gen/activist

ICYM earlier this year we hosted a conversation with Deborah Roberts LIVE at #SXSWEDU2022 for International Women's Day. ✨🤠

Deborah Roberts, who is a world-renowned (but Austin-based!) mixed-media artist, spoke with us about the role of storytelling in telling the truth, agitate oppressive systems, and elevate the visibility of Black and Brown people in our national narratives and work toward racial equity in education.

And at the center of Robert’s art is a form of creative storytelling that disrupts and pays homage to the narratives of Black and Brown people and we are so grateful for her presence in this space and in this work!

Paola Mathe is the mind and creative force behind Fanm Djanm, meaning "strong woman" in Haitian Kreyol. It's a lifestyle brand that creates sustainably, focuses on community, and serves to both empower and inspire women to live boldly. The combination of carefully selected fabrics, hand-sewn pieces, and cultural musings inspire women everywhere to wear a bold print, take command of a room, laugh a little too loud, and pursue their greatest aspirations.

She dropped in to talk to us about her entrepreneurship, reclaiming narratives around identity, culture, beauty, and of course, the neverending cycles of becoming as a mother, a Black woman, and a creative.

Enjoy 15% off across the site as a gen/activist listener by using the code ROSA15. Shop online at Fanm http://Djanm.com and get inspired by following the brand story on Instagram @fanmdjanm.

Paola Mathe is the mind and creative force behind Fanm Djanm, meaning "strong woman" in Haitian Kreyol. It's a lifestyle brand that creates sustainably, focuses on community, and serves to both empower and inspire women to live boldly. The combination of carefully selected fabrics, hand-sewn pieces, and cultural musings inspire women everywhere to wear a bold print, take command of a room, laugh a little too loud, and pursue their greatest aspirations.

She dropped in to talk to us about her entrepreneurship, reclaiming narratives around identity, culture, beauty, and of course, the neverending cycles of becoming as a mother, a Black woman, and a creative.

Enjoy 15% off across the site as a gen/activist listener by using the code ROSA15. Shop online at Fanm Djanm.com and get inspired by following the brand story on Instagram @fanmdjanm.

Author, activist, and all-around badass, Prisca Dorcas Mojica Rodríguez, founder of @latinarebels, joins us to talk about the power of righteous anger and her commitment to combining theology, intersectional feminism, and storytelling.

The bulk of her work is around making accessible, through storytelling and curating content, the theories and heavy material that is oftentimes only taught in the racist/classist institutions known as academia. To date, she has participated in the Young Adult anthology "Nevertheless, We Persisted." Recently Prisca also participated in an anthology edited by Lynda Lopez titled, "The Fearless Rise and Powerful Resonance of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez."

She started the platform Latina Rebels in 2013, and currently, it boasts over 300k organic followers online. She has been featured in Telemundo, Univision, Mitú, Huffington Post Latino Voices, Guerrilla Feminism, Latina Mag, Cosmopolitan, Everyday Feminism, and was invited to the White House in the Fall of 2016. She is unapologetic, angry and uncompromising about protecting and upholding the stories of Latinx communities. Que viva la gente!

Currently, her first full-length book with Seal Press a subsidiary of Hachette Book Group, is out everywhere books are sold! Buy your copy here!

Have you ever wondered how design and architecture can uphold racial inequality? According to a 2020 report, only 0.4% of licensed architects in the United States are Black women. So, what does it mean to occupy this space of a Black woman? What does it mean to use architecture as a form of life-affirming storytelling for marginalized communities? Donna Carter, architect and civic leader, based in Austin joins us to talk about designing our way to a more equitable future through our understanding of physical spaces as places of community building, storytelling, and healing.

Donna D. Carter, FAIA is President of Carter Design Associates, an architectural, planning, and restoration firm in Austin, Texas. Her practice is focused on projects combining revitalization, historic preservation, and new construction within a complete community context.

As a civic leader, she has held volunteer and board positions for non-profit health care providers and social service advocates since 1986, serving in board and board-appointed positions for Austin’s Seton Family of Hospitals from 1996 until 2016 and Austin ECHO.  She has recently finished 2 terms on the board of Huston Tillotson University and currently serves on the board of AIA Austin.

We left this conversation thinking more deeply about the physical structures that permeate our everyday life and how we can be agents of disruptions and co-agitation through design. ✨

Bethaney Wilkinson (@thediversitygap) is a researcher and social entrepreneur who is dedicated to exploring the intersections of community, racial justice, and social change. As part of her work in diversity and cultural change, Bethaney is also the host of the popular podcast, The Diversity Gap, and is the founder of The Diversity Gap Academy, an online learning platform for leaders seeking to pair their good intentions for diversity with true cultural change. She founded G.Race Dialogues, faith and community-based initiative designed to support individuals and organizations pursuing racial reconciliation. Bethaney expanded her research and broadened her reach after joining the team at Plywood People, a non-profit in Atlanta leading a community of startups doing good.

She chats with us about diversity and inclusion, her own journey to that space, and how co-agitators can disrupt inequitable systems & create sustained change.

Check out her new book "The Diversity Gap", a book for anyone who wants to increase the racial and ethnic diversity of their organizations, while also addressing the systemic cultural factors causing their diversity efforts to fail. You can buy it here: https://www.thediversitygap.com/book

Pull up a chair, pull up a chair! We’re back again this time with writer and producer Grace Janney Parra to talk about storytelling as a device of disruption and amplification,

Latinx representation in the entertainment industry, and the need for more than one story to be told.

Grace is the creator, writer, and co-host of The Really Late Morning Show, a live comedy talk show in Hollywood featuring celebrity interviews, sketches, and musical guests. Parra is the writer and host of Grace Parra 360, a web series focused on political satire, and Parra of Your World, in which she humorously covers expos, conventions, and other events across the country. She is also a writer and producer of Hulu’s Solar Opposite. She is currently working on a comedy series about the Mexican-American family experience. We also take a look back on the #Oscars, the dangers of perpetuating a single story, and cinema as a reflection of who and what stories we value.

We took the show on the virtual road and recorded a super fun episode on Clubhouse with their head of global marketing Maya Watson. Prior to Clubhouse, Maya served as an executive at Netflix, OWN Network and HARPO productions. We chat about her upbringing and the importance of family, what she has experienced as a Black woman in tech and the need for disruption while helping to bringing others into rooms that have traditionally been closed. We also chop it up about Justice Ketanji Jackson and watching her confirmation hearings. Maya is a dynamic voice who invited us into her virtual living room and we had the best time!

For our premiere episode of Season 2, we are in conversation with everyone's favorite internet cousin Evelyn Ngugi or EvelynFromTheInternets. She is a comedian, creative activist and content creator. She has created some truly prolific and hilarious videos about Black culture, life as a creative, and much more. Evelyn has a unique and amazing way of acknowledging our struggles while still making space for our joy through her humor.

For more information about Evelyn, you can find her on the web at @evelynfromtheinternets on all social media and for her https://www.youtube.com/c/Evelynfromtheinternets

For our last episode of our launch season Mikaila Ulmer, founder of Me & The Bees Lemonade, sits down with us to discuss the ups and downs of being a young, Black, female entrepreneur. At just 11 years old, she began building her empire and has not looked back since, from appearing on and winning Shark Tank andhttps://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/609675/bee-fearless-dream-like-a-kid-by-mikaila-ulmer/introducing President Barack Obama at the United State of Women Summit to writing her first book last year, https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/609675/bee-fearless-dream-like-a-kid-by-mikaila-ulmer/ last year. A leading voice of the Gen Z generation, Mikaila discusses the pressures to address all injustices, and in the midst of a global pandemic, social unrest and global warming disrupting her junior year of high school. But in the midst of it all Mikaila’s mission to save the bees and elevate environmental justice as a cause and a way of life is both clear and inspiring. Most importantly we explore how she navigates the world as a Black girl, the challenges that accompany it professionally and personally, and most importantly how she protects and maintains her joy through it all.

For more information about Me & The Bees, check out https://www.meandthebees.com/. Be sure to catch Mikaila Ulmer on the June cover of https://atxwoman.com/mikaila-ulmer-me-the-bees/!