The Illusion of Inclusion and how you can truly deliver on your Investments with LinkedIn Top Voice and Founder Hannah Awonuga

In this episode of The Impact Room, Michelle Ansell speaks with Hannah Awonuga, award-winning culture, talent and inclusion expert, LinkedIn Top Voice for Gender Equality and advisor to leaders navigating organisational growth.

Hannah specialises in helping scale-up businesses design and embed inclusive cultures where organisational growth strengthens both people, performance and enterprise value. Her work focuses on integrating inclusion into leadership behaviours, operating systems and organisational design, rather than treating it as a standalone initiative.

Drawing on almost two decades of experience across the banking sector and global organisations, Hannah has led cultural transformation programmes, global colleague listening initiatives and remote teams across the UK, US, Europe and APAC.

In this conversation, Michelle and Hannah explore:

• Why conversations about diversity and inclusion are evolving toward leadership and organisational culture• The challenges scale-ups face when growth outpaces cultural infrastructure• Why organisations are increasingly seeking strategic advisory support rather than traditional DEI roles• Practical steps leaders can take to build inclusive, high-performing environments

This episode offers thoughtful insight for CEOs, founders, HR leaders and executives looking to build organisations where culture, talent and business performance grow together.

Together they explore:

The retreat from traditional DEI roles and what it really signals

Why inclusive leadership requires new skills — empathy, bias awareness and strategic alignment

The “frozen middle” and its impact on progression

Fractional and advisory models for culture and inclusion support

Intersectional leadership at board level