[un]phased podcast

We’ve all heard the term “self-care,” but what does it really mean when we engage in representation, inclusion, and equity work in endurance sport and our lives? The prism through which we understand self-care is often tinted based on our identities. The urgency with which we engage in social justice work and the time we have available have profound effects on our ability to avoid burnout. This relationship between who we are, the work we do, and our time for self-care can evolve over time as our lives change and shift. Practicing self-care is important. It allows us to bring the attention back to ourselves and pay attention to our own needs. But many folx, especially those who work in the representation, inclusion and equity space, struggle to make time for their own needs.

Shaunna and Lisa explain that self-care for professionals working in or advocating for representation, inclusion, and equity is complicated and looks different for each person. For them, triathlon often provides a place of refuge. But when conversations around racial justice, inclusion, or equity start to make their way into our tri club meet ups -- as we feel they should -- it can put an additional toll on folx who are already doing this work in other areas of their lives.

Although these conversations are incredibly important, it is also important that we “pass the baton” of representation, inclusion and equity work, so folx who engage in this work in their professional lives can get the rest they need to stay in the work. Our goal should be to keep everyone in the fight, running at their own pace.

Our homework for this week is to think about our own self-care plan… and maybe that will include a few choice words for a cathartic release.

[un]phased is also wishing a very special Happy 10th Birthday to Shaunna’s oldest son, Trai! We hope you have an awesome day!

Technology is supposed to make our lives easier, but for many folx, this simply is not the case. From Zwift avatars to automatic faucets, it is obvious that the technology that we use every day was not designed with all races, genders, abilities, or body types in mind.

Whiteness and maleness have been the dominant identities throughout our culture, especially in endurance sport. As such, all of the systems, technologies and even clothing that surround our sports are created from the lens of those identities which minimizes the experiences of anyone who does not fit that identity. So how can we change this?

Shaunna and Lisa discuss why it is to create systems that bake in diverse perspectives and experiences from the start. This can help to ensure that everyone feels welcome, seen, and represented. They remind us of the concept of universal design, and how it can be used to create systems that are inclusive and welcoming.

Most women struggle to charge based on their worth for the services they offer. On this week’s podcast, Shaunna and Lisa break down what this is about and how we can address it. Shaunna’s friend, Shun Strickland calls this feeling “money ick.” It is not an uncommon feeling. Many of us find it difficult to discuss our monetary worth when asked to provide a service for an organization or individual client. Whether the services are coaching, DEI consulting, or educating, this value-laden work is typically undervalued. There is an expectation that folks in those fields are “good people” who will do the work for less money -- or even for free -- because they are doing it for the greater good. The people most often saddled with this expectation are women and people of color.

The feelings of discomfort we have around discussing money matters can also be related to our socialization. Whether this is your socialization as a woman, a person of color, or the way that money was (not) discussed in your family or career field, overcoming our socialization around money and worth can be a difficult barrier to cross.

Women are much more likely to undervalue their skill sets and charge less for their work. Lisa and Shaunna discuss how we can promote woman-to-woman allyship in the context of charging what we are worth for our work. We hope our listeners continue to remind each other as women, it is acceptable, even imperative, to ask for compensation that reflects all of the education, expertise, and experience we have.

Sign up for the Feisty Team at feistyteam.com !

In September of 2020 over 860,000 women left the workforce in the United States. This number on its own is staggering, and this week on the show Shaunna and Lisa are drawing connections to how the disproportionate toll of the pandemic on women might come to affect their participation in endurance sport in the coming months and years. They explore the nuance of what it means to be a woman who participates in “frivolous” activities like triathlon or cycling, the historical marginalization of women in sport and in the workplace, and how this has led to a gap in wealth and economic power between men and women.

Despite endurance sport rarely being a mandatory activity for any gender, women seem to be judged more harshly if they participate in activities for their personal enjoyment and well-being, especially if they have children...and even more so if it has a price tag attached. This episode will analyze the connections among the socioeconomic status of women, antiquated gender norms, disproportionate household responsibilities for women and the emotional labor on women who are dedicated to an endurance sport lifestyle.

This week on the podcast Shaunna and Lisa are joined by special guest Heather McTeer Toney. Heather is a politician, attorney, triathlete and environmentalist. She served in President Barack Obama’s Environmental Protection Agency, and is helping us make the connection between diversity, inclusion and the environment in triathlon.

Heather explains environmental justice, climate justice, and why these concepts should be important to us as endurance athletes. She reminds us just how connected we are to the natural world when we are participating in our sport, and why it is important for us to use our privilege as athletes to protect the environments that our sport connects us to. We have to approach these spaces and communities with the attitude that we will leave them better than we found them.

January 20, 2021 was a historic day for the United States; the world witnessed the swearing in of the first female Vice President in our country, Kamala Harris (pronounced ‘comma la’). This moment was historic, not only due to Vice President Harris’ gender, but also due to race, ethnicity, and other multiple identities. She is the first Black person and the first person of South Asian descent to hold this position. Naming and celebrating the many aspects of her identity are important as they reflect the complexity of who Vice President Harris is, the vast perspectives she holds, and all of the boundary-breaking identities she highlights. It allows us to move away from a narrative that centers whiteness and maleness as default identities, so that we can acknowledge the nuance that comes with holding intersecting identities.

By de-centering whiteness and maleness as the default identities, we are making space to bring all identities into the center of our narrative. As women, we value the contributions of all women of all races, and celebrate the fullness of their identities that may not be described neatly -- to the discomfort of many! In a time when we are being encouraged to unify as a country, it can be difficult to acknowledge that someone can hold identities that are both the same and different from our own. As Shaunna and Lisa strive to keep the complexities of Vice President Harris at the forefront, they also explore concepts of “unity” and how the American experiment sometimes works against itself as it calls for unity, but more effectively works through principles of synergy

This week in the U.S., we celebrated Martin Luther King Day, an official holiday of service which strives to celebrate the Civil Rights leader’s life and legacy. This week, Shaunna and Lisa took a look at what it means to build an appropriate apology -- whether it is to one person, a group, or an entire race of individuals. What is the benefit of an apology? What occurs in the absence of an apology? We examined this concept, starting with a recent prolific article, “The Truth in Black and White: An Apology from the Kansas City Star”.

The article directly acknowledged how Black Kansas Citians had been excluded overtly or covertly by its coverage. We also referred to a chapter in Former President Barack Obama’s recent book, “A Promised Land” where he, Angela Merkel, and Elie Wiesel toured concentration camps before Merkel again acknowledged the tragedies of Germany against Jews. Shaunna and Lisa discuss the lack of apology from the U.S. toward specific groups, the danger of skipping such essential step in the racial healing process, and we fear that endurance sport may be on a parallel path.

In an Ohio State University study, Roy Lewicki found that there are 6 components to an apology, and the more of these elements you include, the more effective the apology becomes:

An expression of regret.

An explanation of what went wrong.

Acknowledging the responsibility for what went wrong.

Declaration of repentance.

Offering to repair, and

A request for forgiveness.

Shaunna and Lisa deep dive into what the U.S. and endurance sport could look like the oppressed stopped apologizing for and an appropriate apology was offered by majority groups.

This week’s episode will be our first conversation since the riots at the US Capitol. As much as we would love to think that 2021 will magically fare better than 2020, a strong American democracy, racial justice, and immunity from a global pandemic won’t happen overnight.

Shaunna and Lisa suggest that we should NOT forget 2020, but instead learn as much as we can from it. A main premise of [un]phased is that we refuse to separate “real life” from triathlon -- all of it is “life”. Given this, world events affect the endurance sport community generally, but also specifically affect the athletics that constitute our sport. We want to remember all that occurred in 2020, with the assurance that the most accurate story is told from multiple perspectives in multiple ways.

How will the history of 2016 - 2021 be taught in future history classes? How can we be the “ancestors” who pass down a fuller, more accurate story? How can we intentionally highlight voices that have been chronically excluded. Shaunna and Lisa attempt to help endurance sport tell a fuller story, forgetting nothing.

Happy New Year! On our first episode of 2021, Shaunna and Lisa are discussing how we move from the abstract concepts to practical application when it comes to representation, diversity and inclusion in our endurance sport communities. Although it may be easy to identify areas where change needs to be made, implementing changes needs to be strategic. Like a game of chess, it requires us to plan and think many steps ahead so that we can make the right move at the right time, rather than trying to change everything all at once.

Making these changes can be especially difficult when you are the first person to identify that they need to be made. Being a clarion voice can be like trying to start a game of chess with other folks who don’t know the rules of the game. In this regard, it can be strategic to recruit a “buddy” within your community to help build credibility with other folks and develop a multi-pronged plan. From there, you can start to build out other champions to your strategy that will join you in moving towards change (like these dancers in the crowd https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GA8z7f7a2Pk ).

Read "Women and Minorities Are Penalized for Promoting Diversity" at https://hbr.org/2016/03/women-and-minorities-are-penalized-for-promoting-diversity

This week’s episode is dedicated to the memory of one of our sheroes, the late Ruth Bader Ginsberg, Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States who passed away on September 18, 2020. We govern our lives and activism by one of RBG's many profound quotes: "Real change, enduring change, happens one step at a time." We extend our sincerest condolences to RBG's family, friends, and supporters.

In episode four, Shaunna and Lisa discuss the differences between dismantling and demolishing systemic “isms”. Sometimes it’s hard to know if you should demolish a broken system or dismantle it brick by brick. Different situations call for different approaches. Shaunna and Lisa discuss what it means to dismantle instead of demolish, what systemic racism really means and how you can use questioning as a form of micro-allyship.

Important points:

What is systemic racism? Beliefs baked into a system favoring and elevating one group (white people) over another (BIPOC).

Systemic racism exists if you have to change the system to eliminate racist policies (e.g. a law that supports a company’s ability to destroy sacred indigenous caves)

How easy it is to rationalize away systemic problems. For example, accepting something because “it’s always been that way” is really just systemic bias.

What is micro-allyship? The small things you do to call out oppression, rather than calling out people. Asking probing questions, inviting someone to notice their own bias, and calling someone in starts the process of dismantling “isms”.

How can we continue to interrupt oppressive behavior and what do those interruptions look like over time?

Listen to the end to get action items to take into your life this week!