Charmaine Utz

Charmaine Utz is a licensed clinical social worker and subject-matter expert on issues related to equity, diversity, inclusion. She founded and serves as the CEO of Living Unapologetically to help businesses build and sustain equitable work cultures. She currently holds a position as the DEI Strategist with the Academy of Professional Excellence at San Diego State where she oversees and operationalizes the Academy’s diversity, equity, and inclusion strategic goals.  

In between business consulting and work at SDSU, she is an Adjunct Faculty member at CSU Dominguez hills and owns a small private practice based in Long Beach and San Diego, CA where she provides therapy to adults and partners. She earned a bachelor’s degree in Psychology from California State University, Los Angeles, and a master’s degree in Social Work, with an emphasis on community mental health, Critical Race Theory, and Intersectionality from California State University, Dominguez Hills. She is the creator of the BiasWork™ self-exploration curriculum and author of Bias-Conscious Leadership: A Framework for Leading with Action and Accountability.