in a time when covid physical distances us from one another, politics emotionally separates us, and an economy driven by individual success financially divides us, it can seem almost impossible to create what we most need to truly belong: community.

mia birdsong, pathfinder, activist, storyteller and author of “How We Show Up: reclaiming family, friendship and community” has devoted her life to creating and cultivating community not just because it feels good but because we need it. we need it because we are human. because we are interdependent creatures who rely on one another to survive. we need it because it’s through shared wisdom and experience that we can save what is failing and create what we are imagining. and we need it because, as much as creativity is a solo act, it comes from our shared existence.

mia has “a gift for making visible and leveraging the brilliance of everyday people so that our collective gifts reach larger spheres of influence, cultural and political change, and create wellbeing for everyone.”

and in this conversation mia brings her experience as senior fellow of the Economic Security Project, founding co-director of Family Story, vice president of The Family Independence Initiative, speaker at conferences and universities around the country and her Ted talk (viewed over 1.7 million times), to show us how we can use community to chart a new path forward.

some of what we talk about: 

• the american dream, toxic individualism and the power of community
• what we value and why we better change it. now. 
• finding agency in spaciousness (and how to create more spaciousness in a busy life)
• looking to the marginalized for freedom
• and why you only have to do your part

may it inspire you to make your thing and change your world.