About Christine Ramsay, CDP (Certified Diversity Professional)

She grew up with immigrant parents who came to this beautiful country trying to find opportunity and make a better life for her family.  Her primary language in her household was Armenian. She remembers starting a new school and her mom had packed her some delicious but incredibly smelly Armenian food.  Opening her lunch box on her first day in the cafeteria, all the students were complaining about the strong smell and moved away leaving her sitting alone at lunch. She came home crying to her mom saying never again did she want her packing Armenian food.  It had to be peanut butter and jelly sandwiches or carrot sticks and that’s it. She wanted to be just like everyone else. She wanted to feel like she belonged.

What she came to realize growing up, her uniqueness was a huge advantage.  The fact that she had a strong cultural upbringing brought different perspectives to what the world offers.  

She knew she wanted to live in a world where all differences were embraced, a safe forum for connection and sharing each other’s unique backgrounds and stories, and celebrating unity in diversity.  The defining moment in her life to put her purpose to action was when her 3-year-old son was diagnosed with ASD or Autism Syndrome Disorder. Her beloved Armenian grandma Alice was her grandson’s biggest advocate, would always tell her grandson “You are out of the ordinary and simply extraordinary, you are exactly what this world needs”. Her grandma would embrace her grandson’s difference and give encouragement daily! Christine decided to start Ignite Inclusion to help individuals, organizations, and communities embrace the importance of awakening their happiness and focus on their wellbeing to thrive in life.

Christine Ramsay (She/Her/Hers) is a first-generation Armenian-American whose vision is to create a world where all people feel supported in their emotional, mental, physical, and spiritual health journey to live a happy and healthy life. 

She is a connector, storyteller, and cross-cultural inclusive leader whose superpower is empathy.  

She is Chief Wellbeing Officer and Founder of Ignite Inclusion, LLC whose mission is to help individuals and organizations build a culture of wellbeing by building habits of life-work flow to reduce burnout and improve employee happiness.

She is a Certified Integrated Health and Happiness Coach from Institute for Integrative Nutrition, a Tedx and international motivational speaker, International Author of Anthology “Your Life is Worth It”, Certified Coach in Brain Based Skills Neuroscience of Inclusion, Social and Emotional Intelligence (EI), and a Certified Diversity Professional (CDP).  She is a parent advocate for Gender inclusion, Autism & Neurodiversity, Well-being and Happiness. 

In 2023, she has been named Top 50 Global Neurodiversity Evangelists by Neurodiversity World powered by Dynamis Group and received the high honor 2023 Diversity Leadership Award from Pennsylvania State University from the Smeal College of Business.  

She is also currently an intrapreneur as the Head of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion for Intercept Pharmaceuticals.  She has over 19 years of corporate experience in various industries such as pharmaceuticals, manufacturing, technology, consumer products, leading organizational strategy to create human-centric, equitable, and inclusive cultures where all people feel a sense of belonging.

She has spoken at major conferences around the globe such as the Gross Happiness Summit for the University of Peace hosted by the United Nations in Costa Rica, SHRM and ATD national conferences, many podcasts, and has been interviewed by leading best-selling author and entrepreneur voices such as Tiffany Dufu and Claudia Chan.

She is an active member and advocate of the United Nations of USA, a forum to voice support for U.S. engagement at the UN, with a current focus in making the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) a success.

A lifelong Philadelphian, Christine received her Bachelor’s in Marketing and International Business from Pennsylvania State University and her master’s degree in Human Resource Development from Villanova University specializing in Inclusion and Diversity Strategy. She currently lives outside of Philadelphia with her spouse and two children. Christine enjoys spending time with family, traveling all over the world, Armenian line dancing, playing and teaching classical piano, storytelling, and meeting new people from all different backgrounds