Diversity, Equity & Inclusion (DE&I) Influencers
The DE&I Influencers list honors individuals who are advancing diversity, equity and inclusion within their organizations and across the workforce solutions ecosystem at large.

Taniesha Thomas
Honoree profile
Taniesha Thomas never saw herself in the DE&I space but fell into it while in her first role as a recruiter 10 years ago.
“I had to get creative to be successful,” Thomas recalls. She began to reach out to underserved communities to discover an untapped candidate market. This included great prospects “with scrapes on their background.” At the time, she says, “I didn’t label it DE&I. But as I look back, that’s exactly what I was doing.”
Fast forward to 2019, when Thomas joined Populus Group. Working in payroll but not able to leave DE&I behind, she volunteered to lead the organization’s DE&I Council.
It wasn’t long before the company realized much more could be accomplished with a full-time leader, and Thomas became the first head of DE&I. She credits the company’s leaders “for understanding this is not just an add-on to the business but that it really is an imperative part of us being able to shine and set ourselves apart — and also do good in the world.”
Among Thomas’ many DE&I accomplishments in the past year — implementing diverse interview panels, rolling out unconscious bias training and launching an internal podcast to share DE&I stories, to name a few — she is most proud of Populus Group’s new Diverse Supplier Mentorship Program.
When we say we’re here to help, it’s not only for those who aren’t our competition. We’re here to help for real.
The program was sparked by conversations Thomas was having with diversity reps at one of the company’s largest partners. Those discussions went beyond how to operate the businesses together to exploring how to collaboratively impact the greater community of minority-owned businesses. “Affording access and opportunity to other minority-owned businesses is why we exist,” she explains. “When we say we’re here to help, it’s not only for those who aren’t our competition. We’re here to help for real.”
In the coming months, Thomas plans to enhance partnerships internally and externally to make the company’s DE&I activities more robust, and she’d love to open “The Fourth P” podcast to a public audience.
In the future, she has her eyes on consulting, which would provide opportunities to share her DE&I knowledge with others who can continue to run with the torch. “My heart lives in wanting to amplify the voices of those who normally can’t share.”