Principal Consultant, JONES Inclusive

Dr. Lida Rafia is a social justice educator and equity practitioner who is passionate about helping people, teams, and organizations create cultural transformational through an equity and inclusion lens. She has over 13 years of professional experience in higher education leadership leading strategic change in community colleges in various leadership capacities that have included program and curricula design, training and facilitation, strategic planning, and organizational development.

Dr. Rafia is currently a Principal Consultant at JONES Inclusive, where she builds and maintains collaborative client relationships in large non-profit organizations to lead strategic initiatives including executive coaching, developing and leading highly effective teams, and increasing employee engagement.

Born in Tehran, Iran, her family migrated between Iran and the United States throughout her youth. Growing up with one foot firmly in the American experience and the other immersed in her Iranian heritage, she was eventually able to reconcile the seemingly disparate cultures and embrace her identity as an Iranian-American.

Dr. Rafia previously served as Dean of Student Success and Equity at Grossmont College where she oversaw college-wide equity strategic initiatives, strategic planning and professional development for faculty, staff and administrators. In this role, she worked collaboratively to build consensus across constituency groups to advance student success, and foster an inclusive environment to positively impact policies, practices, and culture. She earned a master’s degree in educational leadership and policy from Portland State University and a Ph.D. in adult and higher educational leadership from Oregon State University. She currently resides in San Diego, CA.