Biography

Dr. Sondra Thiederman an expert on workplace diversity, cross-cultural business, and bias reduction. As President of Cross-Cultural Communications, a San Diego based training firm, Sondra has 25 years experience as a speaker, trainer, and author helping organizations and professionals understand and successfully navigate our increasingly-diverse workplaces.

Since receiving her doctorate with an emphasis on cross-cultural studies from UCLA, Sondra has helped hundreds of organizations develop practical, tangible solutions to their cross-cultural and diversity challenges. Among her clients are American Medical International, Marriott Corporation, FedEx, Century 21 Real Estate, American Express, The Federal Reserve Bank, Motorola, and AT&T and numerous other Fortune 500 level companies. She has also addressed notable organizations including the Arthritis Foundation, the Society for Consumer Affairs Professionals in Business, the American Society of Association Executives, and the American Immigration Lawyers Association. In addition, she has served as consultant to the University of California and the American Cancer Society and has been appointed by Elizabeth Dole to serve on the Diversity Cabinet of the American Red Cross.

Sondra frequently appears as an expert on diversity/inclusion issues in the media, including The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, and USA Today. She is published in professional journals ranging from Association Management and Real Estate Today to T&D,has written on the topic of workplace diversity for Monster.com and is the author of five books including:

• Bridging Cultural Barriers for Corporate Success: How to Manage the Multicultural Workforce (Lexington, MA: Lexington Books, 1990)
• Profiting in America’s Multicultural Marketplace: How to Do Business Across Cultural Lines (New York: Macmillan, 1991)
• Getting ‘Culture Smart’: Ten Strategies for Making Diversity Work (San Diego: Cross-Cultural Communications, 1995)
• Making Diversity Work: Seven Steps for Defeating Bias in the Workplace (New York: Kaplan Publishing, 2008). 
• The Diversity and Inclusion Handbook (Flower Mound, TX: The Walk the Talk Company, 2012)

Featured in the diversity training videos, Is It Bias?: Making Diversity Work and Gateways to Inclusion: Turning Tense Moments into Productive Conversations, she is also the producer of the motivational videos, Getting Along: Words of Encouragement and Words to Lead By and has co-authored (along with QED Consulting) Global Words for Global Leaders.

Contact Information

Web site: www.thiederman.com
Phone: 619-583-4478