The R.A.C.E. Podcast

Welcome to Episode 13 of the 2nd season of The R.A.C.E. Podcast. Today I am honored to be joined by Keesha Gaskins-Nathan the Democratic Practice–United States program and the Racial Justice Initiative at the Rockefeller Brothers Fund.

Meet Keesha Gaskins-Nathan

Keesha is a philanthropic strategist, a student of movements, a critical constitutional scholar, and a Gemini. Keesha is the director for the Democratic Practice–United States program and the Racial Justice Initiative at the Rockefeller Brothers Fund. Ms. Gaskins-Nathan is dedicated to advancing measures and ideas that improve democratic systems and engage democratic culture in the United States to support full and fair democratic and economic opportunity for all residents. 

Keesha has worked as an organizer, lobbyist, and trial attorney. Prior to joining the Rockefeller Brothers Fund, she was senior counsel with the Brennan Center for Justice, serving as the director of the Redistricting and Representation program. Her portfolio included redistricting reform, voting rights, and elections, with a focus on voter suppression issues. 

She is a Commissioner for the New York State Public Finance Board, 2022-2023 Atlantic Racial Equity Fellow, and has served as 2021-2022 Daynard Public Interest Fellow at Northeastern University School of Law, 2019 Aspen Ideas Scholar, and 2008 Feminist Leadership Fellow with the University of Minnesota, Hubert H. Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs – Center on Women and Public Policy. She is a frequent commentator on voting rights and redistricting reform and regularly appears on numerous news and public affairs programming, including past appearances on Background Briefing, The Great Battlefield, PBS’s NewsHour, MSNBC, and Bill Moyers.

Keesha also is an Adjunct Professor at Columbia University School of International and Public Affairs - where she teaches a course on Democracy, Movements, and Public Policy.

Listen in as Keesha shares:

• Her identifies and how they inform her work
• What inspired her to focus on racial equity and democracy in her work
• The deep alignment between her job and her work
• How she stays encouraged and the legacy she hopes to leave
• What she wants folks in this work to do, think, or feel

Learn more and connect with Keesha Gaskins-Nathan:

• Website: Rockefeller Brothers Fund
• LinkedIn

Hi listener! Please take our short Listener Survey HERE to give The R.A.C.E. Podcast team feedback on the show. We will use the feedback to inform how we approach conversations in the future. Upon completion, you will be entered in our quarterly drawing for a $100 Visa gift card! Your email address will only be used for this purpose. Thanks in advance - we appreciate your feedback.

Connect with Keecha Harris and Associates:

• Website: https://khandassociates.com/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/keecha-harris-and-associates/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/khandassociates
• YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCukpgXjuOW-ok-pHtVkSajg/featured

Connect with Keecha:

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/keechaharris/

Welcome to Episode 12 of the 2nd season of The R.A.C.E. Podcast. Today’s episode is a continuation of our Race, Healing, & Joy Series. During this series, I will engage Reproductive Justice leaders to spotlight KHA's Race, Healing & Joy initiative and share preliminary insights gathered through more than 40 conversations (including interviews, circles of accountability, and an in-person convening).

Today I am joined by Ellen Friedman of The Tara Health Foundation and The Compton Foundation.

Meet Ellen Friedman

In her own words, “I am a proven organizational leader who has worked in diverse settings. I design and manage creative and dynamic philanthropic programs and support new social sector organizations aimed at advancing transformative social and environmental change. I love leading inspired teams to produce strong and effective outcomes. I believe that organizations built on trust, collaboration, and empowerment create the most powerful results.”

Ellen Friedman served as the Executive Director of the Compton Foundation from 2010-2021. During Ellen's tenure, the Foundation redesigned traditional grantmaking relationships by reducing proposal paperwork, reporting, and turnaround time for grants. During Ellen’s tenure, the Foundation built an investment portfolio that was 100% aligned with its mission and was an original signatory to the Divest/Invest Philanthropy pledge. 

Currently, Ellen is a self-employed Consultant, designing and facilitating multi-stakeholder and team meetings, providing strategic planning support and executive coaching for foundation executives and nonprofit organizations, and other organizations working to advance social transformation.

Listen in as Ellen shares:

• Her identifies and how they inform her work
• The role of destruction in nature and how it can inform our racial equity and justice work
• What she has learned about managing relationships across power-differentiated players and stakeholders.
• The power of purpose when setting goals personally and within an organization
• The results of her work and what work still has to be done

Learn more and connect with Ellen Friedman:

• Website: Tara Health Foundation
• Website: The Compton Foundation
• LinkedIn

Hi listener! Please take our short Listener Survey HERE to give The R.A.C.E. Podcast team feedback on the show. We will use the feedback to inform how we approach conversations in the future. Upon completion, you will be entered in our quarterly drawing for a $100 Visa gift card! Your email address will only be used for this purpose. Thanks in advance - we appreciate your feedback.

Connect with Keecha Harris and Associates:

• Website: https://khandassociates.com/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/keecha-harris-and-associates/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/khandassociates
• YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCukpgXjuOW-ok-pHtVkSajg/featured

Connect with Keecha:

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/keechaharris/

Welcome to Episode 11 of the 2nd season of The R.A.C.E. Podcast. Today’s episode is a continuation of our Race, Healing, & Joy Series. During this series, I will engage Reproductive Justice leaders to spotlight KHA's Race, Healing & Joy initiative and share preliminary insights gathered through more than 40 conversations (including interviews, circles of accountability, and an in-person convening).

Today I am joined by Erika Seth Davies, CEO and Founder of Rhea Ventures as our guest on today’s episode.

Meet Erika Seth Davies:

Erika Seth Davies is the CEO of Rhia Ventures, which aims to transform the U.S. market for sexual, reproductive, and maternal health into a vibrant and equitable one through its impact investing, ecosystem building, corporate engagement, and narrative change work.  She has more than 20 years of experience in development and fundraising, program design, collaboration and partnership management, and racial equity advocacy.  

Erika is the Founder of The Racial Equity Asset Lab (The REAL), a venture that centers racial equity in impact investing and works to shift capital to address the persistent racial wealth gap.  She previously served as Vice President of External Affairs at ABFE (Association of Black Foundation Executives) where she designed the SMART Investing Initiative, a field-wide effort to encourage foundations to incorporate a racial equity lens in endowment management practices through increased access for racially diverse- and women-owned investment management firms.  

Erika Seth Davies is a recognized national leader in racial equity in impact investing and founder of Racial Equity Asset Lab (The REAL). 

Listen in as Erika shares:

• Her identifies and how they inform the work she does
• The foundation of racism as a system that is the root of her work
• The role of trust in building relationships and partnerships within philanthropy
• The results of her work from her eyes and experiences
• What she wants people to think, feel, or know as they go deeper into their change work

Learn more and connect with Erika Seth Davies:

• Website: Rhia Ventures
• LinkedIn

Hi listener! Please take our short Listener Survey HERE to give The R.A.C.E. Podcast team feedback on the show. We will use the feedback to inform how we approach conversations in the future. Upon completion, you will be entered in our quarterly drawing for a $100 Visa gift card! Your email address will only be used for this purpose. Thanks in advance - we appreciate your feedback.

Connect with Keecha Harris and Associates:

• Website: https://khandassociates.com/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/keecha-harris-and-associates/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/khandassociates
• YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCukpgXjuOW-ok-pHtVkSajg/featured

Connect with Keecha:

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/keechaharris/

Welcome to Episode 10 of the 2nd season of The R.A.C.E. Podcast. Today’s episode is a continuation of our Race, Healing, & Joy Series. During this series, I will engage Reproductive Justice leaders to spotlight KHA's Race, Healing & Joy initiative and share preliminary insights gathered through more than 40 conversations (including interviews, circles of accountability, and an in-person convening).

I am honored to welcome Panya Walker as our guest on today’s podcast.

Meet Panya Walker:

Panya Walker is a somatic practitioner and teacher with 25 years of experience at the nexus of personal, organizational, and community empowerment, with a focus on meaningful social change. She currently runs a private practice out of New Mexico where she develops treatment programs for individuals and groups centered around holistic wellness and somatic therapies that facilitate personal and professional transformation, ignite creativity and develop the sixth sense. 

Panya graduated from the University of Virginia and has worked in education, publishing, corporate philanthropy, and as a consultant. Over the course of her career, she has developed long-term partnerships for interdisciplinary and multi-sector collaboration around goals that are purpose-driven, sustainable, and drive high-quality results.

Panya is a student, apprentice, and practitioner of the somatic arts for two decades and running. In her application, soma tools are sensory tools that enhance internal and external awareness and communication -- within the self, groups, communities, and the world at large. She is also an ordained minister in the Interfaith tradition with a vision to inspire "healthy humans to live in healthy community together, in a healthy ecosystem." She is passionate about helping servant leaders and change agents achieve greater health and vitality so that they can serve at their highest level.

Listen in as Panya shares:

• Somatics and the role it plays in her work and how it can help activists
• What has inspired her to do this work and her own birth experience as her grounding point of reproductive justice
• The importance Dysregulation plays in our interactions and in our world
• What she wants people to think, feel, or know as they go deeper into their change work

Learn more and connect with Panya Walker:

• Website: Panya Walker
• LinkedIn

Hi listener! Please take our short Listener Survey HERE to give The R.A.C.E. Podcast team feedback on the show. We will use the feedback to inform how we approach conversations in the future. Upon completion, you will be entered in our quarterly drawing for a $100 Visa gift card! Your email address will only be used for this purpose. Thanks in advance - we appreciate your feedback.

Connect with Keecha Harris and Associates:

• Website: https://khandassociates.com/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/keecha-harris-and-associates/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/khandassociates
• YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCukpgXjuOW-ok-pHtVkSajg/featured

Connect with Keecha:

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/keechaharris/

Welcome to Episode 9 of the 2nd season of The R.A.C.E. Podcast. Today’s episode features a timeless conversation with Larry Kramer, President, and Charmaine Mercer, Chief of Equity and Culture of the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation. This conversation is an inside look and model for creating change within a major philanthropic organization. Both Larry and Charmaine have committed themselves to Racial Justice and Equity work and this episode showcases what it takes, the mindset required, and how they are making progress.

Listen in as Larry and Charmaine share:

• Their identities and how they show up in their work
• How they define and implement racial justice and racial equity within the Hewlett Foundation
• What keeps them grounded in this work and their personal commitments
• Their advice to those currently doing Racial Equity and Justice work

Learn more about the Hewlett Foundation and connect with Larry Kramer and Charmaine Mercer

• Website: The Hewlett Foundation
• LinkedIn: Larry Kramer and Charmaine Mercer

Hi listener! Please take our short Listener Survey HERE to give The R.A.C.E. Podcast team feedback on the show. We will use the feedback to inform how we approach conversations in the future. Upon completion, you will be entered in our quarterly drawing for a $100 Visa gift card! Your email address will only be used for this purpose. Thanks in advance - we appreciate your feedback.

Connect with Keecha Harris and Associates:

• Website: https://khandassociates.com/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/keecha-harris-and-associates/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/khandassociates
• YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCukpgXjuOW-ok-pHtVkSajg/featured

Connect with Keecha:

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/keechaharris/

Welcome to Episode 7 of the 2nd season of The R.A.C.E. Podcast. Today’s episode is a continuation of our Race, Healing, & Joy Series. During this series, I will engage Reproductive Justice leaders to spotlight KHA's Race, Healing & Joy initiative and share preliminary insights gathered through more than 40 conversations (including interviews, circles of accountability, and an in-person convening).

I am honored to welcome Dr. Deirdre Cooper Owens as our guest on today’s podcast.

Meet Dr. Deirdre Cooper Owens:

Dr. Deirdre Cooper Owens is an award-winning historian and popular public speaker. She is the Charles and Linda Wilson Professor in the History of Medicine and Director of the Humanities in Medicine Program at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. In this position, Dr. Cooper Owens is one of two Black women in the U.S. running a medical humanities program. Dr. Cooper Owens is also the Director of the Program in African American History at the Library Company of Philadelphia founded by Benjamin Franklin in 173. 

Cooper Owens is a proud graduate of two historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs), the all-women's Bennett College and Clark Atlanta University. She earned her Ph.D. in history at UCLA. As one of the country's most "acclaimed experts in U.S. history," according to Time Magazine, Cooper Owens is steadily working towards making history more accessible and inspiring for all.

Listen in as Deirdre shares:

• What reproductive justice means to her and how her identities inform her work
• Her role as an academic, a historian, an advocate, and an activist and how they all come together
• The role of "nonclosure" in Reproductive work
• What she wants people to think, feel, or know as they go deeper into their commitment of black reproductive justice

Learn more and connect with Dr. Deirdre Cooper Owens:

• Website: Deirdre Cooper Owens
• Twitter
• Facebook
• Instagram

Hi listener! Please take our short Listener Survey HERE to give The R.A.C.E. Podcast team feedback on the show. We will use the feedback to inform how we approach conversations in the future. Upon completion, you will be entered in our quarterly drawing for a $100 Visa gift card! Your email address will only be used for this purpose. Thanks in advance - we appreciate your feedback.

Connect with Keecha Harris and Associates:

• Website: https://khandassociates.com/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/keecha-harris-and-associates/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/khandassociates
• YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCukpgXjuOW-ok-pHtVkSajg/featured

Connect with Keecha:

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/keechaharris/

Welcome to Episode 6 of the 2nd season of The R.A.C.E. Podcast. Today’s episode kicks off our Race, Healing, & Joy Series. During this series, I will engage Reproductive Justice leaders to spotlight KHA's Race, Healing & Joy initiative and share preliminary insights gathered through more than 40 conversations (including interviews, circles of accountability, and an in-person convening).

I am honored to welcome Kimberly Seals Allers as our first guest of the series.

Meet Kimberly Seals Allers:

As an award-winning journalist, author and a nationally recognized media commentator, consultant and advocate for breastfeeding and infant health, Kimberly leverages the power of words to transform thoughts, communities and ultimately our cultural norms. Her consulting work helps non-profits, hospitals and public health-related organizations improve outcomes by creating messaging and communication that connects. All that, in between her most important job–mothering her wonderful two children.

Listen in as Kimberly shares:

• Her identities and how they serve as the foundation of the work she does 
• The difference between Equity and Equality and why we all need to “do the work”
• The power authenticity and storytelling to build community and build trust
• What she wants listeners to know, do, and feel when doing Racial Equity work  

Learn more and connect with Kimberly Seals Allers:

• Website: Kimberly Seals Allers
• Twitter: Kim Seals Allers

Hi listener! Please take our short Listener Survey HERE to give The R.A.C.E. Podcast team feedback on the show. We will use the feedback to inform how we approach conversations in the future. Upon completion, you will be entered in our quarterly drawing for a $100 Visa gift card! Your email address will only be used for this purpose. Thanks in advance - we appreciate your feedback.

Connect with Keecha Harris and Associates:

• Website: https://khandassociates.com/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/keecha-harris-and-associates/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/khandassociates
• YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCukpgXjuOW-ok-pHtVkSajg/featured

Connect with Keecha:

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/keechaharris/

Welcome to Episode 5 of the 2nd season of The R.A.C.E. Podcast. Today I am honored to be joined by Cecilia Muñoz. Cecilia is a giant before, during, and since her tenure in the Obama White House. She has navigated complex spaces where there are unimaginable pressures in high-stakes decision-making. This conversation reminds me why leaders who address racial equity and their work must look fully into the identities that the world can and cannot see.

Meet Cecilia Muñoz:

Cecilia Muñoz is a national leader in public policy and public interest technology with over three decades of experience in the non-profit sector and 8 years of service on President Obama’s senior team. She is the author of the award-winning More Than Ready: Be Strong and Be You...and Other Lessons for Women of Color on the Rise, which shares insights from her career as well as the careers of other notable women of color. She is also a contributing author to Immigration Matters, West Wingers, What My Mother Gave Me, and This I Believe.

Cecilia spent two decades at the National Council of La Raza (now UNIDOS US); winning a MacArthur Fellowship for her work on immigration and civil rights. She served in President Barack Obama's West Wing, becoming the first Latino to lead the White House Domestic Policy Council. She serves on a number of nonprofit boards, including the Kresge, MacArthur and Joyce Foundations, New America, Protect Democracy, and Civic Nation.  She also serves on the boards of Headspace Health and AdHoc. 

Listen in as Cecilia shares:

• Her identities and the role they have played in her life journey 
• Her experience with Colorism as a “white passing” Woman of Color
• The message she would tell the younger version of herself
• What she wants listeners to know, do, and feel when doing Racial Equity work  

Learn more and connect with Cecilia Muñoz:

• Website: Cecilia Muñoz
• Twitter: Cecilia Muñoz

Hi listener! Please take our short Listener Survey HERE to give The R.A.C.E. Podcast team feedback on the show. We will use the feedback to inform how we approach conversations in the future. Upon completion, you will be entered in our quarterly drawing for a $100 Visa gift card! Your email address will only be used for this purpose. Thanks in advance - we appreciate your feedback.

Connect with Keecha Harris and Associates:

• Website: https://khandassociates.com/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/keecha-harris-and-associates/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/khandassociates
• YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCukpgXjuOW-ok-pHtVkSajg/featured

Connect with Keecha:

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/keechaharris/

Welcome to Episode 4 of the 2nd season of The R.A.C.E. Podcast. Today is a breath of fresh air as I am joined by Grace Anderson. Grace is the embodiment of how time has created space for deeper authenticity, ease, and self-anchored grace for Black career women. Grace has a deep reservoir of strategies that can inform each of us addressing racial equity and justice professionally.

Meet Grace Anderson

Grace Anderson is a dreamer, network weaver, and strategist working at the intersection of racial justice,healing justice, and environmental justice. She is grounded and guided by Walida Imarisha’s push to sculpt reality from her dreams, Kimberlé Crenshaw’s intersectional framework, bell hook’s revolutionary love, and tasha’s reminder to take care.

Grace keeps curiosity and exploration at the center as she supports organizations and individuals in strategizing, building, and fostering opportunities to build the capacity of people of color in the environmental space by moving resources towards our dreams, leadership and joy.

Listen in as Grace shares:

• How nature serves as inspiration and a reminder of her role in Racial Equity work
• Her journey from feeling tokenized in hyper white spaces to getting clear about her mission and dedication to Black, Brown, and Indigenous people
• How she navigates challenging times and stays motivated
• What she wants listeners to know, do, and feel when doing Racial Equity wor.  

Learn more and connect with Grace Anderson:

• Website: Grace Anderson.co
• LinkedIn: Grace Anderson

Hi listener! Please take our short Listener Survey HERE to give The R.A.C.E. Podcast team feedback on the show. We will use the feedback to inform how we approach conversations in the future. Upon completion, you will be entered in our quarterly drawing for a $100 Visa gift card! Your email address will only be used for this purpose. Thanks in advance - we appreciate your feedback.

Connect with Keecha Harris and Associates:

• Website: https://khandassociates.com/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/keecha-harris-and-associates/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/khandassociates
• YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCukpgXjuOW-ok-pHtVkSajg/featured

Connect with Keecha:

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/keechaharris/

Welcome to Episode 3 of the 2nd season of The R.A.C.E. Podcast. Today I am joined by friend, colleague, and “Elder in training” Dwayne Patterson, Chief Equity Officer at the Mary Reynolds Babcock Foundation. Dwayne has sat at the feet of civil rights legends and humbly takes on the responsibility to deepen Racial Equity and Justice. I know you will be inspired by how he navigates and balances accountability, leadership, and giving back.

Meet Dwayne Patterson:

As Chief Equity Officer, Dwayne Patterson supports the Foundation's grantee partners as they set and advance their equity goals, helps staff and board document and share their equity journey, and refines the way MRBF captures partners’ outcomes and demographics for a full understanding of their work. 

Dwayne comes to MRBF after more than a decade at the Atlanta-based Partnership for Southern Equity, an organization that promotes racially equitable health, energy, development, and economic opportunities. As Vice President of Strategy and Engagement, he advised on racial equity, social justice, and organizing, and fostered community-based solutions all over the American South. Dwayne coordinated organizational and programmatic strategy, led program and management staff, strategy development, alliance building, and relationship management. He helped organizations grow and improve performance. Dwayne also served as PSE's first Director of Civic Engagement and Regional Organizing. 

Through his consulting firm, The Sixth Group, Dwayne has provided training and strategic impact guidance to many nonprofit organizations and foundations. Dwayne serves on the steering committee for the Georgia Grantmakers Alliance, an initiative of Philanthropy Southeast. He has also served on the boards of ProGeorgia, the Fund for Southern Communities, and the Latin American and Caribbean Community Center. Dwayne holds a Bachelor of Science from North Carolina A&T State University. He lives in Atlanta with his wife and twin daughters.

Listen in as Dwayne shares:

• His identities and how they have shaped his work
• The role of love in Racial Equity work
• His accomplishments and the legacy his work has created
• What he wants those in the field to remember and lead by

Learn more and connect with Dwayne Patterson:

• Website: The Mary Babcock Foundation
• LinkedIn: Dwayne Patterson

Hi listener! Please take our short Listener Survey HERE to give The R.A.C.E. Podcast team feedback on the show. We will use the feedback to inform how we approach conversations in the future. Upon completion, you will be entered in our quarterly drawing for a $100 Visa gift card! Your email address will only be used for this purpose. Thanks in advance - we appreciate your feedback.

Connect with Keecha Harris and Associates:

• Website: https://khandassociates.com/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/keecha-harris-and-associates/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/khandassociates
• YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCukpgXjuOW-ok-pHtVkSajg/featured

Connect with Keecha:

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/keechaharris/