Time & Location
Jan 20, 2026, 8:30 AM – 9:30 AM
Coava Coffee Roasters , 1300 SE Grand Ave A, Portland, OR 97214, USA
Guests
About the event
Book Selection: Qualified: How Competency Checking and Race Collide at Work by Shari Dunn, JD
Author will be LIVE in Person
Qualified: How Competency Checking and Race Collide at Work. Published by HarperCollins, a 2025 SABEW Best in Business Book Award shortlist title and a Publishers Weekly Best Business Book of 2025, this books reveals how racial bias disguises itself as evaluation. Shari Dunn exposes the practice of competency checking, where Black professionals are misidentified, over-scrutinized, and deemed “not ready” regardless of performance. Through research, history, and storytelling, she shows how institutions—not individuals—produce inequity and offers a roadmap for workplaces where talent is recognized and allowed to lead.
Shari Dunn, JD, is an author, educator, and consultant whose work has been cited by Fortune, The Wall Street Journal, Salon, Ad Age, Bloomberg News, The Hill, and TIME. She is the CEO of ITBOM LLC and writes the daily Substack Qualified: At the…