Ashanti Gardner, BIPOC Graphic Recorder Shares Social Justice Experiences

Dr. Dave:

Hello, and welcome to the KnolShare with Dr. Dave podcasts. This is Dr. Dave Cornelius, your host. The conversation today is with Ashanti Gardner, a graphic facilitator and recorder, and a co-collaborator in the Agile for Humanity, meetup and conference. So. Hey. Welcome, Ashanti.

Ashanti:

Thank you.

Dr. Dave:

So, we met at the future of work event in 2020, and we had all the stuff going on, kind of hard to keep track of. And I learned about your capability as a graphic recorder. Tell me more about Ashanti. Let me know about you.

Ashanti:

Yeah. So I'm originally from the Midwest and I've always had a passion for painting and drawing. It's always been in me. And yeah, I'm just someone who is very curious. I like to come into spaces with the beginner's mindset. I love learning new things and I love experimenting. And that's something I enjoy even more when I do it with other people. So, the whole idea of co-creation collaboration is very near and dear to me. And, for me, this is a journey right now that I'm going on trying to get more into the social innovation impact and change space, because I really, at this moment in time, I really want to help people, be an advocate for people. So, for me, this is truly a shift, and I just feel like it's the right time. It's just always been in me, but I probably haven't been brave enough to step out. And the timing is right, so it's time for me to step out and do the work I was meant to do.

Dr. Dave:

That is so great to hear. So, I just want to let you know, you're like the first BIPOC graphic recorder that I've met, but I've worked in the Agile community. So, tell me more about that journey into the space.

Ashanti:

Yeah. So, there are a few of us out here. But yeah, my journey into graphic recording really started when I was trying to figure out how to take better notes, just for my own self. And I was just struggling. Every time I was writing something down, I would go back to it, and I wasn't quite sure what I meant to write. I' didn't understand the connection between some of what I wrote, and I would have things in different places. And I started searching on YouTube for a solution, because that's where you go, to YouTube for everything. So, I was like, "Somebody has to have another way of taking notes." And that's when I came across visual note taking and I fell in love with it immediately. And I just thought, "This makes sense. It's genius." and it really helped me out a lot.

Ashanti:

And I started reflecting back on a time when I actually saw a graphic recorder at a conference, and I've always been curious about it, but again, didn't really ask anybody about it, search for it but I remembered it. And then I just started talking to people and asking people in my network. And eventually, that led me to other people who were doing graphic recording. It led me to Nova Scribes, which is a huge community in the DC area. And now it's gone really global because of the pandemic. It's Really opened up space for more people. But it's a credible community and very welcoming. And yeah, I started there and I've met Lisa Nelson, who is a black woman, who has a business in Maryland called See In Colors.

Ashanti:

And when I saw her on the panel, then I was like, "Wow, I'm not the only one." And it slowly, over time, I went to the international forum of visual practitioners conference. And then I saw more people who looked like me. Not many of us, but I see the potential for that to grow. And I feel like graphic recording, even graphic facilitation is becoming even more popular. It's been around for decades,