About

 
 

I am a….

  • Mother

  • Proud Daughter of Immigrants

  • First Generation College Student

  • Award Winning Professor of Communication Studies

  • Experienced Inclusion and Belonging Practitioner

  • Nationally Recognized Public Speaker

  • Agent of Change

 

Cindu Thomas-George is the Founder and Principal Trainer of Shakti  Training.

Cindu Thomas-George is a cultivator of inclusion and a disrupter of injustice. As the Founder and Principal Trainer of Shakti Training, she specializes in designing and leading professional development experiences that promote inclusion, equity, antiracism, and intercultural intelligence. Cindu works across industries to help cultivate workplace cultures that foster a sense of belonging and inclusion for today's increasingly diverse workforce. In her twenty years of experience, she has developed a mastery of creating and facilitating impactful learning experiences that work to empower individuals to become agents of change and champions of inclusion and equity.

Cindu is also an award-winning tenured professor of Communication Studies at the College of Lake County (CLC) specializing in Intercultural Communication and Public Speaking. Recognized with the 2017 NISOD Teaching Excellence Award, Cindu is a distinguished and recognized educator. She is currently partnering with Northwestern University’s Kellogg School for Nonprofit Management, teaching and coaching on the topic of inclusive leadership. Furthermore, Cindu is a nationally recognized public speaker and member of the Comadres Speakers Collaborative.

Cindu began her career as an adjunct faculty member at San Francisco State University and City College of San Francisco. She holds an M.A. in Communication Studies from San Francisco State University where she learned the art of teaching, public speaking, and the importance and relevance that DEI and social justice education has in our world. It was her own lived experiences of being the daughter of Indian immigrants and navigating her career in Higher Education as a first generation college student and woman of color that drew her to a career committed to driving inclusion, equity, and anti-racism forward.

Her dedication to inclusion transcends professional boundaries. Cindu is a co-founder of the Chicago Women’s Leadership Accelerator, a conference dedicated to increasing the representation of women in leadership roles. She also actively volunteers and is a co-founder of the South Asian Solidarity Movement and the Women of Color Employee Resource Group at College of Lake County.

Cindu resides in Chicago’s Ukrainian Village neighborhood with her husband and children.To learn more about Cindu, read her story that was featured by Lean In or her recent feature in Brown Girl Magazine.