Hello hello,

Hope everyone is safe despite the crazy weather across Texas and the Southeast! Snow and ice are unwelcome conditions in those areas – not to mention the danger they are causing!

I can’t really complain here. Still living in semi-quarantine. My 6 year old recently lost a tooth and told me that the tooth fairy was going to bring him $60. HAHA I was tempted to downgrade his usual $1 / tooth to a quarter based on that comment. Then I remembered his skewed sense of numbers – like when he tells me it will take 90 hours for his lunch to heat up in the microwave… This, my friends, is my main source of entertainment these days – send wine!

It would be a tragedy if I didn’t share Part 2 of Brene Brown’s conversation with Aiko Bethea. So, here it is: Brené with Aiko Bethea on Creating Transformative Cultures | Brené Brown (brenebrown.com)

Aiko’s take on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion is the best I’ve come across in all my reading/listening. I couldn’t agree more with her delineation of transformational change (at a human level) versus transactional change. At my workplace and companies around the world, there’s a lot of discussions about being an inclusive leader and behaviors of inclusivity. I may have a pessimistic view here, but I don’t think you can teach people these things. I don’t think managers can look at a checklist or other ‘inclusivity tool’ and all of a sudden they can actively listen, care about their employees, amplify under represented opinions/ideas… But, hopefully I’m wrong here because there are so many teams that could accomplish a lot more under the guidance of an inclusive leader.

Be well

#blacklivesmatter #courageousconversations #powertoprivilege

-Jessica

Hello Hello,

And just like that, it’s mid-February! Sending early Valentine’s vibes to everyone. I overheard the best exchange yesterday – during Zoom kindergarten, my 6 year old told his class, “Yesterday, I watched the new Star Wars movie, and at the end, Darth Vader kissed the white lady!” His classmate responded, “Ugh, that’s like the Hallmark movies that my mom watches…” LOL A few thoughts crossed my mind as I heard this A) we should all assume our kids are sharing everything with their classmates and B) I’m so glad my son identified the lady as white! I’m probably reading WAY too much into this, but I’ve been intentional about identifying white people as white when talking to my kids the way we identify brown or black people by their race. My intention is to try and combat the cultural norm that if someone’s race isn’t called out, it’s assumed to be a white person. So, I’ll take my son’s descriptor of the lady as a win (confirmation bias may be in play here…)

A best friend of mine recently shared an excellent episode of the podcast Hidden Brain called How They See Us. Check it out here: How They See Us | Hidden Brain Media

It’s a thought provoking conversation with psychologist Claude Steele whose work has uncovered the impact of “Stereotype Threat”. Put simply, stereotype threat occurs when an individual’s performance/ability is impacted because of common stereotypes. A few examples include female performance on advanced math exams as compared to males (stereotype: males are better at math), white basketball players in the NBA (stereotype: white people can’t jump), and black students performance on standardized tests (stereotype: black people are intellectually inferior). The phenomenon transcends race and gender. Steele’s book Whistling Vivaldi includes an in depth review of the studies he has conducted on these examples and how the research teams can turn off the impact of stereotype threat.

I can’t stop thinking about the impact stereotype threat has on the population and all the lost potential. How many people have avoided or quit something because of perceived inadequacies. Just being aware that of this concept is a good first step to combat it.

#blacklivesmatter #courageousconversations #powertoprivilege

-Jessica

P.S. Did you see our girl Amanda Gorman at the Super Bowl?? ICYMI: Amanda Gorman Recites ‘Chorus of the Captains’ at Super Bowl LV – YouTube

Hello hello,

As we approach the end of January and still see record numbers of Covid, I hope everyone is hopeful about the vaccine rollout and our return to ‘normalcy’ over the next 6 months. I’ll be honest, it’s hard to see the light. I just recently heard the phrase that “maybe the light at the end of the tunnel is an oncoming train!” I sure hope not… but the beginning of January had me wondering!

Breaking news!!! I hope the title of this post caught your attention. It’s something my husband has told me countless times over the course of our relationship, and also something I recently read in Caste by Isabel Wilkerson. Here’s the excerpt:

“A few years ago, a Nigerian-born playwright came to a talk that I gave at the British Library in London. She was intrigued by the lecture, the idea that 6 million African-Americans had had to seek political asylum within the borders of their own country during the Great Migration, a history that she had not known of. She talked with me afterward and said something that I have never forgotten, that startled me in its simplicity. “You know that there are no black people in Africa,” she said. Most Americans, weaned on the myth of drawable lines between human beings, have to sit with that statement. It sounds nonsensical to our ears. Of course there are black people in Africa. There is a whole continent of black people in Africa. How could anyone not see that? “Africans are not black,” she said. “They are Igbo and Yoruba, Ewe, Akan, Ndebele. They are not black. They are just themselves. They are humans on the land. That is how they see themselves, and that is who they are. What we take as gospel in American culture is alien to them,” she said. “They don’t become black until they go to American or come to the U.K.,” she said. “It is then that they become black.”

This is not to say there isn’t discrimination or social hierarchy in Africa. It’s just a simple concept to reinforce the arbitrary assignment and subsequent inequities of “race” in America. To think, a continent full of “black people” is actually just a continent full of people. 🤯

#courageousconversations #blacklivesmatter #Caste

Be well,

-Jessica

Hello hello,

I can’t stop thinking about recruitment in corporate America and all the convenient narratives we tell ourselves when working in this space. I was so happy to hear this episode of Race at Work with Porter Braswell about this topic: iCIMS’ Charles Mah: Why Traditional Recruiting Pipelines Don’t Work (hbr.org)

I’ll keep this short – we have to stop saying there’s a lack of diverse talent. It’s simply not true. Remember: talent is universally distributed- opportunity is not. So maybe we need to rethink the way we recruit talent to account for profound inequities in opportunity. And, we need to think beyond the recruiters and look to inclusive leaders to help retain talent. We’re too quick to blame a city or community as a reason for attrition of talent. Every manger should ask themselves if they’ve really been an inclusive leader. Better yet, organizations should scrutinize their leaders to see if they reflect the diverse pool of talent they’re trying to recruit.

#courageousconversations #blacklivesmatter #inclusiveleadership

-Jessica

Hello hello,

So happy to be on the other side of 20JAN21 without the loss of any more lives. What a relief.

You know when something is SO good that you question whether or not you’re worthy of having experienced it?  I, like most others, am now totally and utterly obsessed with Amanda Gorman, the youngest inaugural poet. I have underestimated poetry as an agent for change, but she has highlighted this underappreciated artform. If you didn’t catch her inaugural poem, check it out here: ‘The Hill We Climb’: Read Amanda Gorman’s inaugural poem – CNNPolitics The most memorable line for me was: “We will not be turned around or interrupted by intimidation because we know our inaction and inertia will be the inheritance of the next generation. Our blunders become their burdens, but one thing is certain. If we merge mercy with might and might with right then love becomes our legacy and change our children’s birthright.” mic drop.

She reminds me that inspiration can come from so many artforms and people of all ages.

She has another beautiful poem addressing the black lives matter movement: Amanda Gorman “Fury and Faith” on Vimeo “All Black lives matter. Black lives are worth living, worth defending, worth every struggle. We owe it to the fallen to fight, but we owe it to ourselves to never stay kneeling when the day calls us to stand together…”

That’s it. Nothing else needs to be said. If we could all listen, digest, and internalize her words, the world would be fast tracked on that moral arc toward justice. How fitting as we just celebrated MLK Jr. Day.

#Blacklivesmatter #courageousconversations #MLK

-Jessica

Hello hello,

What an overwhelming start to 2021 we’ve had! I just can’t begin to describe the anxiety, sadness, and anger I feel in response to the events at the Capitol on 06JAN2021. The inequalities in our country’s treatment of protesters was on full display, and any doubt as to the depth and pervasiveness of systemic racism within this country should be totally erased. There’s one good thing coming out of this – Eugene Goodman, Capitol police office, is getting the public recognition he deserves. In the face of a armed, white mob, this black officer secured the safety of the Senate chamber. ICYMI: Eugene Goodman video: Capitol officer praised for drawing mob away (usatoday.com) In a fair and decent world, all the political figures in the Capitol should stop to think if they are doing everything in their power, through their votes and policy-making, to ensure equality for Eugene and everyone who looks like him. Sadly, we saw that’s not the case as just hours later, the vote to object to the Electoral College results resumed. smh

The startling differences between how the Black Lives Matter protests were handled this summer and this insurrection are appalling. The fact that we’re now looking for these people using photos and videos from the event should strike all of us as crazy. Why weren’t people arrested on the spot? On June 1, 2020, 300 Black Lives Matter protesters were arrested at the Capitol while on January 6, 2021, only 61 pro-Trump rioters were arrested.

As we turn our focus to the upcoming inauguration, I’m hoping that no more lives have to be lost in the facilitation of the transfer of power.

#blacklivesmatter #courageousconversations

-Jessica

Hello hello,

The other day, my kids were driving me up the wall.  With the cooler weather, rain, and dark evenings, we’ve been trapped inside more than usual, and after 9 months of quarantine, it’s all starting to be a little bit too much.  I’ve noticed a marked decrease in my tolerance for toddler meltdowns and brother brawls.  In the midst of the chaos, my husband said, “One day these kids won’t want to hang out with us at all…”  My honest reaction was, “Promise?”  LOL  I’m sure I’ll be devastated when that day arrives, but in this very moment, it sounded quite nice! 

I’ve been spiraling into a little whirlpool of self-pity lately.  [As I type that, I can hear my husband say “lately?” and he wouldn’t be wrong!]  Maybe it’s more accurate to describe my current state of mind as grief instead of pity.  I’m officially mourning the Before Times.  Regular school, date nights, work happy hours, traveling, human interaction.  What luxuries!  I’ve found myself professing “I won’t be happy until I can socialize with people again!”  Like I have actually said this out loud multiple times.  (Insert eye-roll emoji)

My patient husband is encouraging me to find other habits to fill the social void.  He suggested I go visit the local parks, get outside, etc.  My initial reaction to the suggestion was complete resistance, and I’m trying to unpack why.  I think it’s because it goes against who I tell myself I am. My narrative self says, “I don’t like nature”, “I’m an extrovert”, “I get my energy by being around other people”.  It feels like a threat to my identity so trying new habits to help get through the tail end of this pandemic isn’t something I want to hear.  But, what choice do I have?  I can continue to act like an angsty teenager, or I can try something new (as Michael Jackson would say, “make that change!”). 

Anyway, let’s solider on.  I stumbled upon a book called In The Dreamhouse by Carmen Maria Machado.  The author was on an episode of the Codeswitch podcast, and I was totally intrigued.  It’s not the typical genre I usually discuss here, but it’s too good not to share.   The book is a memoir focused on the author’s abusive relationship with her girlfriend. There was a particularly poignant passage (p³!) where she discusses “minority anxiety”:

 “I’ll never forget the gut punch I felt when one of the first lesbian couples married in Massachusetts got divorced five years later – a kind of embarrassed panic.  I was recently graduated, newly out, trying to date women in Berkeley.  I remember feeling dread, as though divorces weren’t the kind of thing happening all around me at every moment, as if they weren’t a complete nonentity.  But that’s the minority anxiety, right? That if you’re not careful, someone will see you – or people who share your identity – doing something human and use it against you.  The irony, of course, is that queer folks need that good PR; to fight for rights we don’t have, to retain the ones we do.  But haven’t we been trying to say, this whole time, that we’re just like you?

 It’s not being radical to point out that people on the fringe have to be better than people in the mainstream, that they have twice as much to prove.  In trying to get people to see your humanity, you reveal just that: your humanity.  Your fundamentally problematic nature.  All the unique and terrible ways in which people can, and do, fail.  But people have trouble with this concept.  It’s like how, after Finding Nemo, people who were ill equipped to take care of them rushed to buy clown fish and how the fish died.  People love an idea, even if they don’t know what to do with it.  Even if they only know how to do exactly the wrong thing.”

I can’t count how many times I’ve read those two paragraphs.  It’s beautiful writing about an unfair reality.  The demonstration of humanity is necessary for minorities to be accepted and not seen as ‘other’; however, minorities can’t afford to make mistakes (aka demonstrate their humanity!) because they risk being stereotyped*.  What a weight to carry.   

It’s all interwoven with the work of Aiko Bethea (Dare to Lead Podcast) and Emmanuel Acho (Uncomfortable Conversations with a Black Man) especially when they rhetorically ask, who gets the benefit of the doubt? Who do we believe?  To be given the benefit of the doubt is such a gift!  It’s a form of grace that we humans too often only give to people who look like us, consciously or unconsciously.    But I think we must be generous when offering the benefit of the doubt because if we are liberal in this offering, we invite everyone to demonstrate their humanity. And when we see the humanity in others, we can relate to people who are different than us. And if we can relate to each other, it’s harder to hold on to fear which manifests as hate. Major win! (Feels like a high-stakes version of “If you give a mouse a cookie…”)

Talk soon,

Jessica

#courageousconversations #blacklivesmatter #don’tbuythefish

*I fully understand this language is WAY oversimplified and is used only to make a high level point and not to claim all ‘minorities’ have a shared experience.

Hello hello,

I recently finished The Moment of Lift by Melinda Gates, and I can confidently say it’s one of the best books I’ve read this year. Many people in my circle will be getting a copy for Christmas, 😊! She’s an incredible writer, and the book is full of stories from around the world.  It also includes lessons regarding equality and leadership that Melinda has learned in her work which I found very applicable.  While the book is mostly focused on the work that the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation is doing to empower women across the globe, there’s a broader message around empowering any group that is considered to be on the margins.  This includes women, people of color, immigrants, etc.  Melinda outlines how entire societies benefit from bringing everyone into the fold and equally distributing opportunity. 

She is very clear that the goal is not to elevate women/POC above men.  With all the focus on diversity, equity and inclusion, I can see and have heard fears from many that they will be negatively impacted or purposefully overlooked for things such as career advancement.  I can empathize with this sentiment because everyone interprets the actions around them through his/her own world view.  Melinda addresses this fear head on.  In many ways, she articulates that no one is advocating for a replacement of the current social hierarchy; rather, she advocates for the disbanding of the current social hierarchy.  That needs to include equal partnerships in the workplace, in society, and in the homes.  

Happiest of Holidays to everyone!

#blacklivesmatter #courageousconversations #powertoprivilege  

-Jessica

-P.S.  It wouldn’t feel right to end this post without a podcast recommendation 😊 😊  So, here it is. From the Wall Street Journal, it’s an episode about Coke’s journey with DEI in corporate America and what we can all learn (it’s only 21 minutes!)   What Corporate America Can Learn From Coke’s Reckoning With Race – The Journal. – WSJ Podcasts

Hello hello,

ICYMI – There’s some buzz in the tech world regarding the recent departure of an AI ethicist at Google.  Timnit Gebru is a prominent black female scientist working in AI and best known for a paper she published in 2018 that found higher error rates in facial analysis technology for women with darker skin tones.  She was co-authoring another paper which posited that tech companies could do more to ensure AI systems don’t perpetuate or exacerbate historical gender bias.  Google wanted her to remove her name from the publication.  Here’s an article about the unfolding event: https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2020/dec/04/timnit-gebru-google-ai-fired-diversity-ethics  I’m sure there are many details left out from both sides in the story so I’ll hold off passing a judgement for now. 

However, it shines a spotlight on the overarching topic of bias in technology. There’s a great book by Safiya U. Noble, Ph.D. called Algorithms of Oppression which outlines how search engines reinforce racism. Disclaimer: this book is dense! Is the search engine part of the problem or does the search engine merely reflect society’s beliefs? The book explores this distinction. 

It’s one thing to combat systemic racism in the flesh, but it’s a whole different challenge to look at racial and gender biases in the technologies that we’ve incorporated into our everyday lives. The importance of this field of study will only become amplified as we continue to rely more heavily on algorithms across industries such as medicine, law, and manufacturing. It would be naïve to think that the field of AI and other technological advances would be free from these biases because they’re the creation of flawed humans working within a flawed system.  They learn by evaluating human behavior and decisions, and we know human behavior and decisions are biased!! Acknowledging this fact is a critical step to put additional controls in place to combat these unwelcome biases in technology.