Welcome back, Career Unicorns! This week, we are honored to host the incredible Dr. Grace Poon Ghaffari: a motherscholar practitioner, proud daughter of Chinese immigrants, and embodied healer. Grace is an Assistant Professor at San Jose State University, where she focuses on healing and harm among student survivors of sexual and relationship violence, examining how these experiences are intertwined with broader systems of oppression. In this deep and vital conversation, we discuss why the traditional justice system often fails to be a source of healing, the critical importance of naming violence as it truly is (especially anti-Asian women hate), and how to move toward decolonizing our own healing experiences. Grace shares her wisdom on tuning into ancestral knowledge, recognizing the validity of traditional wisdom, and finding sustainable ways to resist the exhausting cycles of systemic harm and microaggressions. Key Takeaways:

• The Healing Gap: Why victims often don't find the justice system to be a source of healing, and the importance of acknowledging harm.
• Revictimization: The harmful experience of unhelpful police and the dismissal of non-stereotypical victims of violence.
• The Fight To Name Harm: Connecting the Atlanta spa shootings, anti-Asian women hate, and the necessity of uplifting marginalized narratives that are often wildly dismissed
• Internalized Dismissal: How Asian women's experiences of violence are often minimized ("that just happens to Asian women"), and the role of purity culture in the Asian cultural context.
• Decolonizing Healing: Recognizing the positives of Western medicine alongside the profound knowledge and wisdom of our ancestors, and how our relationship to the body and land are part of the healing ecosystem.
• Ancestors As Researchers: Tuning into your own lineage and recognizing that your parents and community have been doing research all along, even if it wasn't recognized by traditional science.
• The Tiring Nature of Resistance: The layers of trauma, microaggressions, and the importance of finding ways to be sustainable and be in the resistance for the long haul.

Connect with us:

• Learn more about our guest, Dr. Grace Poon on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/gpoonghaffari/.
• Follow our host, Samorn Selim, on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/samornselim/.
• Get a copy of Samorn's book, Career Unicorns™ 90-Day 5-Minute Gratitude Journal: An Easy & Proven Way To Cultivate Mindfulness, Beat Burnout & Find Career Joy, at https://tinyurl.com/49xdxrz8.
• Ready for a career change? Schedule a free 30-minute build your dream career consult by sending a message at www.careerunicorns.com.