All right. Hello, everyone, we are excited. Thank you so much for joining us. We are about to start part two of our ally ship series, and we're going to kick it off with an opening reflection. Consider what we discussed in the last session about ally ship solidarity and embodiment. And if you were unable to join us just think about what those terms mean to you. Take a few minutes thinking about how you have seen yourself and your relationships change over the course of your life thus far, where have there been opportunities to course correct toward greater ally ship greater solidarity and the true embodiment of these values. Now, this is not something that we're going to ask you to share, but just something that you can think upon as we're about to move through this journey and experience.
Alright,
so the title of today's session, how our ally ship and solidarity journeys inform our relationships, and we're speaking specifically to the workplace. And for many of us, this includes the nonprofit sector, we have a few joining us from foundations and for profit. And so we are excited to have this conversation with all of you. Alright, so who is rooted? We are the organization that is hosting this session today, we always let it be known that we indeed lead with our values. So what does that mean? We are an organization whose values everything we do is rooted in equity. And while I won't read the entirety of the sentence, I'll just hit the bolded sections. In our client work and our internal communications and our messaging and our branding, we believe in anti racism. we espouse equitable access to opportunities and resources, partnership through listening and building trust, community led breakthroughs, fearless curiosity, and most importantly, health and healing. So right now, as people are joining, we invite you to share your name, organization and pronouns, where you're coming from. And if you are unaware of the land that you acknowledge that you inhabit, we have a link so that you can find out the name of the tribe to which your land belongs. Next, we're going to ask you to share with us what brings you here today, what do you hope to gain and most importantly, final share any accessibility needs that you would like to share with us, if you are someone who does not have access to the chat, we're going to invite you right now to turn on your mic and share that you make that we make to make this accommodation so that you're able to fully enjoy this experience. So right now go ahead and share those into the chat. We're excited to have everyone here. We want to make sure that we are acknowledging you and the way that you want to be acknowledged. So go ahead and do that. Excited to see where everyone is coming from today. All right, so right now we're excited because we're going to get to know our panelists and facilitators. With a brief introductions. My name is cm Magadan. I am rutan's director of community engagement and fundraising currently residing here in the SAC area, which is known as missing on land. I am,
huh, hmm. What else is there? Oh, this
is my coworker Arturo, who will be joining us today. He's very excited to be here. I use she her pronouns, and will now pass it on. Oh, I'm sorry. And for those that are visually impaired, I am a darker skinned African American woman with brownish black hair. And I'm wearing a white shirt. All right. Next, I will pass it to Val.
Hi, everyone. Welcome. My name is Valerie Neumark. My pronouns are she they? I live on two Chanyeol Aloni land also known as the San Francisco East Bay. I am a white woman with dark rimmed glasses, red hair, and I'm wearing a black shirt. And what else is there to know about me? I think that's it for now. I will pass it. Oh, let me pause for a second. For any of you who are not, who haven't used translation or interpretation before. Please make sure to click in your bottom bar the interpretation button to switch over to Spanish and I'm not seeing there's a couple of people still coming in. So we'll probably pause again to share that in Spanish so that people are ready as they arrive. And so now I will pass it over to Natasha.
Hi everyone.
My name is Tasha Elia, my pronouns are she her? I have the pleasure of joining you from stolen land of the Musqueam and so in the tooth in the Squamish nation, otherwise known by its colonial name as Vancouver, Canada. I have no access needs. I I am you might hear a bit of an accent I was born in the UK but I am of Sri Lankan Tamil descent which means I myself agent brown skinned person with fake black hair I have been and I am wearing a multi bright multicolored shirt and I am a justice Equity Diversity and inclusion specialist, an organizational change consultant and I will pass it to Mr.
Thank you Natasha. Good morning everyone. Valencia. Thank you so much for the invitation. And to the rooted community. I'm excited to be in this conversation with you all. Mr. Al Husseini, I go by he him pronouns, a. I'm an occupied romantische Aloni lands colloquially known as San Francisco. I work with low income Latinx black and immigrant youth and families, but an education nonprofit called Mission graduates. And we're here to expand more equitable access when it comes to education to careers. And I pass it on to Allison.
Thank you. Thank you. Hello, everyone. My name is Alison Trina. I use she her pronouns and I'm coming to you from occupied Aloni land in Oakland, California. I am just so thrilled to be here with everyone today, I don't have any access needs that are unmet. And I would describe myself physically as light skinned white woman with brown hair wearing a floral tank top. And who can I pass it to you? I'll pass it to
Caitlin.
Um, when asked Yes, thank you, Alison. And thanks to this community for welcoming me into this space. My name is Caitlin Brune, I use she her pronouns, and I'm standing on the unceded territory of the ALMA Mattoon people here on this central coast of what's called California. I work in the field of foundations, so philanthropic foundations and nonprofits around issues of recent equity. And I am a white woman of middle age, I have light brown hair, short hair, I'm wearing some Lotus earrings and a gray kind of multi colors, scarf. And I'm standing against a beautiful wood paneled bed cave, also known as my bedroom office. And I am going to pass it back to Val, I think.
All right, thank you, Caitlin. Thank you, panelists, for joining us. If you have just logged on, we are including the slide deck in the chat as well as the resource folders so that you have access to those things. There is also Spanish interpretation happening in real time with our good friend Franco and our girl Miguel. So if you have reached this channel, by accident, you can click on the interpretation button on the bottom of the bar and you can join and be able to enjoy this experience in a language that is more suitable. Alright, we're going to proceed zoom etiquette nothing new here. We have all been on it for a couple of years now. We're just reminding you to be aware of your camera angle. We invite you to stay fully clothed, but no dry cleaning is necessary. Please remember to use your name or organization and include your pronouns. Remember to keep your mic turned off unless you are speaking and let us know if at anytime the chat becomes inaccessible to you. Now for the content that we'll be covering and just to ensure that this is a safe space, we have some community ground things that we'd like to review quickly as we create the space of belonging. First and foremost we remind you to share the mic. We invite you to sit with discomfort expect and accept non closure. Remember what is offered in this circle and during this time is by invitation and not by demand please do not feel come Peled. If you are uncomfortable sharing, we invite you to engage and be present. practice mindful listening, use the raise your hand button if you would like to share your thoughts. And try as best you can not to multitask. But the reality is, we know there's so much happening as we are working from home, myself included, trying to keep another human alive. Speak from your experience and acknowledge the impact of your words on others. Except the restraints as presented. We want this to be a fruitful time for all. So know that everything we do is being done with grace, move slow. And notice what is coming up in the room. Consider intent versus impact and triggering statements. Remember, we are all at varying points in this journey. And we hope to be able to continue to learn and grow together. As much as it may be difficult. For some of us myself, this is me, I'm speaking to know fixing, saving, advising or correcting each other. Show up as your full self and live your truth. Take care of yourself and have fun, which is the most important agreement. So if you have bio needs, whatever the case may be and need to turn off your camera, please feel free to do so. If there are any other agreements that you think we should add, as we continue on in this series, feel free to drop them in the chat, and we will include them in subsequent sessions. All right, so our agenda today, we have a good amount of time, we're going to just gone through our welcome and community agreements, we're going to have a discussion with the panel and have some time to hear from you all, there will definitely be opportunities for you to reflect and do some individual writings, we have scheduled breaks in here because we know how important they can be. There will also be a chance for you all to break out into groups and get to know others for joining us during this wonderful time. And then a final share out with the larger session. As always, we'd like to share resources. So as we bring this plane in for the landing, we will ensure to make sure we share those with you and invite you to share any resources that have been beneficial in your journey with the rest of us. And then we'll close. Most importantly, if at any point you have to leave early, we do have a survey. And we would love to hear feedback from you all as we continue to do this work. So we will present the link at the very end but it is in the slide deck. If you have to leave early, we humbly ask that you complete the survey. And let us know your thoughts.
And I will turn it over to bow Hello, everyone.
Before we get into our full session, and for those who came to part one will, the next couple of slides will feel familiar to you. But we like to always begin our work doing a little bit of grounding and some mindset shifting because when we're out in the world, the ways that we interact, sometimes it's a little bit different than how we want to be together in this space today. So the first piece that we want to elevate is the design Justice Network principles. If you're not familiar, we highly, highly recommend you go and take a look. And if you don't think of yourself as a designer, now's the time to change that. That will be your first mindset shift for the day. Because we all are we design the different ways that we show up in our lives, we design the different ways that we interact with other people. And in our work. And if there's you know, in our relationships with one another in our relationships, at work with our family, friends, all of these things are designed and you know, as we try to collectively move through our work with more intention, then it's important to recognize that those moments are happening. So the first one here we center the voices of those who are directly impacted by the outcomes of the design process. And today in our work together that design processes here in this experience that we're all going to share and so doing community agreements, moving slowly trying to make time for everyone to share their full selves as part of how we center your all of your voices in this process. And then turning that around and thinking about how that applies into your daily lives as well. So this next set will be three cards from the mindset deck that we took a look at from the liberatory design process from our first session together. And we wanted to elevate focusing on human values, kind of first and foremost that it's really about getting to know one another, to understand the people that we are sharing space with an invest the time and energy to really understand the expertise of those who are closest to the issues that are being addressed. Oftentimes happens, we will have people that are kind of furthest away because they have money or power or things like that. And so this is really to encourage us to think about how do we really focus on the individual human that we're interacting with or that we're doing our work with? This next slide is around seeking liberatory collaboration, how do we change this relationship between designers and the community into one of partnership and equity rather than patronizing expertise? You know, we we hear out in the world things around splaining. When whatever context, you want to think about that. And so really thinking about our tone, the way we show up the way that we interact with one another, how do we share our expertise, our knowledge, our understandings of things in ways that are really about partnership and about being together as individual humans, I love this part here in the bottom, where we recognize the differences in power and identity to design with instead of four. And so this last one is about recognizing oppression, and how it shows up in so many different forms, and how we can build that capacity within ourselves to understand when it's playing out at our individual and our personal, institutional, systemic and structural levels. It's across various forms of identity, various forms of lived experiences. And so really building our own capacity. And we're hoping that our panel today, and our conversations that we all have together today will help us build that capacity to recognize how this is showing up in our world in different ways so that we can be a part of dismantling it.
All right, so why
are we here today? What is the objective of today's discussion? Well, we want to continue to collectively look at how our allies ship and solidarity journeys and form our relationships in public and specifically at work. We want to consider what is sitting with discomfort really mean in this context, and that context is definitely in the workplace, explore how we can show ourselves and other people grace and still hold them and us accountable. So let's go ahead and get started. And we're going to start hearing and begin hearing from our panelists. We're going to open it up to our panelists discussion. And the questions are pretty simple.
All right. How does your personal
journey inform your relationships at work and in the world? So the first question I want to pose to the panel is how are you the person that you are? What are the things that you do to help yourself each day to embody your values, and course correct along the way? So I'm going to start by putting this to Allison.
I knew it was coming. I was just thinking, see, as you were talking that these are simple questions, but not necessarily easy ones. And how am I who am I the person that I am today, I am the person I am today because of my ancestors, because of the humans who have come before me, but also the animals and the nature that have come before me and surround me. And something I do on most days is connect with my ancestors and offer gratitude to them for creating the lineage that I'm a result of, and asking for their insights, asking for their supports in the work that I do each day. I'm who I am because of the teachers that I've had the many teachers formal, informal, individual community, you had those, those are folks who have definitely shaped how I understand the world to work how I understand allied ship to work best. Yeah, those are kind of the big ones, my ancestors, my teachers, the experiences that I've had. So I think any opportunity to reflect on any of those things helps me embody my values and course correct. I'll leave it there for now. Thank you.
Awesome. Thank you for sharing. I'm going to go next to Natasha.
Somehow, I thought you were coming to me to psychic energy. You know, I think for me, it's absolutely part of my history, my lineage, etc. But I think for me, part of who I am and how I am in the world is as a result of that history, that lineage, my identity. In relationship to the contexts I grew up in the fact that I grew up as an immigrant, as racialized as an old Lily in a very white space as a person in a body that identifies as female, like all of those things, and the ways the world, Choate was trying to define me versus the ways I wanted to define myself. And so I am who I am, because mainly because of the ways in which I was challenged, to not be allowed to be me, and had to figure out who I am in a context where who I was, was not, not always valued, wanted or appreciated. And I'll leave it at that.
Thank you so much, Natasha. I'm going to move next, the honor.
Thank you. So yeah, I, I appreciated our conversation during the last session where we were asked to identify our social identities. Because I think for me, oftentimes, when we think about social identities and culture, they're often murky, they're hard to identify, they're, you know, they're really challenging to name. And then I began to think, and wonder if we if we lose ourselves. And with these questions today, I'm again reminded, Ryan, we're, of course, correcting my personal journey, in and out of work out in public while interacting with the world. The really informed by and through honoring people who have come before me, those who have come before us, right? Personally, it's it's my family, biological, and chosen who are in diaspora. So despite the distances, despite the forced migration and effects of colonization, they've really provided the blueprint. And those experiences, you know, we can turn them into opportunities, because earlier on, they forced me to ask who I was, who I was in relationship to others to my community. And then I start thinking about how then it comes up, right? When we're asked how we're legible to a state, through a name, by a race, by this concept of like, ethnicity, nationality, how we identify. Yeah, but those lived experiences really inform a lot of, of my work now. And that I'm I'm able to better connect with others. Empathize, listen, both in in fundraising, both in grant making. And so they're also like strengths. So draw from so. When did they
Thanks. Awesome. Thank you, Omer. And Caitlin.
Thank you so much. See ya. And wow, just appreciating that collective wisdom and insight. I like from somatics my study in embody men practice, I bring the awareness that we're shaped by certainly our families and our ancestors. And were shaped by the places in which we've grown the places in so far as the waterways and soils and streets, but also the institutions as a white woman who grew up in Baltimore, very racialized city, within Catholic schools. I'm aware of the shaping of those containers, in terms of on the one hand, moral consciousness, but on the other a very kind of shattered and limited range of emotion. That has implications then, when I try to exercise empathy that moves to solidarity and compassion. And part of my course correction has been actually liberating that range of emotion through relationships. So in a way, I think that relationships inform my ally ship and Ally ship informs my relationship in a kind of Mobius strip that keeps going, I do work on myself. I bring it into my relationships and that just keeps continuing In the things that I do to help myself each day embody my values. I begin the day in silence and meditation in communion with this beautiful planet that we live on and my ancestors. And I asked that I might be a vehicle for for love to flow. And I asked that I have the courage to bring a request for forgiveness when, when that's needed. And then I open my heart and step out in the world and pray that I don't shut it down again too often throughout the day. Yeah, thanks for the opportunity. See you there share this experience.
Thank you, Caitlin, you're actually leading into something I kind of want to go a little deeper into staying on this first question. And this is for anyone who wants the answer no requirement for all of you. Talking about embodying your values, and course correcting now, for some of us, a lot of us, what we're seeing is a lot of the old guard, if you will, and old, referring to traditional mindsets that used to rule the day interacting with the understanding that those mindsets were very exclusionary, you will encounter some of these strongly held values of the old guard in some of the relationships, it comes up in business, it comes up at family, you know, sometimes Thanksgiving at the dining table, where there is a difference of understanding and a difference of perception and regard to people and values. How do you all engage sometimes, Uncle Troy, in these conversations to help Uncle Troy see that there needs to be some correction, because the old guard mindset is not exactly embodying the value of inclusion.
And again, I'll leave it to whomever would like to answer.
I can
I can jump in here. Although, I mean, there isn't a answer, right? Because we're talking about relationship and relationship is between people. And so we navigate those spaces based on who we are and who we're with. So there isn't one single answer, but the Uncle Troy's in the world. But I think one of the things when I'm faced with people of the old mindset, because to be honest, that's most of my experience, being being a racialized person, being an immigrant, you know, in mostly predominantly white colonizer spaces, that those mindsets, even though they can be unconscious, are helped by so many. So it's, it's often the space I mean, and I think for me, when I'm challenged that way, when I experienced that, I have to stay grounded in what is my purpose? What is it that I hope for and wish for? What am I looking to change? Because for me, it's about change. And, and when I can be really grounded in that I'm not I'm able to have that grace, right. Like, I can think about how do we change? How does anybody change? And what what are the conditions that are needed for for people to lean into change right into that discomfort? And so if I can be grounded in that, I can be more gracious, more compassionate with the people I'm working with, and and hold that they come with their story and their experience by an accident. I mean, none of you know most, most people aren't intentionally, all the isms. It is the society in the world's we've grown up and socialized, been socialized into a right and my wall spinning in this water and we're trying to navigate it.
So it's one offering. Thank you, Natasha.
All right. I'll open the floor. If there's anyone else who wants to answer before I proceed.
If I'm nice here, all right. All right. I'd like to push back a little bit because the old guard mindset is still here. Sometimes it takes on more insidious forms. And sometimes you know, I I find myself playing it out too. And it's it's constant work. It's continuous. I think every moment, I always have to remind myself like, why? And who for? Natasha, I always value your perspective, because it always brings up in me, this sense of responsibility to myself, but also responsibility to others, right? To hold myself to account, but also hold systems to account. And that's one way that I always turn to when, when something feels off when something's not right. And allowing myself even to feel the sadness to feel the anger. Right. But I think about the people that I work with, I think about my community. And I think about while I'm here, wow, how do we build and share power with each other? Right? Sometimes I ask. Whenever I'm in rooms for, for a proposal, for an ask or write something. I think about what an opportunity it is to, to be here to be in this room of opportunity where others may not be. So I do feel a sense of responsibility. And from that, that's when I moved to action. That's when I of course correct. That's when I feel the need to step it up. That's what I offer to this, this question.
Thank you. Omer.
And yeah, I want to address, Terry, good question. Thank you for placing that. I think in the context that I'm using it, it's not necessarily. It's the mindset where it has to be held. So when I say old guard, I like to say if and I'm referring to pigeon holing the whole set of like everyone, but the mindsets that still want to hold on to exclusionary values and those things, but I get what you're saying as far as making sure that it doesn't pigeonhole everyone. All right.
See, I could I happen with just a thought? What thought is that? All right? Wouldn't you ask this question? What immediately came up for me is like when I have held those old guard mindsets with regards to certain topics around inclusion. And so that's kind of where I ground is remembering that I too, have held mindsets that have been exclusionary to different groups of folks. And I had to be teachable, I had to learn. And so to hold that to be true about the person that I'm interacting with that we can all learn, we can all change, we can all be teachable and grow. And yeah, really keeping in mind some of what Natasha and Amar were saying around, like, what is the change that I want to see? What is the shift I want to see happen? And how do we hold systems to account? How do we make it not about the individual in front of us, but understand the context and the systems that have shaped us? So that's it.
Thank you, Alison. And again, thank you, Terry. Okay, we're gonna continue next question for the panel. What are the things you think on or reflect on regularly that help you progress further along in your journey? Are there tools, resources, podcasts, because as we all know, it can get daunting. It can get discouraging sometimes, and you need to continue to refresh yourself, or what are the things you look to to help you to continue to
progress forward.
And I will start with Caitlin.
Right and see. First, I want to just acknowledge, I don't always feel like I'm progressing. I feel like this is a it's a journey that sometimes I experienced connection and evolution. And some days it feels like I'm back in the darkness again. So I fumbled my way toward growth and repair. That there are a few quotes that I like, have tried to sear in my consciousness that that kind of like are anchors that I keep returning to as ways to reground in both the frame that helps me and the values that I want to embody, and one comes from the incomparable black queer feminist Audrey Lorde. Address says four we have built into all of us old blueprints of expectations and response, old structures of oppression. And these must be altered at the same time as we alter the living conditions, which are a result of those structures. And I come back to this daily because it reminds me that their work is internal to transform the conditioning that shapes my mindsets and beliefs and behaviors and response. And also that my work in the world should be orienting toward liberating structures. So creating structures that really reflect my belief that every human, every creature, that planet included, all of the elements deserve dignity and respect, deserve protection from harm. I also lean back into the framework that comes out of the embodiment practice of Cymatics, as has been passed down through various embodiment traditions, but that understanding is that we are shaped by our relational field, our relationship within our family system, or in our personal relationships within our family systems, within the institutions that we interact with, within the society that we belong to, and the structures that that you in the act, a certain set of values are nice, but also by by the landscapes and the the larger than spirit that kind of holds the whole together. And I'll stop there, there are a ton of resources that I can slow when I lose my way. But I think that that's a good offering for now.
Thank you so much, Caitlin. Next, Omer.
Which one? Where do I start? So yeah, I'm reminded of a question in the chat in the last session that we had when somebody was asking about strength based framing and resources online. And I was like, Oh, wow, that's that's really thoughtful. That's really intentional. Yes, we need to shift from language that talks about like, the need so much, right. And I think in fund development in grantmaking, often that comes up, right, like who's the protagonist in these in these narratives? But one of the resources and not to be extractive. And a way for me anyway, is, is listening to and being with participants are the beneficiaries of it. The work the org that I'm with, oftentimes, that's most beneficial. I think, being in conversation. I think, seeing true being on the ground. And I understand sometimes that may or may not be possible. It's constant work. And I can ask myself, why for if not being that with others. That's it being in conversation. I think there's, you can also be really intentional about who you're with, who you're screening in. And celebrating those differences, right, and validating those differences in the day to day work. So
thank you, Allison. I was
just looking around the office that I'm sitting in, and I've got four different posters that I'm realizing I'm reading the words on them, and they are things that I reflect on regularly, and that I think helped me progress further along my journey. One poster simply says, keep growing, keep learning. And I think that's self explanatory, but for me, that helps me have a beginner's mind and stay curious and stay teachable and humble. There's another poster that says to my left that says, Tell me what you need and I will tell you what I need and we will help each other. I think that reminds me about the importance of interdependence and having the spirit of giving with one another. Got another little poster that has some chips on it on a stormy sea Ah, and it says we were made for these times. And that one just kind of reminds me that like it or not, like, we're here, like, maybe I don't want to be made for these times, maybe I don't feel like I made for these times. But like, Here I am, we're here we all are. And it just reminds me to stay in the present moment and address what's here now. And then my last one, which might be my favorite, says, Oh, my love, we are not the beginning, and we will not be the end. And that really reminds me of the scope of this work that we're doing and of the lineage, that we're doing it in that, you know, right now we're planting seeds that will hopefully grow and take root in the future long after all of us are gone. And that those who came before us did the same thing. And we're reaping those some of those right now. So yeah, those are just just looking around. Those are things that I do reflect on regularly that I think helped me kind of move further along in my journey.
Thank you so much, Natasha.
Nice to see you. Thanks, everyone. See you. Could you repeat the question? I've been listening so intently.
No problem. Okay, I made like a million tabs open? What are the things you think or reflect on regularly that help you progress further in your journey? And what are the tools, resources, books, activities? Things you do?
Yeah, that's a deep, deep question and a big one.
I think for me,
one of the things is, I think it relates to some of the things Caitlin said, and some of the things Ma said as well around, it sort of being fluid. So don't going in and doing the inner work. I'm a therapist, and a psychologist by training. And so that's how I came to this look, originally, and I deeply believe that, you know, trauma triggers emotional intelligence, all of those things are very much fundamental and core to, to being able to stay in this work to be grounded in this work to do this work with integrity. And so that means I have to be responsible for myself and how I show up so that, that sort of inner work. And, and, you know, like Caitlin somatic work to, because it's so embodied, I mean, I feel it in my body, and I need to release it from my body. I mean, that's trauma to right. So there's that, but also the, you know, for me, it's not an individual journey, this is collective and so being in community being connected being in relationship, particularly communities that are impacted, that are resilient. And so that is, you know, so that, that peace of going between looking in and being self responsible, and being responsible and connected to others and community, and sort of that dance that I do. And so, you know, questions like constantly sort of asking, who's being centered here, who's, who's benefiting? who's impacted? What is my role? Am I the right person? Is this disrupting systems? Like I'm constantly asking these, these questions. And that's kind of my kind of practice of, you know, one of your ground rules was to slow down. And I think the fast paced SNESs of urgency that is so prevalent in society and then culture doesn't allow for that. And so that's a practice for me is to take a breath, to pause and say, and ask those questions, just to really be intentional and and ask those questions. So, you know, lots of resources, some of them, I'm sure, we'll be keeping a lot but one of the people that I really respect and have had the pleasure of working with his wrestler, Malcolm, who wrote my grandmother's hands, and I found that particularly powerful for me and my work, and so the grounding.
That's just one of very many.
Awesome, thank you so much for sharing. Oh, Uh, I believe I heard from everyone yes on the panel. Okay, final question before we turn it over to all of our attendees that I want to pose. What are some of the challenges you've experienced in the workplace while working to become a better advocate of values, embodiment, and I will drop the sense of the chat so that you can
see it
and hear it. What are some of the challenges you've experienced in the workplace while working to become a better advocate of values embodiment? And taking a moment to let it simmer in
I will begin with Omer.
See, it's simmering, simmering.
Okay, I'm gonna burn it down a little bit and just move in and I'll be back.
It's okay. I'm joking. I was like, challenges. Okay, sounds like this. Yes. We can start with the first part, what have been some of the challenges you've experienced in the workplace? I think while working to become a better advocate of values and embodiment, I think for myself, what I've seen is, and again, as Caitlin mentioned, Natasha touched on this and Alison, as well, as is the the the internal work. I think I remember in the beginning, my focus had been on almost like, a self advocacy, right?
And then
that slowly, for me, I think one of the learnings is shifting that towards advocating with others. Because it's Natasha mentioned earlier, it is collective work. Some of the challenges that I experienced, is even coming into this work.
With attention that
I don't think I can come into it as authentically as I want to.
Because
I might not gain the trust, I might not be as credible. And it's not imposter syndrome. I issue that altogether. It's not that at all, because sometimes I think about, you know, still having to dunk masks having to present having to comport right to be able to just do the work. And I think I think about that Toni Morrison interview, she said, you know, like one of the biggest things about racism is that it serves as such a distraction
to the actual work. And I think
further along in this journey, also recognizing that this is part of the work, like how we show up how we make space with others. Yeah.
Thank you, Mr.
Allison. Think
I was thinking about the different challenges I've experienced in different workplaces are also realized that didn't share what I do work wise, which may be helpful. I'm a coach and consultant facilitator that does racial justice work primarily with white folks and white LED organizations, helping them understand how racism is showing up in ways perhaps, that they were unaware of and what they can do about it. And so kind of in that context, I think one of the biggest challenges I've experienced is people who have power, not realizing that they have power. Or separately, people who have power, realizing it, but being unwilling to share it or cede it. I think that's been those two things. And when they think about power, I'm not just thinking about positional power. That's what I know the power of, you know, being at a certain rank in your organization, but like social power, the power of persuasion, the power of expertise, the power of being able to organize other people to do things to make a change. Those are the different kinds of power that I'm thinking of. But, yeah, there's a lot of times that folks don't realize that they actually do have power. And that folks who do want to keep it, don't want to share it or receive it.
Thank you, Alison. Kate. When
honestly, Mr. I'm still like allowing your response to kind of move through me it's really profound when the challenges I experienced most frequently Natasha touched upon, which is this relentless pace, that that urgency, which itself is a byproduct of racialized capitalism, that really undermines the quality of connection, it undermines our capacity to feel ourselves and to feel into what's going on in the multiple dimensions that we need. I think that we're invited to try to take account for, as we muddle our way through and try to avoid hurt and harm and oppression. And, more importantly, try to build systems that are not characterized by those forces. I'm fresh from an interaction last night, where I'm a white woman sitting on the board of an organization that is Latina, led and led next primarily serving. And the organization has taken on a tremendous amount of work over the past two and a half years to rise to meet the very real survival needs of the community. And yet, its capacity internally, is not commensurate with the need. And so I see it keeping this really just, I don't know how to describe it, like a pace that leaves me exhausted when I come away from these executive team meetings. And I mean, and just like, hurt, totally hurt that. The executive director and the team are taking that on in the service of noval aims. But I think as a byproduct of the way that structures and systems have been created. And so the challenge I face as a white woman is, when do I use my voice and power to intervene, to interrupt harm, to try to be a part of alleviating the hurt and harm and pushing against the system? And, as Natasha said, so beautifully, be mindful of who is centered, who wins, who loses who pays, in the process of that decision making. And, yeah, be prepared to accept the consequences when that action that I take doesn't land well. And to try to keep learning and growing and not retreat, which as a white person, of course, I very often have the privilege choice to do.
Awesome, thank you so much for sharing. All right, so we have heard from our panelists, I want to open
Can I jump in?
Natasha did oh my god, that's okay. 1000 pardons?
No, no, no problem. I mean, there are so many challenges. And I just, I really appreciated what Omar said about being able to be really authentic. And how that is experienced. There's a meme that an organization called Coco in Montreal, put out about the problem woman of color and nonprofit organizations. And that is such a true me. And so, even as a consultant, one of the challenges I experienced I'm gonna get a bit granular here actually, is, you know, I'm brought in to support organizations to become more just an equitable, diverse and inclusive to decolonize and do this work and they I like committing to those values. But it really invites me into have some really honest conversations to name the elephants in the room to call out, you know, all those the problematic patterns and dynamics and the systems and structures, and the people to Allison's point about people who either hold power and don't know it, or hold power and don't want to do anything about it. And so what happens is, I come in, I get invited in to do that, I start to do my job. And I become the problem. And depending on which organize the organizations that can end really badly, or really well, right, we can I believe in or I get kicked out, but that, that pattern, I'm actually, it's becoming so prevalent. Right now post George Floyd and the surge of people in organizations saying, we commit to this and they doing the performative stuff that I'm gonna, I want to write something about it, because it's, it's a really disruptive, dysfunctional, and pattern in organizations that
people get brought in,
either as staff or as consultants to help the organization address inequity and injustice. And then we become the problem because the organization, the system, and the structure does not really want to change, right, that's holding on tight. And I'll give a small example of that, you know, many, many organizations have anti harassment anti discrimination policies, right. But the, the ways in which everything is so embedded in dominant cultures and dominant systems and structures, colonial white, supremacist, patriarchal, etc. The process is, even when their follow through, still often centered, dominant people. So for example, I'll give an example in a recent two organizations actually, where there were concerns about in one sexism and another racism, and the ways that that process of complaint to action went through the rights of the person who has been accused supersede the rights of the people who have been harmed. And so as even as people may be fired, the languaging, around why they were fired, how what's happening, is not accountable to the people who've been harmed. So there's still a lot of secrecy in the organization, which continues to harm those who are impacted, right. And so those are the kinds of challenges trying to fly the plane, build the plane while you're flying it or rebuild, rebuild the plane while you're flying it. Because you're because I'm constantly operating within the systems and structures that I asked, I absolutely want to shift and change. So that's probably the biggest for me.
Thank you, Natasha. That's huge. I know, I personally have used that terminology, we are building the plane while we fly it. And it doesn't really provide space for slowing down and making the changes, if you will. Alright, so now I want to open it up to all of you who are here and participating. And remember, this is not by demand, it's more an invitation if you would like to share, I'm going to start with the first question. How are you the person that you are? What are the things you do to help yourself each day to embody your values and course correct along the way, if you would like to share, please feel free to use the raised hand emoji, or and then we will see you. And by no means is are you compelled. But please feel free.
Now,
I'm actually raising my hand so that we take a break. Yeah, that's just after 10 o'clock. I'm sure I will also have something to share. But at this moment, I just wanted to stop in case anyone wanted to do a bio break or stretch anything along those lines. So why don't we just pause for five minutes and then we'll come back.
Awesome.
Feel free to turn your cameras off. Don't leave. Just
we'll be here.
So we're going to change the second half of our experience today. And instead of doing smaller breakout groups, we're just gonna stay all together. And before we do that, the next piece that we wanted to take you through for a couple minutes was this piece about constructivist? soliciting. Because it's a it's a tool that that we use sometimes in our work. It's a tool that I personally learned from the National Equity project. And it's, it's just a really great way to engage with other people. And so I'm just going to read through what we have here on the slide for just a moment. Because I think emphasizing what it says is important. And then we have one other slide before we get into, into what we're going to do. So it's a really effective strategy for engaging in conversations that are both intellectually demanding and emotionally challenging. And so as you could see from our panelists, discussion, you know, a lot of these things are really deep, they can often be triggering. And so it's really important to give ourselves space and to, you know, something that came up many times around slowing down. And this is really distinct from other kinds of listening, because the purpose of it is to benefit the speaker, not the listener. So constructivist listening protocols ask us to give our full attention to another person and to hold space for them. So collectively, we're going to go through and practice this. And you don't have to share if you don't want to, as we continue through. So I'm going to emphasize that a few more times. But if you'd like to practice it, and like to share something, then we're going to welcome everyone to participate. But the point of this is to give you a chance to reflect a chance to release a motion, and to construct some new meaning out of whatever challenge that you might be facing or something that came up while you were listening to our panel. So here are some of the guidelines, each person is given equal time to talk and to listen. And in our case, one person will talk and the rest of us will listen. This is oftentimes done in dyads, or triads. But we're going to do a little experiment and try doing it together as the larger group. There's no interruption. So the listener doesn't paraphrase or interpret the talkers, thoughts or feelings. You we're going to ask you not to type anything into the chat during this time while people are talking. But really give your full attention. And I'll turn back off the SlideShare so that we can all be you know, giving our full attention. And consider confidentiality. The listener doesn't talk about what the talker has said to anyone else, or bring it up to the talker afterwards. So think about this in terms of if you have a question, because we are going to open for dialogue after we do this constructive listening session. If you have a question or you know, a comment or a thought, make sure that it's coming from your own experience. And don't refer to a specific person about what the thing was. And we'll sort of repeat this once we get into dialogue as well. No criticism, the talker doesn't criticize or complain about any listener about any mutual colleagues. Those challenges can be addressed in different structures and dialogues. And the last piece, again, is don't eat or drink or glanced at your cell phone or email, just remove any distractions for the next, you know, 25 minutes. So that we can really all be fully present together.
So, again, here's the individual share around if you want to participate, two minutes each, and I'll sort of be keeping time, so I'll apologize ahead of time if I need to interrupt someone, but that way it's equal for everybody. Introduce yourself organization pronouns, accessibility needs, if you have any that you would like to share, and then share any response to the questions that were posed, or any reflections of what you heard from our panelists. And again, while each person is sharing, sharing, everyone else is just listening. Take notes, if you want to comment on something later, but do not use the chat at this time. So I'm going to paste all of this into the chat and let's pause and and case anyone has any questions before we get started. So for anyone who has done this work with us before, you will know that we always give a shout out sorry, so yeah, do you want to do this?
No. Thank you, you will know that we always give up About five minutes for you to be able to think and reflect on your own and quiet. So we will pause now and leave these questions up on the screen, so that you have time to think about your answers and to review what we've put into the chat. So, we'll come back together, let's do six minutes just to make it easy at 1025. And think about your answers and if you would like to share.
So I thank you for the opportunity. I'm Amy cotton voguish, I am the manager of communication, marketing and engagement for Connecticut humanities. We are in Humanities Council, one of 56 throughout the country. My pronouns pronouns are she and her, and I do not have any unmet accessibility needs. So how am I the person that I am I am the person I am I think really from growing up as a highly sensitive person in a family system that did not allow space for that. And it's that continues to echo through my adulthood and life. And some of the things that I do to help myself each day to embody my values, and course correct involve meditation practice, that is really incredibly important to me. Time in nature, time spent with people who are, you know, chosen friends and family that do support and value who I am and what I bring. And you know, look for ways to unpack the people pleasing and the anxiety and the self doubt that, that that remain. Knowing that as, as I'm, as you all have to be to have to know that these are the places these, you know, this is the idea of the broken places being where the light shines through, right, so those are the places where I can connect with other people is from all of that brokenness. As far as things to help me reflect regularly, I am I also I'm constantly looking and seeking inspiring resources and tools and books and things. The list is very long. But I do also practice reframing things I'm looking for the good in things, not in a pollyannish kind of, it's all Yes, could always be, could always be worse, they are not like that, but, but just really kind of, you know, some things are really awful and really hard and needing to boil it down to the feel of the breeze on my skin right now is making me happy, you know, or just kind of looking, both in small ways and in large ways how I can apply that, that reframing of things. And then as far as challenges in the workplace, go, you know, we were, we were formed out of the National Endowment for the Humanities, which was formed to bring in in quotes, you know, excellence into either there's, it's all formed on the structures of, of racism, and we operate, we're a philanthropic organization and we operate within the structures of inequality and oppression that exists there too. You know, we we work a lot with museums and organizations that wrestle with a colonial colonialism, History and Collections and stories and how do we tell complete stories that you know, that that go against what folks have held for so long as the you know, the birth of our nation and all you know, all Have these challenging things. And so it's there's a long and complicated history and we both support the organizations that are telling the stories, but also trying to help
help them in this work, help them to see that there are places that those stories need to be fleshed out more, and giving tools around dialogue and having difficult conversations and finding safe spaces for people to do that work. And then for me, personally, I you know, the pace as someone spoke earlier about the pace of the work that we've been doing, especially with the during this pandemic, has been excruciatingly intense. And it makes this kind of work near nearly impossible, in some ways, because we're just moving so fast. And it's also I feel a tension between encouraging organizations. And I wrote down, someone said, The patronizing expertise, you know, I feel like that is a space that we can, sometimes we can tread over that line, sometimes if we're not careful, very, very careful. And the pace makes it hard to be very, very careful. I find that I'm a bell ringer somewhat, and a person who will say, you know, we need to, we need to be thinking about this, we need to, and so I am thankful to be working with people who are incredibly thoughtful, and wanting to do the right thing, and, and they'll listen to, to the bells when I bring them. But sometimes the change, the pace of things can also be slow. So at the same time, we're working so fast in other areas, making change can be can be really slow. And that can be frustrating.
Thank you. Um, I really wanted to address because this has been a life theme for me. How are you the person that you are. And this is not a negative at all. But there's a Zen saying, of not this, not this. And I didn't know that. I was into Zen sayings, and probably until probably was in my 30s. But I grew up with a great deal of not this, not this, and knowing that something was wrong. And that talking in certain ways, and interacting in certain ways. And being hurtful, was not appropriate, and was not successful. And so became a series of not this, not this. And I like that, because it's a sense of discrimination. It's not invalidating what is. But it's allowing to recognize what is not correct. And it's allowed me to move on from jobs and people and life situations. That didn't work for me. Maybe for someone else, but not for me. And, you know, I still have the book by Suzuki. You don't send mine beginner's mind. And it's a classic because it's very, very simple. And now, I'm ombudsperson at playdough, which is an adult education organization. And as ombudsperson. Saying, not this not this doesn't work. It's Yes, this is what is and how can we make it better? And I find that that works well, too. I hear you, you know, I see you, I hear me, I see me Is there a way that we can both be heard, and you can incorporate this new way of learning so you can be in the membership of Plato without having to be bounced out because your behavior is unacceptable? So it's interesting, it works actually quite well. You know, turning everything into a yes, yes. So that people get to be heard. So I'm a happy camper. And that's, I think all I have to say All right, I'll go.
So am I, the person that I am? Well, what I think it's been interesting, as I've been at CNI, we're planning this series and,
and, you know, collectively
discussing some of these different ideas, what has really struck me is that though I have things that I think and reflect on regularly, things that I read or reread, you know, I, I love books and articles, and so I'd say I, I digest them with fervor.
There's this,
that what I sort of have come to realize, actually, is that I don't have a good structure for myself. There's an aspect of white supremacy culture, that I embody so thoroughly within myself around urgency and completion of tasks. And,
and, and,
and sort of like the idea of working yourself to the bone, and then you die, right? It's like, what am I here for, if it's not to work hard, and, and, and then, you know, I'll work and work and work and then I'm not really like a retirement minded kind of person. So it's like, at what point do I rest. And I think the person that I am so thoroughly finds attachment to that, that, that even that even the way that I consume tools and resources, and, and work to embody has that sense of urgency embedded in it. And so I think there's a, an aspect to like, how I am the person that I am, is that there's this determination. And, and there's sort of positives and negatives to that, in how I embody my values, but how do I do so it and in through this series, really starting to reflect to myself of how do I slow down to embody these things for myself, not just for the spaces that we're designing, or CO designing or, or holding, for, for others. And, you know, what's been interesting in terms of challenges I've experienced in the workplace is that I can say, that rooted has really been a place of healing for me to be able to course correct to be able to advocate for values embodiment, and to create a, you know, co create with everyone else, a workplace that, that can be that space for one another and for ourselves, and putting in the structures for rest. So even if my personal life, I'm not doing that in the way that I would like to, I feel like collectively as an organization, we're designing something that really has that values embodiment. And part of that is because there have been so many other places and, you know, boards that I've been on and, and whatever else where that hasn't been the case and where real harm has been done, not just to myself, but to you know, those around me. And so, being able to being able to change that in real time has been a truly healing experience.
We have a couple more minutes here. So if there's anyone who would like to share
Yeah, what's coming up for me is something that I don't think anyone maybe has names but that just feels like this soil that we're cultivating here, which is centering love, and love as its expressed for are in compassion for others and certainly for ourselves as we do our own healing from the systems that have worked on each of us differently. And in my own practice, like giving grace, recognizing the weightiness and Rubik witness Ness omnipresence of the systems that we're trying to re imagine and build a new in new soil in generative and life affirming soil, while we're still living under the causes and conditions of so much suffering. So it's a huge task. And I feel like we would be remiss if we didn't say like love, compassion, self, compassion, Grace. All of these are just necessary values and embodied practices that that I feel are part of this work. And community which Natasha said before
before. I'm just sitting with many things, but where things is this, the pace, that urgency that a few people have brought up, and that we've talked about as well on the panel, but then that sort of, you know, outer work that happens. And so one of the questions I support the organizations I work with, to think about is how do you create pain, spaciousness, and slow down? And so one of the questions is, what can you will you say no to? Right? And, and it's a very hard question, because the majority of the people I work with are not for profits, who have honorable, important work to do work around the environment, and climate around poverty around inequity and injustice. And so, everything is important, everything has to be done. And so what to say no to is really, really hard.
And so,
I'm supporting organizations to really create spaciousness and to slow down. And I catch myself having to do that for myself, because all these organizations come and they want to do this work. And all these organizations need to transform they need to decolonize they need to be, you know, pushed back on white supremacy and the ways in which they're structured. And I can't do it all. And so I just, I'm sitting with that piece about saying, No, creating space, me saying no, and supporting others to say no. And certainly, that's kind of one of the challenges that, you know, I noticed that tension in me that I'm always having to
pause and say,
this is really what I need to be doing. So I need to say no, can I say no? Will I say no.
So unless anyone has any last thoughts, we will move into some resources and tools and the closing of our event together today. Again, I just want to thank everyone who shared I know, it's oftentimes hard to share in a group, including our panelists, all of us. So thank you so much for being a part of of this space and and sharing your experiences. So here are some resources and tools. So as people have been talking throughout the event, we've been adding them onto this list as well as ones that we have brought with us from previous places around the piece around rest that came up so many times. I would just want to highlight the nap ministry there under Tools. It takes you to the Instagram account, but there are lots of there's a link tree there's lots of things to take a look at there. And then all of the other are beautiful things that people have shared with us. So we encourage everyone to take a look at these resources and tools. And we'll also be sending them out in the follow up email after the event. And so upcoming events as a reminder, on a see, I think it's to two weeks from now will be the final part of this three part series where we'll be in discussion with Michelle Marie, and she'll be sharing some different things with us. She's the co chair of community centric fundraising, as well as the other lovely things you can see listed there. And so we'll be talking more specifically about fundraising practices. You know, the way that we sort of tried to shape this series was around, you know, Ally ship and you as an individual, now us in community, and then how does that sort of come through in our fundraising practices, and think about that through the nonprofit sector. And I mean, for profit, too, if we're thinking about just raising funds, generally speaking, and sort of all the things we want to think about dismantling in that space as well, then we have two more free events coming up there after so in early October, we'll have our Nonprofit Technology Summit, where we'll have some some different technologists sharing some cool things that they've done, or some things they think that will be helpful to people in a sort of short format lightning talk. And then we'll do a lot of breaking out into groups, where people will be able to share their own personal challenges and get help from a group of their peers to help them think through ways to come up with some solutions, all around technology. And then the thereafter we'll be having our final roundtable of the year with Marcus and Kay Harris from our routed team, where he'll be sharing some of the campaign planning and knowledge and project management techniques that we've been using here at rooted. And in fine roundtable form. They'll be some webinar at the beginning and then discussion and helping one another in the latter part of the session. So any other events or things coming up, you can find on our schedule. And we'll be sending out soon a survey for 2023 to start planning what what kinds of different programs we'll be bringing into community next year. And now it's survey time. So I will put the link into the chat again. And we really do appreciate anyone who can share some, some thoughts, experience ways that we can do things better, more effectively in the future. So there is the link to the survey.
And we truly, truly appreciate everyone's feedback. So we're actually going to give a couple of minutes in case you want to open it to do it now. Oh, great quote from Audrey Lord.
All right. And then
last piece are closing activity. Please share into the chat, or aloud if you'd like to turn your mic on that you had from today's session. And then we'll we will end our time together to do some news. Wear something serious. Thank you. I love the reminder that this work is all about love. We can send her love and this difficult work and build solidarity. bodied presence is healing compassion, essential.
Right. Thank you, everyone. We are so appreciative of your time, your energy and your outputs today and making this a fruitful and insightful conversation. For those who had to leave early. They'll get it in the follow up email. But again, we're appreciative to our panelists. Thank you so much for depositing into all of us today. But sowing seeds. I invite everyone to make sure they take a breather after this. Get outside, put some sun on your face, whatever it is you do to recuperate so that you can continue to move on. For those who were able to join us and just receive. We definitely look forward to seeing you again and just continuing to be in community with everyone. Reach out to Pete Build on LinkedIn are however best you want to continue to connect with everyone, panelist just know that I will be looking for you just to say hey every once in a while, but I'm on behalf of our entire router team just thank you so much