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Since 2015, Howard has become the leading voice in the work of diversity, equity, anti-racism and organizational culture in ballet and the arts. She works as an international diversity strategist for arts with organizations including: The Royal Ballet, Pacific Northwest Ballet, Dutch National Ballet, National Ballet of Canada, and San Francisco Ballet. Her innovative philosophy and approach have made her a sought after speaker, consultant, and coach to artistic, executive, and school directors, and board members of ballet, opera, academic institutions, and service organizations including: The Royal Opera, Seattle Opera, Opera America, National Association of Teachers of Singing, and American Guild of Musical Artists.

Her background as a dancer (Dance Theater of Harlem and Armitage Gone! Dance) and dance educator makes her uniquely qualified to target, address, and facilitate much-needed cultural shifts in ballet leadership. In 2018, she was a member of the Design and Facilitation Team of The Equity Project: Increasing the Presence of Blacks in Ballet, a three-year initiative which assembled a cohort of 21 North American ballet companies. Recently she launched the Cultural Competence and Equity Coalition (C²EC) to expand on the work. C²EC provides organization-wide cohort learning and consultation for ballet companies internationally.

In addition to curating MoBBallet, Howard collaborated with Peggy Olislaeger in the curation of the Dutch National Ballet’s (DNB) bi-annual conference Positioning Ballet (2017/2019), which convened over 40 European and international companies. In 2019, she was invited to curate their Black Achievement Month photo exhibition paying homage to the legacy of Black ballet artists who have danced with the company since 1961. In 2019, she was tapped to curate The Royal Opera House’s inaugural Young Talent Festival Symposium, “Exposure, Access and Opportunity: Exploring the Cultural Barriers to Ballet Training.”

As the curator for MoBBallet, Howard has presented both in-person and virtual symposiums. In 2019, the first MoBBallet Symposium was held in Philadelphia, PA. The multi-generational personal development and educational intensive convened an elite and diverse faculty of Black ballet professionals, pre-professional ballet students, and dance educators. In August 2020 during the BLM uprisings, MoBBallet hosted a series of virtual symposiums which centered blackness and promoted education, communication, and restoration, and in March 2021, the Ballet IS Woman symposium celebrated female artistic and executive directors in ballet. Howard also works as a journalist, having contributed to The Source, Pointe, Expressions (Italy), and Tanz (Germany), and Opera America Magazines. Currently she is a contributing writer for Dance Magazine. Former New York Times Lead Dance Critic Alastair Macaulay cites Howard as “one of the most valuable writers on dance today… Theresa Ruth Howard has written some of the most provocative pieces on ballet today.”

Over the years, Howard has been a mentor for many of the young men and women that she has taught over the years. Her life motto is: “The only way to make the world a better place, is to be better people in it!”