The Visibility Project Podcast

In this episode of the Visibility Project, our focus is to break stigmas associated with domestic violence and build empathy for those who have lived through these traumatic experiences. One of our guests is a domestic violence survivor who will share her personal story. Our second guest is a professional who helps provide hope and healing to survivors. Together they will help us better understand the deeply complex issues surrounding domestic violence.Amy Phoenix is a meditating mom of five, committed to cultivating force-free, trust-full relationships with interests in philosophy, spirituality and slowing down enough to recognize that each moment is new. She holds a Bachelor of General Studies with double minors in Human Services and Psychology from Columbia College, with additional training in mindfulness, positive discipline, healing trauma, and energy practices to nurture well-being. Amy currently serves as the Program Director for YWCA Great Lakes Bay Region and feels life offers amazing opportunities to grow in the art of connecting deeply, working through challenges, and living our values. Ally Beattie is the Prevention and Outreach Coordinator at Shelterhouse, a service agency in Midland, Michigan providing refuge, hope, and healing to survivors of domestic and sexual violence. Focusing on prevention programs, education, and resource sharing, Ally’s work strives to build healthy communities free from these traumatic experiences. She believes that widespread culture change to combat these issues is not only possible but attainable for future generations. Ally is a Certified Family Life Educator and holds a degree in Family Studies from Central Michigan University. She is also the co-host of a podcast called Touchy Subjects which focuses on bringing awareness to domestic violence and sexual assault. Before we begin our conversation, I would like to warn our listeners that this episode contains personal stories related to domestic violence that involve details that may be triggering to those who have gone through similar experiences.EPI 007 Resource Document | http://bit.ly/384Vev9EPI 007 Transcription | http://bit.ly/2OnHtAMTo learn more about The Visibility Project, follow us!Facebook | https://www.facebook.com/thevisibilityprj/Contact us at [email protected] podcast was produced by Push Productions | https://pushpromi.com/---Spearheaded by members of the Cultural Awareness Coalition the Project is the brainchild of several organizations and individuals with shared values who sit on the Project Steering Team. The current Team includes staff from Northwood University, Midland Kid’s First, the Midland County Inclusion Alliance, The Legacy Center for Community Success, Our Community Listens, the Midland Wellbeing Task Force, and several Employee Resource Group member from Dow; the intention is to expand this Team to include other like-minded groups in the region.The Project’s vision is to create a more connected, empathetic, and inclusive community by listening to and learning from individuals whose stories are too often unheard.

In our first podcast of 2021, we will be continuing the conversation around the topic of Islamic faith, stereotypes Muslims face, and the responsibility all of us hold for creating a more inclusive community. We will be chatting with two of our neighbors who will share their stories and experiences as practitioners of Islam: Julie Christensen who converted to Islam and Imam Safwan Eid who a passionate leader in the community.BIOSImam Safwan Eid was born and raised in Quincy, MA. He holds a Master’s degree in Islamic studies & Leadership with a specialization in Philosophy of Religion. He also holds bachelor’s degrees in Economics and Women/Gender studies. He is currently the religious director of the Islamic Center of Saginaw. Julie Christensen was born and raised in Michigan. She is married with two children. She has been teaching Spanish and History for 20 years. She taught Spanish at the college level for 13 years and had the opportunity to teach in Kuwait for a year. She enjoys traveling and reading and spending time with her family.To learn more about The Visibility Project, follow us!Facebook | https://www.facebook.com/thevisibilityprj/Contact us at [email protected] podcast was produced by Push Productions | https://pushpromi.com/---Spearheaded by members of the Cultural Awareness Coalition the Project is the brainchild of several organizations and individuals with shared values who sit on the Project Steering Team. The current Team includes staff from Northwood University, Midland Kid’s First, the Midland County Inclusion Alliance, The Legacy Center for Community Success, Our Community Listens, the Midland Wellbeing Task Force, and several Employee Resource Group member from Dow; the intention is to expand this Team to include other like-minded groups in the region.The Project’s vision is to create a more connected, empathetic, and inclusive community by listening to and learning from individuals whose stories are too often unheard.

This month, we will be shifting gears and speaking with two very talented and knowledgeable Muslims. We will be discussing common misconceptions people hold about Islam, differences between culture and religion, life during the winter holidays, and their activism in the community and in the work of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion. Our guests are Raheef Al Turkmani and Umbareen Jamil.BIOSRaheef is a Human Resources professional at Dow with a passion for teaching and inclusion. His current role at Dow is Senior Talent Management and Learning Specialist with regional and global responsibilities, and serves as the North America leader of Dow's Middle East & North Africa ERG. In addition to his work at Dow, Raheef teaches at Northwood University. Prior to joining Dow, Raheef worked as an Adjunct Professor at West Virginia University. Before coming to the US, Raheef worked six years in Marketing & Sales where he worked as a Marketing Manager for Alfanar.Co in Saudi Arabia and as a Sales Supervisor for Katakit in Syria. Raheef is originally from Syria and has been living in Midland since 2015 with his wife Nour, their son Omar, and their daughter Maria. Umbareen has been a resident of Midland since October of 2000. Born and raised in Akron, Ohio, she earned her B.A. from Kent State University double majoring in Economics and International Relations. She and her husband have 4 children. While her primary job is being the ‘Master Caretaker’ of her family, she still finds time to be passionate about service in our community and therefore spends quite a bit of time volunteering with various local organizations. She is an active member of the Islamic Center of Midland, volunteering her time in countless ways from teaching Sunday school to arranging social events and open houses for the Center. She also serves as the advisor for the Muslim Youth of Mid-Michigan, which is a tri-city Muslim youth group that serves our community by volunteering extensively. Through this group, she strives to instill her passion for community service within the Muslim young adults. As the co-director for the Midland Area Interfaith Friends, a group that serves to foster understanding among various faith groups in our area and gives back to our community through various volunteer opportunities, Umbareen believes we need to look for commonalities instead of differences. She is blessed to be one of the founding members of the Midland County Foster Closet and finds great joy in serving the most vulnerable in our community.EPI 005 Resouce Document | http://bit.ly/30bC95UEPI 005 Transcription | https://bit.ly/2OezENATo learn more about The Visibility Project, follow us!Facebook | https://www.facebook.com/thevisibilityprj/Contact us at [email protected] podcast was produced by Push Productions | https://pushpromi.com/---Spearheaded by members of the Cultural Awareness Coalition the Project is the brainchild of several organizations and individuals with shared values who sit on the Project Steering Team. The current Team includes staff from Northwood University, Midland Kid’s First, the Midland County Inclusion Alliance, The Legacy Center for Community Success, Our Community Listens, the Midland Wellbeing Task Force, and several Employee Resource Group member from Dow; the intention is to expand this Team to include other like-minded groups in the region.The Project’s vision is to create a more connected, empathetic, and inclusive community by listening to and learning from individuals whose stories are too often unheard.

Welcome to the Visibility Project Podcast! This month, in light of the recent election and the upcoming holiday season, we are going to talk about how to better communicate with those who have different opinions and views than our own. You will hear from two of the founders of the Visibility Project: Dr. Gina Wilson and Sarah Weisbarth.These two have a wealth of knowledge and perspective and will give us tools that will help us communicate to create connection, understanding, empathy, and explore our differences in a constructive way. Listen closely for stories of framily, labels, and intention, what actually happens when we “agree to disagree”, how to have the strength to engage, and a moment of authentic self-awareness.BIOSDr. Gina Wilson spent 20 years as a public school educator working to mitigate the effects of environmental and educational barriers for students, including creating a trauma-informed program model to meet students' social-emotional needs by blending restorative practices mindfulness, allowing students to self-actualize in the classroom setting.Dr. Wilson is currently an assistant professor of educational leadership at Central Michigan University where she earned a Doctorate of Education in Educational Leadership and a Bachelor of Arts in secondary education. She also has a Master of Education degree in Educational Leadership from Saginaw Valley State University.Her research interest focuses on understanding how teachers and school and district leaders' mindset, practices, and self-efficacy help and to hinder social justice and equity work in schools. Sarah Weisbarth is a coach and facilitator in the areas of communication and leadership. Working and serving with a variety of agencies including, Our Community Listens, Midland Wellbeing Coalition, Self Love Beauty and others, she is committed to helping people connect through communication. She is a native to Michigan and appreciates all that this state has to offer. She self describes as messy, introspective, hopeful, simplistic, lover of life.Here is the Episode 004 Resource Document |https://drive.google.com/file/d/1zxJG0S0uRegt2tFW1f8bkuC5ely4SQ66/view?usp=sharingTranscription | https://drive.google.com/file/d/1r2K-D89vSzqh5viKDA-XPa-n2MdXThl0/view?usp=sharingTo learn more about The Visibility Project, follow us!Facebook | www.facebook.com/thevisibilityprj/Contact us at [email protected] podcast was produced by Push Productions | https://pushpromi.com/---Spearheaded by members of the Cultural Awareness Coalition the Project is the brainchild of several organizations and individuals with shared values who sit on the Project Steering Team. The current Team includes staff from Northwood University, Midland Kid’s First, the Midland County Inclusion Alliance, The Legacy Center for Community Success, Our Community Listens, the Midland Wellbeing Task Force, and several Employee Resource Group member from Dow; the intention is to expand this Team to include other like-minded groups in the region.The Project’s vision is to create a more connected, empathetic, and inclusive community by listening to and learning from individuals whose stories are too often unheard.

Welcome back to the Visibility Project Podcast! Our last two episodes have been focused on issues related to the Black Lives Matter movement and racial justice. We will be shifting gears to focus on issues related to the LGBTQ community in this month’s podcast. You will hear our guests talk about important legislation, the importance of voting, the passing of Ruth Bader Ginsberg, and much more.We have two exciting guests with a wealth of knowledge and experiences with us.Jay Kaplan has been the staff attorney for the ACLU of Michigan’s LGBT Project since its founding in 2001.He has worked on cases including: challenging undercover sting operations targeting gay men, fighting Michigan’s constitutional amendment prohibiting same-sex couples from marrying, defending the validity of second parent adoptions granted in Michigan, and recently advocating for a transgender high school student to be able to run for prom court. Jay was honored with the 2006 Unsung Hero Award from the Michigan State Bar and the 2010 Virginia Uribe Civil Rights Award from the National Education Association (NEA).He was part of the legal team of the transgender rights case filed by Aimee Stephens that went to the U.S. Supreme Court. Today, listen for Jay talk about who Aimee was as a person and how she is more than just a name and headline in the important legislation.Our second guest Scott Ellis serves as the Executive Director of Perceptions, the Great Lakes Bay Region’s LGBTQ+ education, advocacy, networking, and resource organization.A 2014 graduate of Saginaw Valley State University, Scott began his career in Bay City’s maritime industry - managing marketing and special events for the Appledore Tall Ships and the Tall Ship Celebration festival.Scott joined the board of Perceptions in 2017 and became the coordinator of the Great Lakes Bay Pride Festival that same year and has since produced four successful events for the organization.In 2019, as Perceptions expanded, Scott accepted his current role as the organization’s first full-time Executive Director.To learn more about The Visibility Project, follow us!Facebook | https://www.facebook.com/thevisibilityprj/Contact us at [email protected] This podcast was produced by Push Productions | https://pushpromi.com/Transcription | https://drive.google.com/file/d/1MESTuC97LDY2soQkPe0zJ2dxdpamcDwJ/view?usp=sharing---The Visibility Project is a community collaborative aimed at bringing awareness to unseen and unheard populations in our community. We are based out of Midland, MI.Spearheaded by members of the Cultural Awareness Coalition the Project is the brainchild of several organizations and individuals with shared values who sit on the Project Steering Team. The current Team includes staff from Northwood University, Midland Kid’s First, the Midland County Inclusion Alliance, The Legacy Center for Community Success, Our Community Listens, the Midland Wellbeing Task Force, and several Employee Resource Group member from Dow; the intention is to expand this Team to include other like-minded groups in the region. The Project’s vision is to create a more connected, empathetic, and inclusive community by listening to and learning from individuals whose stories are too often unheard.The Project’s vision is to create opportunities for stories of diversity to be heard so that people can grow in connection and understanding of self and others. The impact will be to create a more inclusive mindset both as individuals and as a region.

In our inaugural episode, we discussed the Black Lives Matter movement, anti-racism, and the history of systemic racism. Our guests were two individuals with a wealth of knowledge and experience as they are both African-Americans from an older generation that lived through the Civil Rights Era. This month, we will be continuing the conversation but we will be hearing the voices of two younger African-American individuals who are active in the field of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion. It will be interesting to hear how their views compare and contrast to last month’s guests. Among other topics, we will be discussing the passion of the younger generation, the impact of media outlets and social media, the topic of micro-aggressions, and the difficulty of finding mentors in the workforce for people of color. Our guests today are Mr. Javonie Ellington and Mr. Jamaal Washburn.Javonie is from Detroit, Michigan. He graduated in 2016 from Elida High School in Lima, Ohio. He is a double major at Northwood University in Midland, Michigan where he is specializing in Hospitality Management and Accounting. He is also very involved on campus. He is the Entertainment chair of the 46th annual Stafford dinner; the Co-President of the Black Student Union. The Co Events director of the International Student Organization and member and ally in the sexual advocacy for everyone (SAFE) club. Javonie looks forward to the day when the world doesn’t reflect in favor of one race. He believes innovation stems from diversity and inclusion. Jamaal was born and raised in Raleigh, NC. In 2017 he obtained my B.S. in Accounting from North Carolina A&T State University in Greensboro, NC. After graduation, he moved to Midland to begin working in Dow’s finance department. He recently switched career paths and now does commercial sales for Dow’s Industrial Solutions business. Having the insights from Javonie as a university student and from Jamaal as a young working professional will add even more perspective to the continued conversation on their fight for social justice.To learn more about The Visibility Project, follow us!Facebook | www.facebook.com/thevisibilityprj/Contact us at [email protected] podcast was produced by Push Productions | pushpromi.com/

Our first conversation explores the history of racism and slavery in our country and how it has institutionalized a biased system and leads us to today’s Black Lives Matter movement. Our guests Kimberly Houston and Kevin Kendrick share a lifetime of experiences and observations including how we can challenge ourselves to have hard conversations and challenge our biases.EARLY YEARSKimberly talks about going to a mostly Jewish school exposed her to others that have been oppressed at an early age. Kevin opens up about a trip to Georgia as a child in the 1960’s that had was a “physically painful” introduction into race relations.EDUCATIONKimberly gives examples of common biases and reflects on the hard work of self-assessment. Kevin gives an explanation of what anti-racism is with relevant examples. WHAT CAN YOU DO Kevin comments about the need for activism over time especially related to voting rights and the history of slavery, while Kimberly emphasizes the need to understand and define a community and culture. She also points out that having the hard conversation can be uncomfortable, encourages listeners to be willing to listen and share their perspectives.Here is the Episode 001 Resource Document https://drive.google.com/file/d/1CpyumnwZ5G0Sz7o9HulWPqOlU-1g84sr/view?usp=sharing To learn more about The Visibility Project, follow us!Facebook | https://www.facebook.com/thevisibilityprj/Contact us at [email protected] This podcast was produced by Push Productions | https://pushpromi.com/Transcription | https://drive.google.com/file/d/1HV6dMF928uzD2BOvw7KxgejMH-6JHd_G/view?usp=sharingBIOSKimberly Houston has over 40 years of leadership experience in business, philanthropy, and fund development. She retired from Dow Corning in 2012 and led numerous strategic initiatives as the Chief Diversity Officer, Global Community Relations Leader, and President, Dow Corning Foundation. She served as the Interim Executive Director of the YWCA Great Lakes Bay Region. Kimberly is a CCF Certified Coach Practitioner, trained in Unconscious Bias and is a Certified CQ Advanced Professional by the Cultural Intelligence Center. She will be completing her applied positive psychology certification in Creating Wellbeing this year. Kevin Kendrick worked from 1976 to 1981 at two police departments at Wayne State University and the Detroit, Michigan Police Department. In 1981 he joined the Federal Bureau of Investigation and spent the next 25 years in the FBI working in virtually every area of investigative responsibility including two tours of duty at FBI Headquarters. He retired from the Bureau in May of 2006 to accept the newly created position of Vice President of Global Security for the Dow Corning Corporation in Midland, Michigan. While in Midland, Kevin served on several boards, including the Midland Area Community Foundation, the Legacy Center for Community Success, the Midland Noon Rotary Club where he served as a past President, the Center Stage Theatre Advisory Board, and the Midland County Historical Society. He is a strong advocate for diversity, equity, and inclusion and was a strong force in the Cultural Awareness Coalition which hosting The Visibility Project. ---Spearheaded by members of the Cultural Awareness Coalition the Project is the brainchild of several organizations and individuals with shared values who sit on the Project Steering Team. The current Team includes staff from Northwood University, Midland Kid’s First, the Midland County Inclusion Alliance, The Legacy Center for Community Success, Our Community Listens, the Midland Wellbeing Task Force, and several Employee Resource Group member from Dow; the intention is to expand this Team to include other like-minded groups in the region.The Project’s vision is to create a more connected, empathetic, and inclusive community by listening to and learning from individuals whose stories are too often unheard.

This is the inaugural episode of The Visibility Project. A podcast meant to help create a more connected, empathetic, and inclusive community through the power of storytelling. We’re here to provide a platform for individuals whose stories are too often unheard.In this first episode, you’ll meet the series host, Jeremiah Lee of Northwood University (Midland, MI) and Pam Singer from Midland Kids First. You’ll learn how a dream shared over a cup of coffee in 2019 sets them down this path, how the power of listening has inspired them, and their personal connection to this project.To learn more about The Visibility Project, follow us!Facebook. | https://www.facebook.com/thevisibilityprj/Contact us at [email protected] This podcast was produced by Push Productions | https://pushpromi.com/Transcription | https://drive.google.com/file/d/1PsJJqQwcPmzIXCDw5QlUhD8TTN_1CHl9/view?usp=sharing---The Visibility Project is a community collaborative aimed at bringing awareness to unseen and unheard populations in our community. We are based out of Midland, MI.Spearheaded by members of the Cultural Awareness Coalition the Project is the brainchild of several organizations and individuals with shared values who sit on the Project Steering Team. The current Team includes staff from Northwood University, Midland Kid’s First, the Midland County Inclusion Alliance, The Legacy Center for Community Success, Our Community Listens, the Midland Wellbeing Task Force, and several Employee Resource Group member from Dow; the intention is to expand this Team to include other like-minded groups in the region. The Project’s vision is to create a more connected, empathetic, and inclusive community by listening to and learning from individuals whose stories are too often unheard.The Project’s vision is to create opportunities for stories of diversity to be heard so that people can grow in connection and understanding of self and others. The impact will be to create a more inclusive mindset both as individuals and as a region.