Crystal Williams' personal and professional values mirror the tenets of diversity, equity, and inclusion. In her former career as an educator in both the K-12 and post-secondary setting, she has consistently shown dedication to serving the communities she is a part of. she approaches her mediation practice from a critical social justice lens, which requires practitioners to look at the way the distribution of wealth,opportunities and privileges within a society impacts people within society. In BIPOC (Black,Indigenous and People of Color) communities there is historically a distrust of larger systems, particularly the justice system and because self-determination is a foundational tenet of mediation, she believes mediation is an empowering tool that could provide people from underserved communities an opportunity to be active participants in the systems designed to resolve the conflicts they face.

In the past year she has had the privilege of presenting at the SCMA annual conference on the topic of Mindfulness in Mediation which looked at how implicit biases and microaggression can seep into mediation. She presented at the Family Mediation Institute about how understanding special education law can inform family law mediators and collaborative practitioners. She has been active in the community by participating in the school police dialogues in partnership with the San Pedro Rotary club. She was the Keynote speaker at the Kids Managing Conflict symposium where she shared the key differences between restorative practices and peer mediation programs. She is also a newly appointed board member for Kids Managing Conflict, and co-chair of the Program Advisory committee for the Western Justice Center.

Her skill set and dedication to the advancement of the field can help advance the mission and vision of SCMA. She is an individual with impeccable character, integrity, and authenticity. She will be bring awareness of the benefits of mediation to underserved populations and build trust in the practice with the communities that need access to this service.This would also provide an opportunity to expand awareness of mediation as a career to people within those communities.