universities throughout the United States to inspire the first antiracist generation. In workplaces, Racy Conversations change culture by creating a brave space to address unconscious bias, micro aggressions, sexual harassment, and allyship at organizations including the Sierra Club, the Wikimedia Foundation, Yahoo, Sony, Xero, Salesforce, Upwork, KARGO, and Mode Analytics.

Karen's passion project is to build interracial sisterhood. She is the author of a forthcoming book for white women about racism, blogs for Huffington Post, Moguldom, and Blavity, and is a Medium Top Voice on Racism, Feminism, and Politics. Karen cohosts Inclusive Conversations in cities across the United States, events designed to unite women across age, race, sexual orientation, and class.

With her Women’s March sisters from across the country, Karen was arrested five times at the US Senate protesting the confirmation of Judge Brett Kavanaugh and once protesting family separation.

The other focus of her activism is police accountability, and she serves on the workgroup overseeing implementation of the United States Department of Justice recommendations on ending bias at the San Francisco Police Department.

Karen is a graduate of Mount Holyoke College, the University of Texas at Austin, and New York Law School, and is admitted to practice law in New York.