I was active-duty Air Force assigned to the National Security Agency as a Serbian/Croatian linguist and analyst. All I can say about my work there is: I translated Serbian/Croatian communications; analyzed communications to determine intelligence value; authored reports that provided the fullest and most accurate Signals Intelligence (SIGINT) picture to U.S. policymakers, military commanders, and Intelligence Community members; trained and supervised personnel. During this time, I was awarded: the National Security Agency Star Achievement Award; the U.S. Department of Defense Joint Service Achievement Medal; and the National Security Agency Regional Targets Military Performer of the Quarter.

When I was in the military, it was “out of regulations” for me to wear my natural hair in locks. However, I did it anyways…in my miliary picture, my locks are pulled back into a bun. The irony is that only a handful of Black leaders in the Air Force ever even noticed and I was fortunate that they said and did nothing to get me into any trouble - but I would have accepted the consequences.

Part of the consulting team that helped to create the first local/regional fusion center including the policies, technology, processes, intelligence products, and integration of civil liberties, civil rights, and community engagement.

I was able to develop policies that were explicit about civil liberties and rights. When the BRIC first opened, there were community tours that provided transparency on how things worked - this allowed for community organizations to ask hard questions and have context to advocate as they saw fit.

The Medical Intelligence Center was the vision of former Chief of Boston EMS and former FEMA Deputy Administrator Richard Serino. The foundation was laid by the previous Director of Public Health Preparedness, Natalie Grant. I was fortunate enough to be able to build out the Incident Command System used in the MIC, which is both a Multi-Agency Coordinating Center and a Department Operations Center for the Boston Public Health Commission, the local public health department. Led the development of the technical, operational, and coordination functionality for planning and responses across all healthcare disciplines and public health partners. During my time, I led the public health and healthcare response to the Boston Marathon bombings, the winter snowstorms of 2015, trolley crashes, train crashes, the Long Island bridge closure and evacuation, and dozens of smaller scale emergencies.

As the Director of Public Health Preparedness, I developed a Community Resilience program. One component was focused on community outreach and was called Ready, Safe, Healthy - in fact, I still own the readysafehealthy.org domain. I also incorporated community partners into our emergency planning and response - we even sent Situation Reports to our community partners during responses.

I also experienced intense institutional racism and micro+macroagressions - overt attempts to disrupt the work I was doing and subtle (mostly unconscious) violations of my dignity.

The social circumstances of people significantly determine the severity of poor outcomes after disasters. The majority of Americans live in cities that face higher risk because of the density of infrastructure, assets, and people, particularly vulnerable populations.

In 2014 as part of my doctoral research, I developed the Social Determinants of Vulnerability Framework - it was based on a link analysis of the literature to help planners in cities better identify and understand the most vulnerable people in their area. The Framework also provides a way to reduce the likelihood of civil rights violations and poor outcomes for people with limited ability to prepare for, adapt to, and cope with emergencies.

I applied the Social Determinants of Vulnerability Framework to the City of Boston to determine if the relationships between social factors of vulnerability are consistent with literature, to determine the areas of geographic concentrations of the most vulnerable people, and assess the relationship between social isolation and the other factors of social vulnerability. Based on a citywide geospatial analysis and neighborhood level correlation analyses, I also identified the most vulnerable people and neighborhoods.

Parts of my research and results were published in the International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction. This article has been citied 48 times, including 10 local, national, and interntational policy briefs.

I was the first Chief Resilience Officer for the City of Boston as part of 100 Resilient Cities. I led the development and implementation of Boston's initial resilience strategy which was the first one in the 100 Resilient Cities network to make racial equity, social justice, and social cohesion the foundation of all initiatives to build resilience across the city. Engaged over 12,000 people across government, community, businesses, and nonprofits to develop Resilient Boston: An Equitable, Connected City.

It is interesting to me that I did not have much internal support for doing as much community engagement as I did, in the way I did it; and I had to make multiple trips to NY to advocate for centering racial justice. I also faced a great deal of lowercase oppression, institutional racism, and interpersonal racism (internalized oppression from racism from People of Color and internalized supremacy from White colleagues. However, the work was celebrated afterwards - Smart Cities magazine selected Resilient Boston as the best resilience strategy of 2017 and the Center for American Progress featured it in its report A Framework for Local Action on Climate Change.

Founded and currently leading a team applying research-based approaches to help clients take practical action. All Aces is an alternative to traditional diversity, equity, and inclusion consulting and professional development. We have supported over 70 organizations across sectors/industries to improve organizational development and change, relationships, communication, and employee engagement. We also have a customized learning management system (LMS) with an online learning community, IntentionallyAct.com.

Dr. Atyia Martin is the CEO and founder of All Aces, Inc., an alternative to traditional DEI consulting firms and she is the executive director of Next Leadership Development, a nonprofit focused on strengthening resilience and leadership with Black communities.

Her personal mission is to unleash the invisible power that every person and organization has to intentionally act to disrupt oppression. Dr. Martin has over 20 years of experience applying the principles of racial and social justice with organizations, leaders, and communities. She has facilitated efforts to address injustices within the workplace, climate resilience, emergency management, public health, and homeland security.

Dr. Atyia Martin is the CEO and Founder of All Aces, Inc., an alternative to traditional diversity, equity, and inclusion consulting firms. She is also the Executive Director of the nonprofit, Next Leadership Development, supporting resilience for Black leaders and communities through resources, education, and relationships.

Her personal mission is to unleash the invisible power that every person and organization has to intentionally act to disrupt oppression. Dr. Martin has over 20 years of experience applying the principles of racial and social justice with organizations, leaders, and communities. She has facilitated efforts to address injustices within the workplace, climate resilience, emergency management, public health, and homeland security.

Dr. Martin is published in scholarly journals, books, reports, and is the author of We Are the Question + the Answer. Additionally, she is a Nonresident Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institution and a Distinguished Senior Fellow at Northeastern University's Global Resilience Institute.

Dr. Martin is an experienced emergency manager with an Inclusive Workplace Culture Specialty Credential from the Society for Human Resource Management, an Associate of Arts in Serbian Croatian from the Defense Language Institute (DLI), Bachelor of Science from Excelsior College, a Master of Homeland Security Leadership from the University of Connecticut, and a Doctorate of Law and Policy from Northeastern University. Dr. Martin and her husband were born and raised in Boston where they currently live. They have five children, two still at home.

Dr. Atyia Martin is the CEO and Founder of All Aces, Inc., an alternative to traditional diversity, equity, and inclusion consulting firms. Dr. Martin and her team partner with businesses, nonprofits, and government on organizational, professional, and personal development that advances racial justice and builds resilience.

She is also the Executive Director of the nonprofit, Next Leadership Development, with a mission to strengthen resilience for Black leaders and communities by accelerate change through leadership building, creating our own tables, and developing partnerships with allies.

Her personal mission is to unleash the invisible power that every person and organization has to intentionally act to disrupt oppression.

Dr. Martin is published in scholarly journals, reports, and books on emergency management, business continuity, resilience, and psychological trauma response. She is the author of We Are the Question + the Answer. Additionally, she is a Nonresident Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institution and a Distinguished Senior Fellow at Northeastern University's Global Resilience Institute.

Dr. Martin was the first Chief Resilience Officer for the City of Boston as part of 100 Resilient Cities. She led the development and implementation of Boston's initial resilience strategy which was the first one in the 100 Resilient Cities network to make racial equity, social justice, and social cohesion the foundation of building resilience across the city. She engaged over 12,000 people across government, community, businesses, and nonprofits to develop Resilient Boston: An Equitable, Connected City. Smart Cities magazine selected Resilient Boston as the best resilience strategy of 2017 and the Center for American Progress featured it in its report A Framework for Local Action on Climate Change.

Prior to her role as Chief Resilience Officer, Dr. Martin was the director of the Office of Public Health Preparedness at the Boston Public Health Commission (BPHC). In this role, she was responsible for coordinating public health, healthcare, and community health emergency management including oversight of the Stephen M. Lawlor Medical Intelligence Center to coordinate response and recovery efforts; and education and training through the DelValle Institute for Emergency Preparedness. She led the expansion of the DelValle Institute from the greater Boston area to the entire Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Additionally, she increased their reach and capacity by facilitating the development and implementation of a learning management system to support in-person training and expansion into online learning. During her tenure, she led the public health and healthcare response to the Boston Marathon bombings, the winter snow storms of 2015, trolley crashes, train crashes, the Long Island bridge closure and evacuation, and dozens of smaller scale emergencies.

Her previous professional experience includes adjunct faculty in the Master of Homeland Security and Public Policy programs at Northeastern University; the Boston Police Department’s Boston Regional Intelligence Center; City of Boston’s Mayor’s Office of Emergency Management; the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI); active duty Air Force assigned to the National Security Agency as a Serbian/Croatian linguist and analyst; and the Initiative for a Competitive Inner City (ICIC).

Dr. Martin is an experienced emergency manager with an Inclusive Workplace Culture Specialty Credential from the Society for Human Resource Management, an Associate of Arts in Serbian Croatian from the Defense Language Institute (DLI), Bachelor of Science in Administrative Studies and Serbian/Croatian from Excelsior College, a Master of Homeland Security Leadership from the University of Connecticut, and a Doctorate in Law and Policy from Northeastern University. Dr. Martin and her husband were born and raised in Boston where they currently live. They co-founded Next Leadership Development Corporation, a nonprofit focused on building resilience in Black households and communities. Dr. Martin and her husband have five children, two still at home.