“We’re Either Whole Human Beings or We’re Cogs in the Wheel”—feat. Julie Kashen

This week, Off-Kilter continues our ongoing series of conversations with social justice leaders digging into why, in the famous words of Audre Lorde, self-care is political warfare—and the role radical self-care plays in their own lives to sustain them in this work. And this week, Rebecca sat down with Julie Kashen, a friend and a colleague at The Century Foundation who’s a leading voice in the movement to bring policies like universal paid family and medical leave, paid sick days, and child care to the United States, and a senior fellow and the director of women's economic justice at TCF. She's the mother of an almost-nine-year-old, a board member of an organization called Vote Mama Lobby, a certified life coach, and someone who calls herself a "practical idealist" in how she approaches her work.  They had a far-ranging conversation about how the lack of paid leave and other holes in America's social contract show up as some of the biggest structural barriers to self-care and basic dignity in U.S. society, particularly for parents and caregivers; how self-care shows up in her own life as a mom who's also a leader on care policy; what she's learned about self-care and listening to her intuition from her work as a life coach; how she came to host Full Moon circles as a self-care practice that's also building power within the women's community; how a book called Rise Sister Rise has influenced how she understands and approaches her work and what it means to be a woman leader in the modern world; and more. For more: Connect with Julie on Twitter @JulieKashen and check out her work at TCF  Read more about the care executive order signed by President Biden this week (and here’s the tl;dr in a great tweet thread by Julie) Check out Off-Kilter’s last conversation with Julie for more on America’s “house of cards” child care system and the push to strengthen it Check out Rise Sister Rise by Rebecca Campbell Learn more about the American Association of Health and Disability’s “nothing about us without us” All of Us research program