Anima Café Podcast

Date: Wednesday, May 25th, 2022 Host: Annahid Dashtgard Guest: Deepa Purushothaman Join Annahid Dashtgard in conversation with Deepa Purushothaman, about her new book “The First, the Few, the Only: How Women of Color Can Redefine Power in Corporate America“. Since #metoo we've seen a societal tipping point moment in realizing the gap between gender forward policies and what happens in reality. That gap is even wider for women of colour. According to Deepa Purushonotham's new book “The First, the Few, the Only: How Women of Color Can Redefine Power in Corporate America “ one in three women of colour in corporate America want to quit. And yet, BIPOC women represent among the most highly trained and talented workplace demographic to attract and retain. In conversation with Anima CEO Annahid Dashtgard, Deepa shares what propelled her research and why major media are paying attention. What will it take to move past the tired debate about meritocracy? What will it take for us to break the invisible barriers holding us back? What does a future look like where everyone, regardless of identity, has the opportunity not just to survive, but thrive.

It's common for anti-racist practitioners to turn to the language of “white fragility” to describe those moments where white folks “freeze” out of fear of doing the wrong thing. And the resulting dynamic for people who identify as BIPOC often includes anger and frustration. In both cases, it's easy for disempowerment to set in. And when that happens oppression wins. So what does it look like to push against the edges of whiteness, to be centered, authentic and remain in relationship as we seek to achieve racial justice in the workplace and beyond? Co-founder of Anima Leadership, Shakil Choudhury and Director of Training Emma Lind will host a conversation with the Anima community where we explore strategies for breaking out of the existing scripts whiteness has trained us all to adopt. Together, we will explore leadership practices of being in more authentic relationship in the equity struggle whether in the workplace, in our personal or community lives.

In his new book, Deep Diversity: A Compassionate, Scientific Approach to Achieving Racial Justice, Shakil Choudhury asks the question, “how do we make all people feel like they matter and belong?” Equity and inclusion is about justice, and from an Indigenous perspective, there can be no equity until justice is central to the conversation. As Clayton Thomas-Müller points out, “if Indigenous peoples had access to the land, water and resources, there would be no poverty and things would be very different in this country.” How do we help organizational leaders look at equity through a justice lens? How do we help them see their part in this ongoing work? How do we move beyond lip service, performative allyship and surface-level change in order to make lasting, systemic change? In this powerful session, Clayton Thomas-Müller, best selling author on Indigenous rights and environmental & economic justice, will join Shakil Choudhury, award-winning educator and author of Deep Diversity, in exploring how we can centre justice in our equity and inclusion efforts, shifting the playing field in our teams, organizations and sectors. This session is part of a series of Fireside Chats, exploring the themes of Deep Diversity with leaders in the field. Pre-order your copy of Deep Diversity here!

The human brain comes hardwired to pay attention to stories—whether in the form of personal narrative, collective myths or gossip—and prioritize them over dry facts and figures. So how can storytelling be used to challenge racism and Islamophobia? Why are counter-stories so important for nurturing equity and what lessons are relevant for organizational leaders? Join Shakil Choudhury in conversation with Zarqa Nawaz, author of the award-winning book, Laughing All the Way to the Mosque, and creator of the internationally acclaimed show Little Mosque on the Prairie, the world's first sitcom featuring Muslim characters living in the West. Shakil and Zarqa will be talking about their new books, what it's means to occupy a Muslim identity 20 years after 9/11, and they use stories to educate as well as entertain.

In a time of extreme political polarization, call-outs and cancel culture, how do leaders support constructive dialogue and de-escalate conflict in society and organizations? How do we make meaningful change leveraging our diverse identities while working with opposing beliefs and experiences? Join Shakil Choudhury and Adam Kahane in an intimate fireside chat as these two amazing leaders, facilitators and authors discuss their new books and approaches to constructive dialogue both inside organizations and in broader society.

Trigger Warning: Loretta Ross does briefly touch on her experience as a rape and incest survivor. No details are given but she does talk about how it has effected her life. How do advocates and allies of the anti-racist movement work towards a more just society? What does it mean to integrate, inner and outer, psychology with power? How do we place love and compassion at the centre of our actions and create call-in culture? In this intimate session, racial justice leader and elder Loretta Ross (author of upcoming Calling In the Calling Out Culture) will join Shakil in exploring the evolution of the anti-racist movement from a culture of shame and blame, towards a more compassionate and inclusive approach, keeping racial justice work at the centre of the conversation. Join us in this powerful wisdom session to help us celebrate the launch of Deep Diversity.

We're witnessing unprecedented openness and vulnerability from leaders over the last year in addressing anti-Black racism and overall equity in their organizations. Despite this, the struggle persists to create long-lasting systems change. Leaders are still misfiring on who they hire, advance, and retain because of limitations in JEDI (Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion) knowledge and skills. Black, Indigenous, and people of colour are still disproportionately approached to “fix” diversity problems in organizations. Those who call attention to systemic instances of racism and discrimination get unfairly stereotyped as “troublemakers” or “difficult” colleagues. Burnout, increased levels of stress, retaliation, and constructive dismissal are the stories that equity advocates tell when they recount the toll of pushing for organizational transformation. And occasionally, in progressive organizations, JEDI goals can sometimes be hijacked by a small subset of activists who themselves may be deregulated or wounded. In this Anima Café, our co-founder Shakil Choudhury will present a new tool to identify the stages of JEDI transformation that leaders and organizations are at: The Anima Transformative JEDI Model. Exploring 3 different stages on the JEDI journey, this instrument helps identify strengths, weaknesses, and pathways to change. This is the last of three sessions on effective strategies to teach justice and equity issues without shame and blame.

Humans are born with basic pattern recognition skills which allow us to make meaning and navigate the world around us whether learning to speak, read and write, or identifying songs we like to navigating our phone controls by touch and feel. Pattern detection is essential to our very survival as a species. As social justice activists and educators, we have developed a keen awareness to repeated cycles of racial inequity, whether it is the school-to-prison pipeline in education, over-policing in criminal justice or undertreatment in health care. And we are bewildered and often enraged when others do not, or cannot, recognize these systemic patterns that appear so obvious. But what is obvious to some can be learned by all. This session will introduce the concept of “racial pattern recognition” as a frame to help learners detect systemic issues related to racism and oppression. We will also explore why the “prejudice habit” is hard to break and why the principle of “slow-is-fast” from trauma therapy is critical to individual as well as policy change. Join us as we continue to discuss effective strategies to teach justice and equity issues without shame and blame.

Are you a racial justice educator who: Is frustrated by the resistance and fragility you experience among people you hope to bring along on the equity journey? Has felt that traditional anti-racist/anti-oppression approaches offer useful strategies but also seem imbalanced, one-sided or ineffective? Has experienced, or want to avoid, emotional burnout, and want a way of doing the work that is more personally sustainable? Then this session may be useful for you! Using road-tested, trauma-informed strategies developed over 25 years, this cafe will argue that psychological literacy—defined broadly as learning that supports deep self-reflection, self-regulation and compassion—is a key part of what is missing and could strengthen racial and social justice work. It is possible to engage learners in this emotionally charged work without (or by minimizing) feelings of shame and blame. Ideas from this session will draw on the newly revised edition of “Deep Diversity: A Compassionate, Scientific Approach to Achieving Racial Justice”, by Shakil Choudhury (to be released September 2021).

Join host Annahid Dashtgard and guests as with the advent of Nowrooz (Persian New Year) on March 21, we explore the fine line between celebrating diverse cultures vs. appropriating them. Taking Rumi as an example, we look at the western love affair with Rumi, one divorced from his Islamic heritage and roots. What questions do we need to develop respectful relationships with other cultures? How can we acknowledge the culture we are part of ourselves? With guests Khashayar Mohammadi, Persian poet, author of upcoming poetry book Me, You, Then Snow, and Professor Emma Lind, leader of Decoding Race for White Leaders course.

What are the common understandings of why we celebrate Black History Month and for whom do we celebrate it? Are the moments of pride for Black communities the same as the national narratives and how are the continued protests for civil rights framed by both? This cafe explores how Black History Month both helps and hinders forward movement for the Black community. How much are we talking about current Black Lives vs. the narrowed framing of past leaders with universal appeal (such as Martin Luther King)? How much does the American narrative obscure the specifics of how Black identity is experienced across the border and beyond? How much of the inequity gap have we really closed? In this episode Senior Facilitator, Mahlon Evans-Sinclair and guests, Akilah Hamilton, Parker Johnson and Jessica Oddy, take stock of where we are, how we got here and how we move forward while building collective capacity and courage. For more information Anima Leadership Anma Café

The US is in a political crisis due to unclear election results. What is clear is that US democracy is broken, with at least half the electorate voting for an authoritarian leader who is racist, corrupt and undermines democracy on a daily basis. Regardless of who actually becomes president, the implications are global in nature, especially for minoritized peoples. the next 50 years are being described as another historical “age of discord”. In this episode Shakil Choudhury and guests, Judy Rebick and Parker Johnson, take stock of where we are, how we got here and how we move forward while building collective capacity and courage. For more information Anima Leadership Anma Café

On the eve of the most important US election in generations, democracy in that—and other western contexts— is in crisis. We need to stop being hypnotized by Donald Trump's theatrics and incivility to see the broader patterns of behaviour: that of a classic authoritarian leader. In response, leaders from civil society, workplaces and beyond need to get comfortable using the “f” word: fascism. Although still incomprehensible to most mainstream North Americans, using an evidence-based approach to demonstrate the frame of authoritarianism and fascism better helps explain the current political moment of Trump and his allies, putting their words, actions and the related violence into context…with implications for racial minorities globally. In this episode, hosted by Shakil Choudhury, we call to action the need to build community and capacity in our personal, community and professional lives as a response to the current stormy political era we are in.