gen/activist

ICYM earlier this year we hosted a conversation with Deborah Roberts LIVE at #SXSWEDU2022 for International Women's Day. ✨

Paola Mathe is the mind and creative force behind Fanm Djanm, meaning "strong woman" in Haitian Kreyol. It's a lifestyle brand that creates sustainably, focuses on community, and serves to both empower and inspire women to live boldly. The combination of carefully selected fabrics, hand-sewn pieces, and cultural musings inspire women everywhere to wear a bold print, take command of a room, laugh a little too loud, and pursue their greatest aspirations.She dropped in to talk to us about her entrepreneurship, reclaiming narratives around identity, culture, beauty, and of course, the neverending cycles of becoming as a mother, a Black woman, and a creative.Enjoy 15% off across the site as a gen/activist listener by using the code ROSA15. Shop online at Fanm Djanm.com and get inspired by following the brand story on Instagram @fanmdjanm.

Author, activist, and all-around badass, Prisca Dorcas Mojica Rodríguez, founder of @latinarebels, joins us to talk about the power of righteous anger and her commitment to combining theology, intersectional feminism, and storytelling. The bulk of her work is around making accessible, through storytelling and curating content, the theories and heavy material that is oftentimes only taught in the racist/classist institutions known as academia. To date, she has participated in the Young Adult anthology "Nevertheless, We Persisted." Recently Prisca also participated in an anthology edited by Lynda Lopez titled, "The Fearless Rise and Powerful Resonance of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez."She started the platform Latina Rebels in 2013, and currently, it boasts over 300k organic followers online. She has been featured in Telemundo, Univision, Mitú, Huffington Post Latino Voices, Guerrilla Feminism, Latina Mag, Cosmopolitan, Everyday Feminism, and was invited to the White House in the Fall of 2016. She is unapologetic, angry and uncompromising about protecting and upholding the stories of Latinx communities. Que viva la gente!Currently, her first full-length book with Seal Press a subsidiary of Hachette Book Group, is out everywhere books are sold! Buy your copy here!

Have you ever wondered how design and architecture can uphold racial inequality? According to a 2020 report, only 0.4% of licensed architects in the United States are Black women. So, what does it mean to occupy this space of a Black woman? What does it mean to use architecture as a form of life-affirming storytelling for marginalized communities? Donna Carter, architect and civic leader, based in Austin joins us to talk about designing our way to a more equitable future through our understanding of physical spaces as places of community building, storytelling, and healing. Donna D. Carter, FAIA is President of Carter Design Associates, an architectural, planning, and restoration firm in Austin, Texas. Her practice is focused on projects combining revitalization, historic preservation, and new construction within a complete community context.As a civic leader, she has held volunteer and board positions for non-profit health care providers and social service advocates since 1986, serving in board and board-appointed positions for Austin's Seton Family of Hospitals from 1996 until 2016 and Austin ECHO. She has recently finished 2 terms on the board of Huston Tillotson University and currently serves on the board of AIA Austin.We left this conversation thinking more deeply about the physical structures that permeate our everyday life and how we can be agents of disruptions and co-agitation through design. ✨

Bethaney Wilkinson (@thediversitygap) is a researcher and social entrepreneur who is dedicated to exploring the intersections of community, racial justice, and social change. As part of her work in diversity and cultural change, Bethaney is also the host of the popular podcast, The Diversity Gap, and is the founder of The Diversity Gap Academy, an online learning platform for leaders seeking to pair their good intentions for diversity with true cultural change. She founded G.Race Dialogues, faith and community-based initiative designed to support individuals and organizations pursuing racial reconciliation. Bethaney expanded her research and broadened her reach after joining the team at Plywood People, a non-profit in Atlanta leading a community of startups doing good.She chats with us about diversity and inclusion, her own journey to that space, and how co-agitators can disrupt inequitable systems & create sustained change.Check out her new book "The Diversity Gap", a book for anyone who wants to increase the racial and ethnic diversity of their organizations, while also addressing the systemic cultural factors causing their diversity efforts to fail. You can buy it here: https://www.thediversitygap.com/book

Pull up a chair, pull up a chair! We're back again this time with writer and producer Grace Janney Parra to talk about storytelling as a device of disruption and amplification,Latinx representation in the entertainment industry, and the need for more than one story to be told. Grace is the creator, writer, and co-host of The Really Late Morning Show, a live comedy talk show in Hollywood featuring celebrity interviews, sketches, and musical guests. Parra is the writer and host of Grace Parra 360, a web series focused on political satire, and Parra of Your World, in which she humorously covers expos, conventions, and other events across the country. She is also a writer and producer of Hulu's Solar Opposite. She is currently working on a comedy series about the Mexican-American family experience. We also take a look back on the #Oscars, the dangers of perpetuating a single story, and cinema as a reflection of who and what stories we value.

We took the show on the virtual road and recorded a super fun episode on Clubhouse with their head of global marketing Maya Watson. Prior to Clubhouse, Maya served as an executive at Netflix, OWN Network and HARPO productions. We chat about her upbringing and the importance of family, what she has experienced as a Black woman in tech and the need for disruption while helping to bringing others into rooms that have traditionally been closed. We also chop it up about Justice Ketanji Jackson and watching her confirmation hearings. Maya is a dynamic voice who invited us into her virtual living room and we had the best time!

For our premiere episode of Season 2, we are in conversation with everyone's favorite internet cousin Evelyn Ngugi or EvelynFromTheInternets. She is a comedian, creative activist and content creator. She has created some truly prolific and hilarious videos about Black culture, life as a creative, and much more. Evelyn has a unique and amazing way of acknowledging our struggles while still making space for our joy through her humor. For more information about Evelyn, you can find her on the web at @evelynfromtheinternets on all social media and for her YouTube channel.

For our last episode of our launch season Mikaila Ulmer, founder of Me & The Bees Lemonade, sits down with us to discuss the ups and downs of being a young, Black, female entrepreneur. At just 11 years old, she began building her empire and has not looked back since, from appearing on and winning Shark Tank and introducing President Barack Obama at the United State of Women Summit to writing her first book last year, “Bee Fearless: Dream Like a Kid'' last year. A leading voice of the Gen Z generation, Mikaila discusses the pressures to address all injustices, and in the midst of a global pandemic, social unrest and global warming disrupting her junior year of high school. But in the midst of it all Mikaila's mission to save the bees and elevate environmental justice as a cause and a way of life is both clear and inspiring. Most importantly we explore how she navigates the world as a Black girl, the challenges that accompany it professionally and personally, and most importantly how she protects and maintains her joy through it all. For more information about Me & The Bees, check out Meandthebees.com. Be sure to catch Mikaila Ulmer on the June cover of Austin Woman Magazine!

Brooklyn Decker, an actress and model and Sara Woods, one of G-mom's oldest friends, join us to discuss co-agitation as a sustained practice of everyday life. They explore what it means to cede power and privilege as white women and how to amplify, co-labor and work in solidarity with women of color. In the aftermath of 2020's summer of unrest, in America and globally, Brooklyn discusses the phenomenon of racial justice fatigue and why it is imperative to keep moving forward. Sara, affectionately known as “Aunt Sara,” talks with us about how our spaces of faith can be a space for learning/unlearning and educating others. These women show us how they are challenging their communities and setting the foundation for the next generation of co-agitators.

We invited Dr. Rita Suh to talk with us about her vast experience with educational inequity and her amazing work to design a more equitable education system. G-mom is a lifelong educator, so this conversation was right up her alley. We discussed the ways that our education system intentionally miseducates it's students and the ways that discrimination and bias produces inequity. So often things like language or dialect can be misread and greatly impact someone's learning experience. We discuss ways teachers can be more aware and intentional about examining their own biases and creating equitable classrooms where all students can thrive. Purchase her book: https://centerx.gseis.ucla.edu/culture-equity/resources/

We invited, Cole Arthur Riley, the founder and author of Black Liturgies to talk with us about the role of faith in racial justice and her experience giving words to the movement in the form of prayer. We talk about making space for lament and slow processing while also listening to the stories of our ancestors to learn from triumphs. While we recognize that this conversation is being offered through the lens and language of the Christian faith, we believe Cole's work, writings and the history are universal and we invite all to explore racial trauma, justice and lament, through your own spiritual practice, and your own experience. Instagram: @blackliturgies Website: blackliturgist.com

Elsa Collins and Carmen Perez-Jordan, two of the cofounders of Poderistas, an organization dedicated to organizing and leveraging Latina power, joined us for a conversation on how history is connected to the lived realities of Latino's today. We discussed the need to recognize our shared struggles and to work in solidarity to leverage our power. Although those in power have always sought to divide us, there is freedom in using our collective power for liberation. These dynamic women not only organize through Poderistas but have started other organizations dedicated to addressing systemic racism in the criminal legal system and helping vulnerable families at the US-Mexico border. Check them out at poderistas.com.

We invited this dynamic mother and daughter duo to the podcast to talk about a property that their family owns in rural Texas called Thelmawood. Land ownership has been a way for Black people to acquire wealth, but it's also been a source of pain as so much land was stripped from Black families fracturing generational wealth. In 2017, Chrystel decided to purchase a ranch in her hometown and now uses it as a place for community, freedom and to inspire others to do the same. See the beautiful property and all the updates on Instagram: @thelmawoodtx

We had wellness expert and Founder of Black Girl in Om, Lauren Ash, join us for a conversation about how Black people can operate from a place of healing and wholeness. We discuss all the traumatic images and messages we get on a daily basis and how to center our mental wellness and rest. Taking care of ourselves is essential and Lauren had created an amazing digital community that helps us learn to do so and now she is building a physical space called Home. Check out the links below for how you can support Home and her other work.  Donate to Home Lauren Ash's website

In the first installment of a new part of the pod called THE REPRISE, unfiltered reactions from G-mom, Virginia and Meagan on current events, podcast interviews and whatever else sparks conversation. In this episode they discuss their reactions to the inauguration. This was recorded the day after the inauguration and contains unfiltered reactions and cautious hope for the road ahead.

Micheli Oliver is an indigenous woman who is a photographer and a geographer who approaches her work with the intention of honoring indigenous people and the land they have cultivated with "compassion and consent". She is a creative activist who uses her camera to document stories and preserve indigenous culture. We talk to Micheli about the historical and contemporary realities of indigenous communities, the need to document their stories and for those stories to center joy and the evolution of her own identity. You can learn more about Micheli's work at https://loudmouthvisuals.com/.

Alice Yi and Ashley Cheng are community activists and voting rights advocates. They join us to discuss the important of Asian people being involved in electoral politics, the violence inflicted historically and contemporarily against Asians and Asian Americans and how communities of colors must join together in collective power. 

Spiritual Activist and Author Rachel Ricketts joined us for a conversation on spiritual activism, racial justice and how everyone needs to pull up to fight anti-Blackness. Using her new book, Do Better, as a guide, we discuss how we all must fight white supremacy including in ourselves and rest is needed for people of color. Purchase her new book, Do Better: Spiritual Activism for Fighting and Healing from White Supremacy. We encourage people to buy from a Black owned or people of color owned bookstore and you can do that here. Here are some other ways to support Rachel and the fight for racial justice: Sponsor a book Apply for Sponsored book Contribute to Reclaiming Our Birthright Collective for Black Women+ Femmes Fund

Check out this preview of gen/activist for a glimpse into the inspiration and back story of Rosa Rebellion's new podcast. Plus get a taste of what to expect from the season and the wisdom of G-Mom, who we know you will all come to love! #genactivist #podcast #woc #wocpodcast #melanatedmagic