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ABOUT US

Founded in 2016, Avant Consulting Group is a Black queer woman-owned consulting company specializing in influencing organizations to achieve equity within their institutions and in collaboration with the broader community.

 

Our collective of academics, experiential experts, health professionals, sociologists, adventure therapists, healers, burnout recovery coaches, anthropologists, historians, social workers, and communication scholars assist organizations with building a just, equitable, diverse, and inclusive workplace, workforce, and society.  

ABOUT US

WHO WE SERVE

Avant Consulting Group contracts with institutions such as universities, pharmacy educators, health centers and systems, public school districts, banks, nonprofits, tech companies, home fitness companies, healthcare advocacy centers, public health departments, pediatric hospitals, state agencies, physicians and more.

We operationalize our own equity research and other evidence-based methods to facilitate challenging conversations and minimize defensiveness 

CONSULTANTS

CONSULTANTS

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CURRICULUM VITAE

VIEW HERE

DR. NICOLE AVANT

PROFESSOR

PHARMACIST

SOCIAL JUSTICE EDUCATOR

NATIONAL SPEAKER

RESEARCHER

FIERCE ADVOCATE

HEALTH-EQUITY MINDED

Dr. Avant is a licensed and board-certified ambulatory care pharmacist. Previously, she served as the clinical assistant professor and chief diversity officer for the University of Cincinnati College of Pharmacy where she was hired as the first Black woman faculty member and the only Black faculty member at the 4th oldest college of pharmacy in the nation. 

 

Dr. Avant is a scholar who pushes for health equity through structural competence, pleasure activism, joy, and relaxation. Dr. Avant wants to be known as a scholarly and pleasure activist advocating for the rights of minoritized groups especially in the context of health.

 

Through professional and personal experiences, Dr. Avant realizes that for true equity to be achieved, we must first become aware of our own positionality in systems of power and work to deconstruct ideologies, values, and norms assumed in US culture. Simultaneously, we must utilize radical self-love, rest, relaxation, pleasure, and communities of care as tools to resist oppression.

EDUCATION

SKILLS

Active-learner facilitator

Create brave spaces for individuals to  engage in inter-group dialogue

Facilitate "eye-opening" activities promoting self-awareness

Critical Thinker

High-energy

University of Illinois at Chicago - College of Pharmacy

​2008 - 2012

 

Doctor of Pharmacy (Pharm.D.), Magna Cum Laude, Pharmacy

Societies: Rho Chi Honor Society, Phi Lambda Sigma Leadership Society

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign - College of Business

​1998 - 2001

 

Bachelor of Science (B.S.), Finance with Honors

THE TEAM

SERVICES

SERVICES

01

Education and Training 

02

1:1 and Group Coaching 

03

Listening Sessions

04

Consultations to Shape Engagement

05

Assessments of problems and Customizable interventions

06

Building and maintaining communities of care

07

Leadership Development

08

Presentations and Keynotes

WE BELIEVE

Avant Group believes that all communities deserve access to good health through accessible transportation, affordable housing, accurate and comprehensive education, nourishing foods, high income, safety, dignity, belonging, healing, liberation, pleasure, community building, and many other factors.

 

Communities most impacted by inequities hold the answers for healthier communities.

 

 

Consequently to achieve this vision, institutions must work to build coalitions and BIPOC-led alliances to end inequities. Avant Group utilizes data, collaborations, education, listening sessions, focus groups, and innovative community interventions to implement strategies for healthy workplaces and communities.

ORGANIZATIONAL TRANSFORMATION

Transformation is hard. While many organizations possess the desire to change, anxiety, fear, guilt, denial, burying harm, abusive dynamics, and lack of trust are barriers to transformation.

 

Avant Group supports organizations with anti-oppressive, health equity, and racial equity work via enhancing accountability, trust, safety, and emotional regulation in the workplace.

 

 By partnering with Avant Group, organizations can expect to:

Interrupt cycles of inequities

Identify and disrupt abusive dynamics at work

Challenge racism in every policy, process, and action

Incorporate transformative justice

Build trust via accountability and transparency

Enhance capacity for supervisors to change

FEATURED CLIENTS

INDIVIDUAL TRANSFORMATION

Radical acceptance of self is necessary and vital for liberation.

 

What we envision for the world, our organizations, our communities, our families must start with us.

 

Accepting and honoring our personalities, bodies, imperfections, and truths cultivates a loving-self relationship which in turn cultivates loving relationships with others. Systems of power require disconnection and hierarchies. Healing relationships is a key strategy to disrupting systems of power. 

 By partnering with Avant Group, individuals can expect to:

Resist systems of power pleasurably and restfully

Enhance self-trust and interpersonal trust

Move towards acceptance of their bodies

Practice radical honesty and prioritize their truth

Create healing and

self-love 

De-shame pleasure

FEATURED CLIENTS

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QUOTES FROM CLIENTS

Very impressive on how much ease you have guiding difficult conversation. Very interesting group discussion!

I appreciate the environment you all created and the entire energy from the start was amazing. 

The presenter was very funny and made a very hard topic easier to talk about.

Amazing presentation! Thank you so much for speaking!

NEWS

NEWS

SPEAKING
ENGAGEMENTS

2018 Ohio Women's Conference

2018 Ohio Healthcare Diversity Summit

2017 Ohio Women's Conference

2016 Cincinnati Diversity Healthcare Summit Council

University of South Florida College of Pharmacy

Greater Cincinnati of Health-Systems Pharmacists

Rosalind College of Pharmacy

American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy

Student National Pharmaceutical Association

National Association of Minority Medical Educators

UC College of Allied Health

University of Illinois at Chicago College of Pharmacy

University of Cincinnati Center for the Enhancement of Teaching and Learning

University of Cincinnati College of Pharmacy

Association of Black Sociologists

National Pharmaceutical Assocation

FEATURES

UC College of Pharmacy Faculty Focus

WCPO Cincinnati

Cincinnati Business Courier

Cincinnati Public Radio

NPhA Express

Cradle Cincinnati

DR. AVANT'S AWARDS &
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

University of Illinois at Chicago College of Pharmacy 2017 Rising Star

YWCA 2017 Rising Star

University of Cincinnati Darwin T. Turner Champion Awards

University of Cincinnati Black Faculty Association Awards

ASHP Statement on the Role of Pharmacy Technicians

LINKS

Cradle Cincinnati: 2018 infant mortality rate improves but remains far higher for black babies

Tiny Life Lost: Can Hope, Community Help Keep Hamilton County’s Babies Alive?  

Commentary: What Infant Mortality in Hamilton County Looks Like Up Close

This Week’s Top Stories Span from Dayton, Ohio, to Cincinnati’s West End    

Does Racial Bias Exist in Pharmacy? Educators Lay the Foundation for Change

Trans 101: A Guide to Understanding Gender Identity and Expression    

BOOKING

CONNECT WITH US

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CONTACT

DR. NICOLE D. AVANT

773.443.6454

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