Team

Marlia Fontaine-Weisse is a dynamic learning leader with well over a decade of crafting programs for various audiences, with eLearning being her specialty. She is passionate about supporting personal, professional, and organizational transformations to improve experiences for all employees, paying particular attention to underrepresented and marginalized groups. As a Certified Diversity Professional (CDP), Marlia provides executive-level insight to clients ready to integrate diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility (DEIA) best practices into all that they do, while improving their organizational culture to support employee growth, mental health, and well-being.  

Marlia currently serves as the VP of Service Delivery for Tangible Development, a DEI consulting firm, where she is responsible for driving the collective strategy and services needed to meet the evolving needs of current and future clients. Before Tangible Development, Marlia was Chief Strategist – People & Culture position for a professional services organization. While there, she built and executed the go-to-market strategy for DEIA, talent management, employee engagement, and culture transformation services. Marlia also served as the Chief Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Officer for three New York-based sister organizations that provide services and supports to nearly 30,000 people with intellectual and developmental disabilities. There, she led the DEI and Strategic Communications departments to develop and deploy policies, processes, programs, and initiatives that champion the inclusion of diverse voices, thoughts, and lived experiences in the workplace.  

Her unique career spans learning and development, business strategy and organizational development, marketing, and communications, as well as content strategy and project management—all necessary skills to develop and measure data-driven people strategies that align with business goals. Her unique background doesn’t stop there. As a former Miss Ohio (2005), Marlia represented her state at Miss America with the platform Diabetes: Educate to Alleviate. In 2005, Kentucky Governor Ernie Fletcher conferred on her lifetime membership into the Honorable Order of Kentucky Colonels for her advocacy of Ohioans with diabetes.   

Marlia used the $31,000 in scholarships earned through the Miss America Organization to complete her bachelor’s and master’s degrees from The University of Akron in Akron, Ohio, and is currently pursuing a Doctor of Education (Ed.D.) in Leadership and Learning, specializing in Organizational Psychology from Aspen University. 

Marlia continues to find ways to serve her community. In addition to being an advisor for Humotech, she is a member of the Board of Directors for Trinity Alliance of the Capital Region. This organization champions the neighborhood, families, education, employment, and health and well-being of the community it serves. She is the current Director of DEIB for getWITit’s National Board of Directors, a volunteer-led non-profit organization with a mission to build an environment where women and gender non-conforming individuals of all backgrounds flourish in the technology space.     

In addition to spending time with her husband, son, and two pets, she enjoys crocheting, making jewelry, cooking, singing karaoke, and eating her way through New York City.