Our Story
Answering the Call
Ruthann, an established marketing and creative strategist and consultant in the hospitality, public healthcare and tech industry, and Yoli, an established diversity, equity and inclusion consultant in the yoga and wellness industry, together decided in 2022 to join forces in the spirit of collaboration and cross-pollination. Both have direct service experience in each other's industry area of expertise and see a generative intersection in the meeting place of the wellness, hospitality, yoga and lifestyle arenas. As experienced space-holders for transformative learning, systems design, problem solving and physical & spiritual health and wellbeing, Yoli and Ruthann are a powerful force of change.
The core of our mission at DEIcipher is to create safer spaces for BIPOC (Black, Brown, Indigenous, People of Color) leaders to lead in their organizations. Owning our expertise and proven methods, we have synergized a combined 40+ years of life-work in service of creating workspaces that are less harmful and more generative. We believe it is time for new ideas, new methods and new voices to come to the front and lead. We are committed to trailblazing the way in partnership with you.
Yoli Maya Yeh
Yoli’s lifelong journey in academia, spiritual and healing arts molded her expertise in the science of transformation. From a ceremonial initiation into her family’s Native American tradition at age thirteen, now thirty-one years later Yoli finds herself working at the intersections of Indigenous Way, healing arts and social justice. She is an educator in Comparative Religious Ethics, Global Studies and Cultural Anthropology whose teaching style is rooted in Indigenous methodology and experiential pedagogy. After building a successful yoga therapy and bodywork healing practice with unique specializations in chronic conditions, unexplainable & untreatable diagnosis and deep spiritual crisis, Yoli began to turn her focus towards diversity, equity, and inclusion consulting in the yoga, wellness and lifestyle industries. Recognizing that not enough change has happened in the wellness industry for spaces to be decolonized and safe for all, Yoli, in partnership with co-founder Ruthann Gagnon, founded DEIcipher to make a larger impact.
Ruthann Gagnon
Ruthann has spent much of her career strategizing and catalyzing creative efforts through organized, thoughtful and collaborative architecture. With a background spanning women’s public healthcare, hospitality, marketing, sales and technology, she has focused her efforts on implementing new frameworks and executing highly creative architecture with tangible execution and results. This inter-industry knowledge has given her a unique toolbox for many workspace settings seeking transformation. After realizing their similar passion and aligning their vision around the deep need for change in the wellness industry, Ruthann and Yoli came together to form DEIciper in the spirit of uplifting, communal, collaborative leadership that allows their gifts to shine brightly in new ways.