Meet Raj, your EDI&B expert
Learn more about the Managing Director & Principal Consultant of DRKM Consulting.
I've always lived between worlds. Half Scottish, half Indian, Yorkshire‑born, Sikh, and raised in a family whose journey travelled from India to Scotland to England long before I arrived. My identity isn't a neat tick‑box; it's a tapestry. And that tapestry shapes everything we do at DRKM Consulting.
Growing up as a first‑generation on my dad's side and multi‑generational on my mum's side, ethnically minoritised, low‑income Sikh woman meant learning early what belonging feels like and what it feels like to be outside of it. I've walked into many spaces where I wasn't expected, represented, or understood. Those experiences didn't break me; they built my purpose.
For over 20 years in Higher Education, including Russell Group institutions, I've worked at the intersection of equity, wellbeing, culture, and organisational change. My work is shaped by lived experience, legal training, trauma‑aware thinking and a strong belief that people deserve to feel safe, seen, and valued.
I'm Mental Health First Aid trained (MHFA), which means I bring awareness of mental health, sensitivity to early signs of distress, and an understanding of how culture, identity, and belonging shape wellbeing.
I'm particularly known for my work on Trespasser Syndrome, the feeling of being in a space you've earned, yet still feeling like you shouldn't be there. I've lived it, shaped it, and brought it into organisational conversations in a way that resonates.
I've lost friends and family to the consequences of not belonging. This work is not abstract to me. It's personal.
I'm a coach, a consultant, a strategist, and a storyteller. I help organisations align their values with their actions, build cultures of belonging, and create psychologically safe spaces where people can breathe, speak, and thrive.
I volunteer, I give back, I ask difficult questions, and I help people ask better ones. I'm here to help organisations break cycles, not reinforce them.
- LLB (Hons) Law
- LLM (Masters in Law), specialising in the Equality Act (2010)
- Legal Practice Course (LPC)
- Association for Coaching Qualification
- TMSDi Practitioner — qualified to use Team Management Systems tools to support team effectiveness, communication, and working relationships
- Management Qualification
- Project Management Training
- Mental Health First Aid trained (MHFA)
- Strategic Leadership: Equity in Leadership Programme
- 20 years in Higher Education, including Russell Group universities
- Legal background with expertise in equality law
- Strategic leadership in EDI&B
- Programme design, governance, and organisational change
- Mentor, coach, sponsor
- Steering group member
- Staff Race Equality Committee member
- Volunteer in multiple community and cultural organisations
- Phoenix Award: Outstanding contribution to EDI strategic impact, race equity expertise, wellbeing, and belonging
- Inclusive Impact Award: Advancing systemic change in EDI through strategic leadership and governance
- Houses of Commons NEON Award: National excellence in Widening Participation programme design, delivery & impact
I'm a:
- Runner (in fact I am just trying to get back into this after a break!)
- Baker
- Reader
- Psychology enthusiast
- Culture learner
- Volunteer
These aren't hobbies. They're the threads that shape my work.
What EDI&B really means.
Equity, Diversity, Inclusion & Belonging (EDI&B) is the strategic work organisations do to create fair systems, reduce legal and reputational risk, and build cultures where people can perform at their best.
Equity ensures fairness.
Diversity ensures representation.
Inclusion ensures access and participation.
Belonging is the outcome, the lived experience that tells us whether any of this work is actually working. And if organisations don't achieve this, it means the work isn't being done right.
You can have diverse teams and inclusive policies, but if people still feel unsafe, unseen, or unable to be themselves, the organisation has not achieved meaningful change.
Belonging is the measure of success.
Most organisations invest in EDI activity, training, networks, awareness days, but very few measure whether people actually feel they belong. Our work focuses on the gap between organisational intention and lived experience.
Belonging is where culture becomes real. It's where psychological safety, fairness, and inclusion translate into behaviour, trust, and performance. Without belonging, EDI is an activity without impact.
Signature questions.
These questions show the depth of our practice and the breadth of our understanding:
What is this experience really like for the people who work here and how do we know?
What story would your employees tell about working here and is it the story you think they'd tell?
What conditions do people need to feel safe, valued and able to thrive and are we creating them consistently?
What has the system taught us to accept and what needs to be unlearned?
Where are we unintentionally creating barriers and what would it look like to remove them with intention?
What would this decision look like if we centred belonging, not just compliance?
How do we ensure our values show up in our actions, not just our policies?
Whose voice is missing and what might they tell us if they were here?
What patterns are emerging that we haven't yet named?
What cycles are we repeating and what would it take to break them?
What does success look like for both the organisation and the people within it?
Three areas. One outcome.
Structural Equity
We identify and address systemic barriers embedded in policies, processes, and decision‑making.
Inclusive Culture & Psychological Safety
We help leaders and teams create environments where people feel safe, valued, and able to contribute fully.
Leadership Capability & Accountability
We equip leaders with the insight, confidence, and tools to lead inclusively and build cultures of belonging.
Organisations that are safer, fairer, more resilient, and better positioned to attract, retain, and develop diverse talent.
Five worlds. One picture.
Workplaces are complex ecosystems. HR, unions, employment lawyers, leaders, and employees all hold different responsibilities and all of them matter.
Our role is to connect these worlds, to help organisations see the full picture.
Grounded in evidence. Built for lasting change. Delivered with integrity.
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