meet our team

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Maximilliam Smith

(He/Him/She/Her)

Content Producer and Marketing Strategist

Chisom Udeze

Founder of Diversify, Diversify Consult, HerSpace & The Annual

Chisom is an Economist, a Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Belonging (DEIB) Strategist, and a 3 times founder of impact driven companies. She has over 14 years of experience working with organizations like the European Commission, The United Nations, ExxonMobil and The Economist Group. Chisom is analytical and a data enthusiast. She is passionate about interrogating the cross-sectoral relationship between society’s inhabitants, resources, production, technology, distribution and output. She efficiently and effectively unlocks complex systems, interprets data, forecasts socio-economic trends and conducts research.

Having lived and worked in 7 countries across 3 continents, she is highly adaptable to different circumstances and people, and thrives in uncertain environments.

As the founder of Diversify and Diversify Consult, Chisom and her team work with companies, institutions, governments and civil society to develop sustainable DEIB strategies and embed measurable diversity and inclusion initiatives in the workplace and society. In addition, in 2022, Diversify launched the Diversify Nordics Summit, the largest conference in the Nordics that gathers cross-sectoral stakeholders to amplify DEIB in the Nordics and beyond.

In 2020, she founded HerSpace, a diverse and inclusive co-creation community for all genders, with particular focus on women and non-binary people. In 2022, HerSpace launched HerTech, Women in Tech incubator, for women-led companies, with a focus on the inclusion of diverse founders. 

Chisom is a thought-leader in DEIB and a passionate advocate for mental health and wellness. She writes often on DEIB and justice related topics, some of her work is published on Forbes.

Kim-Andre Nikolaisen

Kim-Andre Nikolaisen

Vice Chairman

Kim-Andre is Deputy Chairman of the Board and Chief Financial Officer at Diversify with strong and diverse expertise in management, finance, accounting, data analysis and website development. He also has experience from running and growing his own technology company, TechUp; in addition to founding a few other successful businesses. His contribution is mostly technical, supporting the organizational work and Diversify`s operations.

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Iva Ogrizovic

Program Director

Iva holds a Master’s in Philosophy and Comparative Literature and in her home country, Croatia, she mostly worked as a freelancer in culture event management (film and music festivals) and in production (theater and TV). For the past three years of living in Norway she has been working for a non profit organisation, Diversify, as a Program Director. Here she co-designs and manages programs for skilled immigrants addressing the difficulties they face when trying to secure relevant employment. The programs center on entrepreneurship, mentorship and professional development. Her work also involves supporting Diversify’s DEIB consultancy and training. Iva is passionate about professional and personal development and empowering people to realize and use their potential to make positive changes in their lives.

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Miguel A. Leyva S.

DEI ASSOCIATE & RESEARCH ANALYST

Miguel is a psychologist by profession with experience in social programmes development and work with marginalized communities in Mexico. He is passionate about social justice, cross-cultural interactions and migration, for which he is pursuing further studies in social and cultural psychology at the University of Oslo. At Diversify he supports in development and analysis of DEIB surveys, initiatives and workshops.

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Mila Sergeeva

Web developer & UX Designer

Mila has a master’s degree in Economics and Psychology. She has over 7 years of experience in the field of Accounting/Finance. Despite her previous experience, at some point she decided to develop herself as a web developer. At Diversify, Mila is responsible for web development, UX Design and for the implementation of new technologies.

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Sayantani Saha

community and marketing manager

Sayantani is a social media and communications professional. She has a diverse work experience across different fields. Sayantani has worked as a copy editor in a leading Indian newspaper, a buyer and merchandiser in a retail organisation and as a social media professional in various organisations, including her own business. She has a masters degree in fashion management. At Diversify, she takes care of all things social media.

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Maximilliam Smith

Content Producer and Marketing Strategist

Maximilliam is a dynamic social media specialist and adept marketing strategist. With a foundation as a social media content creator and a bachelor’s degree in Culture and Communication, his expertise lies in the realms of content production, branding and understanding how humanbeings communicate their cultures with an anthropological lens. As he crafts compelling social media content to promote Diverisfys’s array of services, Maximilliam seamlessly balances his professional career with her passion for freestyleskiing and being a queer voice in the ski community.

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Nikki Hayes

Executive Assistant and Project Manager

Nikki is development practitioner who is passionate about creating conscious and responsible communities. Nikki is analytical, energetic and creative in her work. She completed her Masters of International Development with a practical focus on participatory forms of development at RMIT University, Melbourne. She has experience working with immigrant and asylum seeker communities which where she began to developed curiosity and skill in diversity and inclusion, cultural intelligence and cross-cultural communication. She continues working within these areas at Diversify, where she project managers various events, discussions and initiatives.

Linn Schjerven

Project manager and DEIB associate

Linn is a polyglot with work experience from service, journalism, graphics and illustrations and social media management. She has a bachelors in media studies and sociology from the University of Hong Kong and a masters in journalism from the University College of Volda. Linn has been active in public debates about identity and belonging and is pursuing additional studies in migration and social geography. Her past experiences include volunteering for a range of multicultural events and illustrative work for Samora Forum. At Diversify she is a project manager and DEIB associate, supporting the organization’s work on DEIB surveys, workshops and mentorship programs.

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