For Practitioners
Amplify your expertise. Join a collective that values your lived and learned wisdom.
The Diversity Collective is designed for practitioners who hold DEI subject matter expertise and lived experience. We handle coordination, marketing, booking logistics — you deliver your work.
Too often, practitioners with genuine lived experience struggle to access the organisations that need them most. We built The Diversity Collective to change that — giving you the platform, community and infrastructure to reach more clients while retaining full autonomy over your practice.
Why Join The Diversity Collective?
If you’re a DEI practitioner working independently, you know the challenges: finding clients, marketing yourself, managing bookings, chasing invoices — all while doing the actual work you’re passionate about.
The Diversity Collective takes care of the business side so you can focus on what you do best.
Reach more organisations
We actively market the collective to organisations across Australia seeking lived experience training. When enquiries come in, we match them with the right practitioner from our community of practitioners.
Keep Your Autonomy
You maintain your own ABN, your own brand, and your own practice. We’re not an employer — we’re a platform that amplifies your reach.
Get paid fairly
Practitioners receive the majority of each booking fee. We’re fair about our model: a small percentage (ex GST) goes to the Collective Fund, with the rest going directly to you.
Join a community
Connect with other practitioners who share your values and commitment to lived experience-led inclusion work. Share knowledge, collaborate on projects, and grow together.
Be part of something bigger
Two percent of the Collective Fund goes to Pay the Rent, supporting Indigenous sovereignty. When you work through The Diversity Collective, your practice contributes to broader systemic change.
How It Works
Joining The Diversity Collective is straightforward. Here’s what to expect:
Submit your Expression of Interest
Submit your EOI with your bio, ABN, insurance status. Tell us about your expertise, your lived experience, and the kind of work you want to do.
We review your application
We look for practitioners whose expertise and values align with the collective. We’ll be in touch to discuss your application and answer any questions.
We list you in our directory and promote you to organisations
Your profile showcases your expertise, lived experience, and areas of specialty.
We match you with opportunities
When organisations enquire, we recommend practitioners whose expertise fits their needs. You decide which opportunities you want to take on.
You deliver the work
You keep your autonomy. We handle the admin infrastructure. You focus on delivering lived-experience training, speaking, coaching or advisory services.
You get paid
A small percentage of each booking goes to the Collective Fund and to Pay the Rent. The remaining percentage is yours. We process payments promptly so you’re not left chasing invoices.
You grow your practice
You grow your brand, your network, your income. The more you work through the collective, the more your reputation builds — both within the community and with organisations.
What We Look For
The Diversity Collective is built on credibility, expertise and shared values. We welcome practitioners at various stages of their careers — from those just starting to monetise their expertise, to established consultants looking to expand their reach.
Here’s what we look for in practitioners:
Genuine expertise
Strong subject matter expertise and/or lived experience relevant to inclusion work. This might include cultural diversity, disability inclusion, gender diversity, LGBTQIA+ inclusion, neurodivergence, anti-racism, psychological safety, or other dimensions of DEI.
Valid ABN and insurances
You’ll need to be set up as an independent contractor with appropriate coverage to work with organisations including Public Liability and Professional Indemnity Insurance. If you don’t know where to start, we can help!
Values alignment
Commitment to our values: equity, transparency, collaboration, accessibility. We call in, not call out. We centre lived experience. We believe in democratising DEI education rather than gatekeeping it.
The Collective Fund Model
Transparency matters to us. Here’s exactly how our unique financial model works:
When you deliver work through The Diversity Collective, an agreed upon portion of the fee (ex-GST) goes into the Collective Fund. This amount is determined by you and based on how much support you need from the Collective + how much you’re willing to ‘pay forward,’ for other practitioners who need our support.
This fund covers:
- Marketing and promotion of the collective
- Website, directory and booking infrastructure
- Community building and practitioner support
- Administration and coordination
- Pay the Rent contribution (2% of each booking)
The remaining goes directly to you.
This model means you benefit from shared infrastructure and marketing without the overhead of building it yourself — while contributing to a community resource that supports all practitioners in the collective.
Types of Work Available
Organisations come to The Diversity Collective seeking a range of services. As a practitioner, you can offer any combination that suits your expertise:
Workplace Training
Compliance modules, culture-shift workshops, team training sessions — delivered virtually or in person.
Speaking and Events
Keynotes, panel participation, MC roles, conference presentations.
Coaching
One-on-one or group coaching for leaders on inclusive leadership, allyship, or specific DEI topics.
Bespoke Training
Custom programmes designed for specific contexts: CALD communities, disability inclusion, gender diversity, psychological safety, and more.
Advisory
Audits, assessments, policy reviews, strategy development — longer-term engagements with organisations.
You choose which services you offer and which opportunities you take on. We never commit you to work without your agreement.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do I need to be a full-time DEI consultant to join?
Not at all. Many practitioners in our collective balance DEI work with other roles or commitments. What matters is that you have genuine expertise and lived experience to offer, and the capacity to deliver quality work when opportunities arise.
What insurances do I need?
You’ll need Public Liability insurance and Professional Indemnity insurance. These protect both you and the organisations you work with. If you’re not sure what coverage you need, we can point you toward resources to help you get set up.
At TDC, lived experience is not treated as anecdote or identity alone. It is recognised as a form of expertise — developed over time, held with care, and applied intentionally to support meaningful change.
How do you decide which practitioner to recommend for each opportunity?
All opportunities are shared across the collective. We don’t gatekeep access or operate a closed rotation.
From there, recommendations are made based on alignment — the organisation’s context and needs, the practitioner’s expertise and lived experience, availability, and practical considerations such as location for in-person work. Our aim is always to engage the practitioner best placed to lead the work well.
This model is built on trust and shared responsibility. Practitioners are encouraged to put themselves forward only for work that genuinely aligns with their expertise, and to support the equitable distribution of opportunities across the collective.
We are building capacity, not competition — and creating pathways for many practitioners to lead, rather than concentrating work in the hands of a few.
Can I still work with clients directly outside the collective?
Yes. Practitioners retain their own independent practice, brand and client relationships. The Diversity Collective is an additional pathway for work — not an exclusive arrangement.
Our model is built on trust, shared responsibility and equitable practice. Where relationships emerge through TDC-facilitated work, we expect those connections to be acknowledged and honoured in ways that reflect the collective effort involved. This helps ensure we don’t recreate the competitive, extractive dynamics many of us are working to change.
We prioritise collaboration over ownership, and collective capacity over individual accumulation — trusting practitioners to act with integrity in how opportunities are held and shared.
What if I'm just starting out as a DEI practitioner?
We work with practitioners at different stages of their practice, and we don’t expect everyone to arrive fully formed. What matters most is strong subject-matter knowledge, values alignment, and a clear understanding of the responsibilities that come with this work.
Lived experience does not create an obligation to share personal stories — and readiness, safety and consent are essential. Being able to teach or facilitate from lived experience requires boundaries, support and, in many cases, trauma-informed practice. We take this seriously.
Because DEI is not a regulated industry, we are intentional about ethical practice. We work alongside practitioners — and, where appropriate, external experts in trauma-informed facilitation and healing — to ensure this work is undertaken safely, responsibly and with care for both practitioners and participants.
Joining the collective is not about extraction or exposure. It’s about building sustainable, ethical practice over time — in ways that protect people, maintain integrity, and honour lived expertise without exploiting it.
How quickly will I start getting work?
This varies depending on your areas of expertise, the demand from organisations, and how actively you engage with opportunities. We can’t guarantee a specific volume of work, but being part of the collective significantly expands your visibility to organisations seeking lived experience practitioners.
What's the application process like?
The process begins with an Expression of Interest, where you share basic details about your practice — including your background, areas of expertise, and practical requirements such as ABN and insurance.
From there, we take a relational approach. Once we receive your EOI, we’ll be in touch to understand your work, your readiness, and how the collective might support you to practise safely and sustainably.
The process is intentionally flexible and responsive, recognising that accessibility looks different for different people. Our aim is to reduce barriers — not create new ones — while maintaining the integrity of the work and the collective.
Ready to Join?
If you hold lived experience and professional expertise in diversity, equity and inclusion — and our values resonate with you — we'd love to hear from you.
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