Dr. Fadia Nordtveit's industry and academic projects are at the intersections of Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Belonging (DEIB). Fadia is the Founder of collaborative.ly, a consulting company that provides services based on a model of DEIB that she has created after years of research and prototyping in an academic and industry setting. Fadia created the Inclusive Business Model Canvas, which is a tool that helps businesses and organizations build an inclusive foundational structure. Fadia is also the producer of a public-access television show called Talking Out Of Line that highlights DEIB trailblazers from diverse industries. Fadia is Assistant Professor of Communications at Springfield College and holds a part-time Faculty, Researcher and Consultant position at New York University. Fadia is an Intercultural Development Inventory (IDI) administrator. Fadia has served in numerous Environment, Sustainability & Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Belonging committees in a variety of universities and organizations.

Fadia’s research in her Bachelor Thesis was on Gender, Representation and Screen Cultures at Hampshire College. Her Masters Thesis was on Fair Trade, Inclusion and Brand Representation at University of Massachusetts Amherst. Her PhD Dissertation and subsequent book was on environmental communication, climate justice, inclusion and new media amplification. Fadia’s research on environmental communication and climate justice, global youth movements and new media technologies led her to found The BGreen Project. The scope of this project is explored in her book (Routledge, 2019), Participatory Networks and the Environment: The BGreen Project in the US and Bangladesh.

Fadia has spearheaded a wide range of social justice projects with multiple organizational partners from around the world--such as action research workshops, consulting, training, curriculum development, public access television shows, conferences and deliberations. Fadia just released her open-access multimedia project called Talking Out Of Line, which brings together leaders in diverse industries on the topics of Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Belonging (DEIB). Fadia is also working on her new book (Routledge, 2023) in their Sustainability and Business series called Millennials, Generation Z and the Fair Trade Revolution in the United States.​

Q: What inspired you to found Talking Out Of Line and collaborative.ly and what were the main challenges you faced?

It's my pleasure to be talking with you and sharing my story with you. The question about what got me into Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Belonging (DEIB) work is quite unfortunately one that many of us BIPOC changemakers may relate to: I had a series of really bad work experiences in one of my past workplaces. Those experiences made me feel bad and also made me feel unsupported. It also made me feel excluded and uncared for.

I happened to go to a weeklong conference that had a great deal of workshops and trainings in DEIB that I participated in, which allowed me to process some of the bad feelings and take action on them.

Q: Did you start the venture alone?

I was not ready to stop feeling sad and resentful. So, I started my research, teaching, production, service, trainings in the world of DEIB and immersed myself in it to find ways of creating safety, equity, inclusion and belonging in the workplace.

Q: What's your business model, and how have you grown your revenue?

First, I created the open-access multimedia show Talking Out Of Line that brings together leaders in diverse industries on the topics of Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Belonging (DEIB). Each episode chooses a different industry to focus on and a leader within it to highlight that is working at the intersections of DEIB to create lasting impact in diverse fields. I launched this project to highlight data, experiences and projects of people in various industries on the topics of DEIB. I am also the Founder of collaborative.ly, a company that provides services based on a model of DEIB that I have created after years of research and prototyping in academic and industry settings. I created the Inclusive Business Model Canvas (IBMC), which is a tool that helps businesses and organizations build an inclusive foundational structure by re-prioritising and re-calibrating their structures to meet diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging (DEIB) goals. IBMC is a tool, methodology and framework that can be used to evaluate whole organizations, processes or outputs.