Quayla C. Allen

Director of Equity, Impact and Belonging
Sundance Institute

Quayla Allen is the director of equity, impact and belonging at the Sundance Institute, where she has been since January 2020. During her time she co-led the Sundance Institute’s Safety and Belonging Program aimed at creating a resilient community capable of modeling the institute’s values of equity, safety and inclusion to create an accessible environment that is welcoming to all. Her work in this area has reverberated throughout the institute, the field and beyond, setting a model for other organizations. While Allen has been a professional in the DEI space for over five years, equity and inclusion are a lifelong commitment given her position as a Black woman at the intersection of other marginalized identities. She believes at the heart of any successful DEI initiative is the belief that all individuals have physical and psychological safety.