About

The Diversity, Multicultural, and International Interest Area is dedicated to exploring the intersections of type with social identities. We want to expand the discussion of “diversity” and “culture” beyond differences in type, gender, and national origin to include race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, and class. To be effective type practitioners we need to increase our understanding of our own social identities and how diversity of all kinds affects the expression of type.4 bulleted topics that are key to this IA:
1.Diversity within the type community
2.Using the MBTI in domestic and international multicultural settings
3.Type and cultural expressions
4.Type practitioner issues: awareness of bias and stereotypes

Co-Leader Bios:

Laurie B. Lippin co-leads the Diversity, Multicultural and International interest area.

Laurie B. Lippin, Ph.D. is a passionate presenter whose commitment to diversity inspires all who work with her. She is a founding partner of Equity Action, LLC and teaches at the University of California, Davis. , As a soulful accordionist with the HarmoniaSchvesters she plays her own ethnic Yiddish music. In addition to her work with clients, Laurie is a frequent conference presenter where her keynotes and seminars are enthusiastically received. Laurie believes we need to work as individuals and in coalitions to bring needed societal changes and equity for all.

Laurie is co-author of the popular text: UnRaveling Whiteness (Kendall-Hunt, 2009), which is used extensively in Equity Action’s diversity offerings. She has been involved in diversity work for most of her adult life, but only in the last 20 years did she begin to interrogate her own whiteness, and through that, her own Jewessness. Her collaboration with Judy Helfand for the original 2001 publication of Understanding Whiteness/Unraveling Racism was the result of many years of participation in a women’s whiteness group and then community offerings of workshops on the topic. The goal of her diversity commitment is the elimination of racism in our lifetime. She believes that we will not end racism until white people are just as committed to ending it as are people of color. AND, when that happens, we will remove some existing barriers to a truly multicultural society.

Laurie served for 15 years on the training faculty of the Association of Psychological Type International, and currently delivers Myers Briggs Type Indicator® (MBTI®) certification trainings for Psychometrics Canada. The MBTI® is a cornerstone of Equity Action’s teambuilding practice. She is a graduate of the Newfield Network, and Organizational and Relationship Systems Coaching schools and offers executive, relationship, and diversity coaching to Equity Action clients.


Danielle Poirier co-leads the Diversity, Multicultural and International interest area.

Danielle Poirier was born of French-Canadian unilingual parents and raised in an English-Canadian environment. Her experience of being a representative of a minority culture has partly shaped her understanding of the world. But being dually identified, having both a very definite French-Canadian identity intent on defending her fragile heritage AND a Canadian identity just as intent on protecting a country profoundly divided by its two cultures, has given her a very special understanding of what it means to have a cultural identity.

If culture is to humans as fish is to water, then Danielle is the kind of fish that has experienced both salt and fresh water life. There are parts of one identity that are invariably threatened by parts of her other identities. The inner self often mirrors the outer reality.

Tis no wonder then that she invests much in finding ways to bridge gaps between people, cultures and nations.

She facilitates MBTI TM qualifying workshops in French Canada, and has authored The Magnificent 16. She presently works in Montreal as a trainer and consultant.