Dr. Rachel-Yvonne Talton is founder and CEO of the award-winning firm Synergy International Limited, Inc. Synergy’s purpose is to help leaders and organizations to become more inclusive, more effective, more trustworthy, and more engaged across their stakeholder ecosystem. Synergy helps to enhance executives and teams at the intersection of leadership, inclusive culture, and consumer needs. Synergy uses a unique combination of expertise in psychology, research, leadership development and diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging to better understand employee, consumer and stakeholder behaviors, and leverage opportunities for cohesion and sustainable growth. In addition to Dr. Rachel’s success as an entrepreneur, she is an award-winning published scholar and keynote speaker in the areas of leadership, diversity, employee and consumer engagement and trust.
“Dr. Rachel,” as she is affectionately called, is also CTO (Chief Transformation Officer) of Flourish Leadership, LLC and the Flourish Conference for Women in Leadership, which provides high-achieving female executives and entrepreneurs with executive coaching and masterminding cohorts. Flourish is also engaged in Diversity, Equity & Inclusion workshops where we help create business strategies to help companies create inclusive leaders, an inclusive culture and execute inclusive policies.
Dr. Rachel serves on the corporate board of directors for design firm Tori Soudan. She also serves on the boards of the Cuyahoga Community College Foundation, In Counsel with Women, Chairs the Governance Committee on the Akron Community Foundation Board, as well as JumpStart Inc. She has served on the Board of Directors and Executive Committee of Destination Cleveland, where she chaired the Marketing Committee for six years. Dr. Rachel is also a member of Chief, a co-founder and Chair of the Programming Committee of the BOW Collective and an Advisory Board Member of the national Women Business Collaborative.
Dr. Rachel is a member of the Cleveland Bridge Builders Class of 2002, as well as the Leadership Cleveland Class of 2005. Recognized by several organizations, Dr. Rachel was recognized as a 2015 Woman of Distinction by the Girl Scouts of America, a 2015 Women Who Excels by Smart Business Magazine; a 2014 Young Professional of the Year (STAR Award) by the Women of Color Foundation. Her firm, Synergy, was also selected as winner of the prestigious Weatherhead Enterprise 100 Award (number 3) and the Inc. Regional Award both in 2024.
Dr. Rachel has been selected as a 2023 BOW Knows Growth Awardee, a 2023 Trailblazer Award by Derby Diversity Week, one of the 2022 Enterprising Women of the Year, the 2021 Woman of Achievement by the Greater Akron Chamber of Commerce, a 2021 Smart Business Magazine Progressive Entrepreneur, a Hidden Philanthropist by The Soul of Philanthropy in 2021, as one of the top 100 CIO’s in the U.S. by the National Diversity Council in 2021, the 2020 Woman of Vision by the National Coalition of 100 Black Woman and as a finalist for the 2010 Northeast Ohio ATHENA® International Award. She has also received the NAWBO “Top 10 Women Business Owners” Award. In addition to her awards in economic and social development, Dr. Rachel is also a proud member of the Links, Inc., Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc., ICWW, and the PhD Project.
Dr. Rachel also belongs to several professional organizations including the Market Research Association, the American Marketing Association, and the Academy of Management. She has been featured as an expert in inclusion and leadership strategy and market research on ABC News, Fox News, The Cleveland Plain Dealer, Crain’s and MBA Magazine, amongst many others. She has authored several practitioner and academic articles, including “Dare to Build Trust in Times of Distrust” and “Trust Payoffs in Distrust Dominated Environments.” Her #1 Amazon bestseller in Leadership, Flourish: Have it All Without Losing Your Self was published in January 2016. Her latest collaborative effort is The Sixth Level, which was published by Amplify Publishing in November 2023. She is currently writing a book on global belonging with her colleague Nichole Barnes Marshall.
Dr. Rachel earned her Doctorate in Management from Case Western Reserve University’s Weatherhead School of Management, where she has served as Adjunct Professor of Marketing. She also holds a Diversity & Inclusion Training Certificate from Cornell University. Her research is focused on the impact of perceptions of trust, satisfaction, and value on consumer loyalty in dynamic-industry environments. She holds an MBA with a concentration in Finance from Cleveland State University, as well as a BA in Psychology. She is a lifetime member of the Beta Gamma Sigma International Business Honor Society.
Dr. Rachel’s personal passions include spending time with her husband Jim and family, international travel, community service, public speaking, writing, art, and music.