Consulting and Coaching for EDI Consultants and Trainers is Here!

So announcement time! I am now offering anti-racism consulting, equity and inclusion consulting, burnout mitigation guidance, and overall support for anti-racism and equity trainers, facilitators, and consultants.

I know from experience how heavy, draining, and isolating this work can be. I’ve faced periods of burnout, fatigue, and shaken faith in the purpose of this hard but necessary work. I’ve been fortunate enough to come out of the other side of these struggles with new practices to center my mental and emotional health and well-being while de-centering the guilt and failure that can often come with doing this vital work in white supremacist workplaces. I want to take my decade of experience in the trenches, implementing difficult change in workplaces while centering myself to have the energy to support others, dismantle feelings of guilt and failure, and de-center whiteness to work for other EDI consultants, trainers, and facilitators.

The goal of this service? To offer consultants something that isn’t always accessible or available to them: a thought partner with experience implementing and executing short-term and long-term strategies while supporting EDI practitioners and leading groups and networking events tailored to giving EDI practitioners a community in an isolating field of work.

So many EDI practitioners are doing this work in areas and regions of the United States where they do not have a team, thought partners, accomplices, or general support in their endeavors. So many folx across the United States want to begin careers focused on pushing for equity, inclusion, and anti-racism in systems and workplaces but don’t know where to start or what their focus should be. Thanks to technology, though, I can offer support and insight to folx nationwide and help you fulfill your goals in this work while taking care of yourself. This means we can work together to remove those barriers to thought partnership, learning, coaching, and community and help EDI practitioners find their mental, emotional, and physical footing in this work.

Are you thinking of starting a career in equity and inclusion but are unsure of where to start? I can help you navigate what approaches and focus areas will utilize and amplify your lived experience, perspectives, and talents.

Are you an EDI consultant, trainer, or facilitator who is struggling with burnout and feelings of failure? I can help you begin re-centering yourself inside and outside of your work and embrace ways to take care of your mental and emotional health.

Are you an EDI consultant, trainer, or facilitator who is struggling to get over the white fragility/violence discomfort wall with a client? I can help you get your head around building and implementing new approaches to discussion and training that can break down those barriers while de-centering white comfort.

Are you an EDI consultant, trainer, or facilitator who is struggling with feeling isolated in your work and looking for not only solidarity but a thought partner and confidant? I can be your thought partner and a new line of support.

My rate for these specially focused consults is $150 for one (1) 60-90 minute session; a 4-session package is available for $550. The initial meeting to discuss your needs and focus areas and to ascertain if I am the right fit for the support you’re seeking is free. If you decide to move forward with me after the initial consult I will begin my work with you collaborating on building a roadmap regarding what we’ll be working on/focusing on together that is flexible yet centered on your needs and goals. We will use that roadmap to kickstart our work.

If you are an anti-racism and equity trainer, facilitator, or consultant and you think I might be able to help you with any of the above (or possibly even something not listed above) please feel free to drop me a line so we can take action together!

On Grocery Lists, Karens, Chets, and Apple Crumbles

I have had to check a whole lot of white people this week. Like, a whole lot. That's not a bragging point or badge of honor.

It's a declaration that I and other Black folx and people of color shouldn't be able to get to the end of our work weeks with the ability to build a damn list of white people we've had to check.

Some of y'all white folx need to start checking other white folx because I shouldn't have to mistake my checked white supremacists' list with my grocery list. Damn near bought a bunch of Karens and Chets instead of cardamom for my apple crumble.

And I refuse to let y'all mess up my apple crumble.

Scared

Two days ago, I was told that the white people with power and positionality at work are scared of me. I was then told that I make them uncomfortable because I talk about racism, oppression, white supremacy, and dismantling hatred and oppression in the workplace and our communities without baby gloves.

...I just wanted to share that. Don't really have too much to add to that. I mean, that speaks for itself, doesn't it? I knew they felt this way. I've known since day one. I know that most white people think this way about me. But having a white person with more power and positionality than you tell you this out loud in a meeting with a nervous chuckle because even they are scared of you and hope you don't call them out really hits you a particular kind of way. I sat with it for a couple of days, talked with my therapist about it, and I'm doing OK. It's out of my control. It is what it is. White people gonna white people. And Pharoah's gonna keep being Pharoah. Que sera.

Happy Thursday.

Let's Talk About Monday's Opening Thought: March 22, 2021

So...my opening thought of the week that I posted yesterday around Black folx not spouting anti-Asian sentiments and perpetuating white supremacy got me a few messages from Black folx on multiple social media platforms. And, well, some of y'all wasn't all that pleased with me. Some of y'all felt that your experience with AAPI communities aiming racist rhetoric and actions toward Black U.S. Americans negated standing with them. Some of y'all felt that white supremacy will only be addressed when some AAPI communities stop perpetuating white supremacist class dynamics in their hate toward other races. I wanted to address all of that because real talk?

Now is not the time for that debate.

I’ve had that debate in times when hate crimes weren’t on the rise, and I will go back to discussing the intersections of class and race and social pecking orders...but now just ain't the time.

Racism and white supremacy between the Black community and AAPI communities is legit and something that needs to be addressed. It's a topic I have addressed in the past. I've been on the receiving end of anti-Blackness from AAPI communities. I have spent time learning about and understanding how AAPI communities have been weaponized by whiteness against not only Black and Brown communities but against one another. But I’m not going to go on the offensive toward any communities that have lost their friends and family mere days after a hate-based mass shooting. I'm not going to kick people while they are struggling to feel heard in the face of a wave of white nationalist hate. Now just ain’t the time. This ain't about me. And it damn sure ain't about y'all, Black folx who slid into my DMs. Not right now, at least.

I feel like we can and should stand with people while they’re hurting and healing. We can resume the debates we need to resume later and resume them from a realm of building mutual support and understanding. We definitely have work to do. But I’m not willing to center myself in someone else’s pain, even if I have faced racist words and actions from them in the past. Now is the time for solidarity. I'll get back to the unpacking later.

#stopasianhate

____________________________________________

Soon Chung Park, age 74

Hyun Jung Grant, age 51

Suncha Kim, age 69

Yong Yue, age 63

Delaina Ashley Yaun, age 33

Paul Andre Michels, age 54

Xiaojie Tan, age 49

Daoyou Feng, age 44

These are the names of the people whose lives were taken by white supremacy in Atlanta, Georgia, in a terrorist-level anti-Asian hate crime. Say their names. Do not let their deaths, and the hate that led to their deaths, be another footnote in the history of U.S. white supremacy. Make your self-work, your own dismantling of your connections to and perpetuation of white supremacy, be not about you but about the many melanated lives taken at the hands of white violence.