Tamira Cousett: Reconnecting with the Wisdom of Our Ancestors

The connection we have to those who came before us is often overlooked in the contemporary world. Our guest today, Tamira Cousett, has dedicated herself to re-establishing her relationship with her ancestors, as well as helping others to come into communion with their own roots. Tamira is a mother, ancestral medium, ritual facilitator, and student of ancestral and earth-honoring systems.

Her focus is on co-weaving reverence-filled ritual containers and supporting intergenerational ancestral connections across space and time. Tamira speaks about the foundation of Black liberation theologies on which her practices are built, and we get to hear all about how this journey has evolved for her. 

We have a fascinating conversation with Tamira, covering her background, important moments that have directed her path, what being an ancestral medium means to her, and the deeply-rooted family motifs that Tamira is continuing through her practices. So for all this and a whole more illumination from an inspiring and aspiring force in the world, listen in with us.

---

Key Points From This Episode:

• Tamira's opening welcome of gratitude and love for our conversation! 

• The background and fascinating journey that Tamira has been on, to her current work.  

• Reflections on the current moment and the ripeness for increased connection and liberation.  

• The work of an ancestral medium and how Tamira approaches this important calling. 

• Tamira's ongoing healing journey and her relationships with her own ancestors. 

• Information on Tamira's great-great-great grandmother and connecting the dots to her won work.  

• Embodying practices in every day life and moving beyond appearances. 

• Tamira's reaction to tumultuousness of the last few years and situating this in larger context. 

• Escaping the limitations of racial constructs while accepting our roots. 

• Further resources for learning more about this work and Tamira's services! 

---

Tweetables:

“A medium is a bridge, and the truth is that we are all mediums, we all have that capacity while we are in these bodies to be in connection, communion, and communication with other realms of reality.” — @tamiracousett

“My work is really centered around Black liberation theologies, the work that I am doing is not new.” — @tamiracousett

“My healing journey is ongoing. I will be working on that, probably, the rest of my life.” — @tamiracousett

“We can't swim in the ocean and not get wet.” — @tamiracousett

“When COVID began to unravel, I had a lot of physical and spiritual disorientation, just because of the way the ground was moving under my feet, and then George Floyd and Breonna Taylor.” — @tamiracousett

---

Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:

Tamira Cousett — https://www.tamiracousett.com/

Tamira Cousett on Twitter — https://twitter.com/tamiracousett

My Grandmother's Hands — https://www.indiebound.org/book/9781942094470

Deep Liberation — https://www.powells.com/book/deep-liberation-shamanic-tools-for-reclaiming-wholeness-in-a-culture-of-trauma-9781623174927

Finding Refuge — https://www.indiebound.org/book/9781611809367

Sisters and of Yam — https://www.indiebound.org/book/9781138821682

Love & Rage — https://www.indiebound.org/book/9781623174095

Afro-minimalist Guide to Living with Less — https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/The-Afrominimalists-Guide-to-Living-with-Less/Christine-Platt/9781982168049

Death Faire — https://abundancenc.org/death-faire/

Saltwater & Honey: A Prayer Ritual to Spirit — https://sacredgrief.com/p/saltwater-and-honey

---

LIFT Economy Newsletter

 Join 7000+ subscribers and get our free 60 point business design checklist—plus monthly tips, advice, and resources to help you build the Next Economy: https://lifteconomy.com/newsletter

 ---

 Next Economy MBA

This episode is brought to you by the Next Economy MBA.

What would a business education look like if it was completely redesigned for the benefit of all life? This is why the team at LIFT Economy created the Next Economy MBA (https://lifteconomy.com/mba).

The Next Economy MBA is a nine month online course for folks who want to learn key business fundamentals (e.g., vision, culture, strategy, and operations) from an equitable, inclusive, and regenerative perspective.

Join the growing network of 250+ alumni who have been exposed to new solutions, learned essential business skills, and joined a lifelong peer group that is catalyzing a global shift towards an economy that works for all life.

Learn more at https://lifteconomy.com/mba.

---

Show Notes + Other Links

For detailed show notes and interviews with past guests, please visit https://lifteconomy.com/podcast

If you enjoy the podcast, would you please consider leaving a short review on Apple Podcasts/iTunes? It really helps expose these ideas to new listeners:

https://bit.ly/nexteconomynow

Twitter: https://twitter.com/LIFTEconomy

Instagram: https://instagram.com/lifteconomy/

Facebook: https://facebook.com/LIFTEconomy/

YouTube: https://youtube.com/c/Lifteconomy

Music by Chris Zabriskie: https://chriszabriskie.com/

Tao Orion: A Vision for Redesigning Our Engagement with the World

Since the industrial revolution, and throughout the modern era, our connection to the ecosystems in which we live has dwindled, resulting in a lack of awareness and understanding about the relationships that determine our health and future. Tao Orion, author, and holistic ecologist has dedicated her time and energy to bringing this back to the forefront, and today on the podcast we have an amazing conversation with her about farming, forestation, and restoration.

Tao holds a degree in Agroecology and Sustainable Agriculture from University of California Santa Cruz, as well as a degree in Climate Change, Agriculture, and Food Security, from the National University of Ireland. We are lucky enough to share in some of Tao's wisdom and learnings in this illuminating chat, covering her personal background, important experiences, and the specific approach that she has adopted to help shift the conversation towards a more regenerative and holistic space. 

We talk about stewardship, care, and the power of older, indigenous knowledge, with Tao clarifying the roots of some commonly-held ideas and their colonial origins. She talks about concepts of purity and pristine nature, and what history actually teaches us about the so-called invasive species, exchange and travel, and how we can shift the way we look at land and life.

---

Key Points From This Episode:

• Tao's vision for a world where all human needs are met through a better relationship with our ecosystems.

• Looking at Tao's background and the foundations of her desire to write Beyond the War on Invasive Species. 

• The roots of the war on invasive species, and tracing the introduction of herbicides. 

• How the war on invasive species has impacted and disenfranchised different communities. 

• Understanding the realities of cultivation and better stewardship of plants species. 

• Tao's experiences of reducing usage of herbicides in different projects. 

• Redirecting eradication processes; Tao's thoughts on the timber industry and beyond. 

• Tracing the history of our ecosystems and pre-colonial human exchange of plants and animal. 

• The dialogue around native ecosystems, repopulation, and the examination of food production. 

• A little bit about Restorative Design, its initiatives, and how Tao approaches her work with clients. 

---

Tweetables:

“We are ecological actors, and the modern, conventional worldview or paradigm can make it seem like we are somewhat disconnected but I think more and more, it is becoming evident that that has never been the case.” — @Tao_Orion

“I think it's important to understand that there are potentially other ways to address some of the concerns that are going with some of these concerns with plants and animals.” — @Tao_Orion

“Bringing indigenous knowledge and practice back to the forefront of ecological engagement is critical to this work.” — @Tao_Orion

“When you look a little bit deeper at that narrative, it becomes clear that people were engaging in long-distance exchanges of plants and animals long before Columbus came from Spain and arrived in Cuba.” — @Tao_Orion

“It is not all about us, these design systems are not just human-based, we should really be thinking about how we are providing for all of the other species that inhabit this place.” — @Tao_Orion

---

Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:

• Tao Orion: https://www.chelseagreen.com/writer/tao-orion/

• Resilience Permaculture Design: http://www.resiliencepermaculture.com/

• Twitter: https://twitter.com/tao_orion?lang=en 

• Beyond the War on Invasive Species: https://www.powells.com/book/beyond-the-war-on-invasive-species-a-permaculture-approach-to-ecosystem-restoration-9781603585637

• People as purposeful and conscientious resource stewards: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/344716844_People_as_purposeful_and_conscientious_resource_stewards

• Regenerative Ecology Alliance: http://www.resiliencepermaculture.com/regenerative-ecology-alliance-is-now-live/

• Sogorea Te' Land Trust: https://sogoreate-landtrust.org/

---

LIFT Economy Newsletter

 Join 7000+ subscribers and get our free 60 point business design checklist—plus monthly tips, advice, and resources to help you build the Next Economy: https://lifteconomy.com/newsletter

 ---

 Next Economy MBA

This episode is brought to you by the Next Economy MBA.

What would a business education look like if it was completely redesigned for the benefit of all life? This is why the team at LIFT Economy created the Next Economy MBA (https://lifteconomy.com/mba).

The Next Economy MBA is a nine month online course for folks who want to learn key business fundamentals (e.g., vision, culture, strategy, and operations) from an equitable, inclusive, and regenerative perspective.

Join the growing network of 250+ alumni who have been exposed to new solutions, learned essential business skills, and joined a lifelong peer group that is catalyzing a global shift towards an economy that works for all life.

Learn more at https://lifteconomy.com/mba.

---

Show Notes + Other Links

For detailed show notes and interviews with past guests, please visit https://lifteconomy.com/podcast

If you enjoy the podcast, would you please consider leaving a short review on Apple Podcasts/iTunes? It really helps expose these ideas to new listeners:

https://bit.ly/nexteconomynow

Twitter: https://twitter.com/LIFTEconomy

Instagram: https://instagram.com/lifteconomy/

Facebook: https://facebook.com/LIFTEconomy/

YouTube: https://youtube.com/c/Lifteconomy

Music by Chris Zabriskie: https://chriszabriskie.com/

Courtney Martin: Learning in Public

Despite progressive policies around public school integration, culture has not caught up, and reality does not reflect what institutions have mandated. In her latest book, Learning in Public, passionate storyteller, writer, and journalist, Courtney Martin, shares how her sending her daughter to Emerson Elementary, a poorly-rated public school down the road from her home offered her a powerful place to dig deeper about the pervasive racial injustice in America.

Courtney has also authored three other books, and is the Co-Founder of the Solutions Journalism Network FRESH Speakers, and the Bay Area chapter of Integrated Schools, as well as the Storyteller-in-Residence at The Holding Co. 

In this episode, Courtney talks about how she came to do the work she does and offers a look at what sparked her latest efforts. We dive into the public school landscape, some of the reasons the system is not as integrated as we think, and what can be done to turn it around. Courtney firmly believes that integrated public schools are a tenet of a meaningful democracy because they offer spaces for collective questioning of narratives we have been told are true. We also touch on some of the common resistance to public schools, what white parents can do if they are curious about integrated schools, and what you can do to join the movement. Tune in today to hear it all!

---

Key Points From This Episode:

• The narrative Courtney speaks about in her book, Learning in Public. 

• Unpacking the reality of integrated schools on the ground. 

• Some of the benefits of integrated schools when Black and brown children are centered. 

• There are spiritual and emotional considerations that come with integrated schools. 

• Courtney's experience of how her daughter's school mobilized during the pandemic. 

• Why Courtney believes that multiracial democracy is dependent on public schools. 

• Some of the resistance that white parents have to integrated schools. 

• The role that Courtney sees all or majority-white public schools playing in the school system. 

• When you send your children to private schools, you are actively disinvesting in the public system. 

• Why being part of an integrated public school has been so edifying for Courtney. 

• A look at a story Courtney shares in the book about a merger between two schools with different resource and privilege levels. 

• Resources to use if you are thinking about sending your children to integrated schools. 

• What you can do to contribute to the movement that Courtney and others are part of.

---

Tweetables:

“I have this deep conviction that schools are the best public institution we have for strengthening democracy.” — @courtwrites

“Especially in these last couple of years, I've never been so sober about how fragile democracy is, and how much we need shared institutions to help us have shared ideas about truth and science and history.” — @courtwrites

“I have found that being part of the multi-racial, multi-class public school feels very edifying. It's not all my work racially that I need to do, but it's a way to be in real solidarity, in real community and to be living the questions instead of staying in my little bubble of angst and sadness about the state of our country.” — @courtwrites

---

Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:

• Courtney E. Martin: https://www.courtneyemartin.com/

• Courtney Martin on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/courtwrites/?hl=en

• the examined family: https://courtney.substack.com/

• Solutions Journalism Network: https://www.solutionsjournalism.org/

• FRESH Speakers: https://www.freshspeakers.com/

• Learning in Public: https://www.littlebrown.com/titles/courtney-e-martin/learning-in-public/9780316428262/

• Integrated Schools: https://integratedschools.org/

---

LIFT Economy Newsletter

Join 7000+ subscribers and get our free 60 point business design checklist—plus monthly tips, advice, and resources to help you build the Next Economy: https://lifteconomy.com/newsletter

---

Next Economy MBA

This episode is brought to you by the Next Economy MBA.

What would a business education look like if it was completely redesigned for the benefit of all life? This is why the team at LIFT Economy created the Next Economy MBA (https://lifteconomy.com/mba).

The Next Economy MBA is a nine month online course for folks who want to learn key business fundamentals (e.g., vision, culture, strategy, and operations) from an equitable, inclusive, and regenerative perspective.

Join the growing network of 250+ alumni who have been exposed to new solutions, learned essential business skills, and joined a lifelong peer group that is catalyzing a global shift towards an economy that works for all life.

Learn more at https://lifteconomy.com/mba.

---

Show Notes + Other Links

For detailed show notes and interviews with past guests, please visit https://lifteconomy.com/podcast

If you enjoy the podcast, would you please consider leaving a short review on Apple Podcasts/iTunes? It really helps expose these ideas to new listeners: https://bit.ly/nexteconomynow

Twitter: https://twitter.com/LIFTEconomy

Instagram: https://instagram.com/lifteconomy/

Facebook: https://facebook.com/LIFTEconomy/

YouTube: https://youtube.com/c/Lifteconomy

Music by Chris Zabriskie: https://chriszabriskie.com/

Mark Watson: Investment and Social Responsibility

Mark Watson, Founder of Keel Asset Management, is on the show today to talk about raising reparative capital, and the work he is doing on the vanguard of socially responsible investment. Mark has 30 years of experience in the financial sector, starting in banking before progressing into work with a deeper focus on combining social impact with financial rigor. The interconnected nature of the issues facing the contemporary world requires a holistic approach that takes into account finances, sustainability, politics, history, the environment, and more.

Mark describes his philosophy as the rebirth of old ideas around community, support, and sustainability, and we get into some great specifics with him about the changes that need to be made to the dominant economic model. Mark retains a strong priority on supporting entrepreneurs of color and has become increasingly involved in regenerative farming and the funding of socially responsible agriculture.

His two latest ventures are Jubilee Justice and the soon-to-be launched Potlicker Capital, and Mark gives us the rundown of the work that is done through these two organizations, sharing his wide knowledge on creating systemic change. We also get to hear about the winding road of Mark's career, the important stops along the way, and where he envisions the world going if we can put our efforts into the right spaces. For all this and more from an inspiring leader, be sure to listen in with us today.

---

Key Points From This Episode:

• A quick look at Mark's professional background and path to current positions.

• The big decision that Mark made to dedicate his life to creating more access for marginalized sectors of society.

• How Mark became involved in food sustainability and regenerative farming.

• The roots of Potlicker Capital and the inspiration behind the formation of the firm.

• The timeline for Potlicker going public; the next few months and the expected rollout.

• Bringing the focus back to feeding and supporting communities in a modern context.

• Mark's thoughts on the future of capital as we know it, and a possible recalibration.

• The unique moment in which we find ourselves, and the need for better global cohesion.

---

Tweetables:

“I like to think of my career as a journey that many of us are actually on, and that journey is the evolution of understanding the interconnectivity of money, power, knowledge, and politics.” — Mark Watson

“I am from a middle-class background but had never really experienced a world where people were buying $8,000 bottles of wine, lunches at The Pool Room, and private planes.” — Mark Watson

“I made a decision in my late thirties, to spend the rest of my life to redirect resources to those parts of the world and my own community, that did not have access.” — Mark Watson

“What we are all doing is is just reconstructing what our forefathers did in the beginning, before we had huge industrialized complexes, where we had this reductionist thinking.” — Mark Watson

“Clearly, using what we all have been taught as a well-defined way to measure risk, was missing a lot of the pieces.” — Mark Watson

---

Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:

Mark Watson on LinkedIn — https://www.linkedin.com/in/mark-watson-2a961932

Keel Asset Management — http://www.keelasset.com/

Michigan Good Food Fund — https://migoodfoodfund.org/

Jubilee Justice — https://www.jubileejustice.org/

---

LIFT Economy Newsletter

Join 7000+ subscribers and get our free 60 point business design checklist—plus monthly tips, advice, and resources to help you build the Next Economy: https://lifteconomy.com/newsletter

---

Next Economy MBA

This episode is brought to you by the Next Economy MBA.

What would a business education look like if it was completely redesigned for the benefit of all life? This is why the team at LIFT Economy created the Next Economy MBA (https://lifteconomy.com/mba).

The Next Economy MBA is a nine month online course for folks who want to learn key business fundamentals (e.g., vision, culture, strategy, and operations) from an equitable, inclusive, and regenerative perspective.

Join the growing network of 250+ alumni who have been exposed to new solutions, learned essential business skills, and joined a lifelong peer group that is catalyzing a global shift towards an economy that works for all life.

Learn more at https://lifteconomy.com/mba.

---

Show Notes + Other Links

For detailed show notes and interviews with past guests, please visit https://lifteconomy.com/podcast

If you enjoy the podcast, would you please consider leaving a short review on Apple Podcasts/iTunes? It really helps expose these ideas to new listeners: https://bit.ly/nexteconomynow

Twitter: https://twitter.com/LIFTEconomy

Instagram: https://instagram.com/lifteconomy/

Facebook: https://facebook.com/LIFTEconomy/

YouTube: https://youtube.com/c/Lifteconomy

Music by Chris Zabriskie: https://chriszabriskie.com/

Tom Chi: Making Humanity a "Net Positive" To Nature

There is nothing about our economy that necessitates that we have to harm nature in the process of getting what we need. This is an observation made by our guest for today, Tom Chi, and he joins us to unpack this idea and point out a way toward a future where humankind does not destroy the planet. Tom has an impressive background that spans physics, technology, and business, having created and scaled multiple projects with global reach. His current occupation is as the Manager and Founding Partner of At One Ventures, a company that finds, funds, and grows teams to catalyze a world where humanity is a net positive to nature. 

In this conversation, Tom shares a wide range of concepts about humanity, the economy, the environment, and the future which span from mind-blowing to heartwarming to terrifying. He makes the argument that the planet is more than capable of sustaining humanity because other species with more biomass who consume more live in ways that service rather than destroy the ecosystem. He talks about the main industries that cause emissions and how we might restructure them and shares ideas around how we can help save the planet by simply supporting other keystone species. 

We also hear disturbing facts about climate change from Tom such as how many disasters loom in our future even if we can stop global temperatures from rising, let alone reverse them. Tom is a rare class of person with a fluency with technology grounded in a vision of a world where all human needs are met in ways that don’t detract from the environment, so this episode is a must-listen for anybody

---

Key Points From This Episode:

• Introducing Tom and his experience in astrophysics, tech, and sustainability.

• The reef bleaching incident that encouraged Tom to found At One Ventures.

• What Tom means when he says human beings can be net positive to nature.

• How much environmental destruction is imminent even if we exacerbate global warming no further.

• We already possess the methods to sustain ourselves in ways that don’t harm nature.

• The implications of the reality that the economy is a subset of nature.

• How our economy is supported by growing and mining and how to do those things in less damaging ways.

• What our similarities to ants can tell us about whether the planet can sustain us.

• How species with more biomass than us live in ways that serve the ecosystem.

• Big trends that signify our move toward the return to net positive to nature.

• A strategy in the form of humans making it their goal to support keystone species.

• The main industries that cause emissions and ideas about how to change them.

• Industries such as agriculture and air-conditioning that are causing major emissions.

• The companies At One invests in and the economic and environmental value proposition of their products.

• How to build resilience and take action by using grief as a portal to find meaning.

• The things that bring Tom inspiration and keep him motivated.

---

Tweetables:

“I didn’t see anything about our economy that would necessitate that we have to harm nature in the process of doing what we need.” — Tom Chi

“Every product or service you have ever experienced was mined or grown, immediately from nature. That means everything in the economy is a subset of things that we directly took from nature.” — Tom Chi

“Whether one day we are 20B or even 5B, we already have many examples of organisms on this planet that significantly more biomass than us, significantly more ecosystem take, that have found a way to coexist and make nature healthier because they exist.” — Tom Chi

“We are certainly smart enough to recognize what the keystone species are and we can choose to be the keystone species whose goal is to support the keystone species.” — Tom Chi

“There are four industries that represent 90% of industrial emissions. Steel, aluminum, chemical separations, and cement.” — Tom Chi

---

Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:

Tom Chi — https://www.tomchi.com/

Tom Chi on LinkedIn — https://www.linkedin.com/in/thegoodtomchi

At One Ventures — https://www.atoneventures.com/team

Buckminster Fuller Institute — https://www.bfi.org/

Google X — https://x.company/

For The Wild Podcast — https://forthewild.world/

---

LIFT Economy Newsletter

Join 7000+ subscribers and get our free 60 point business design checklist—plus monthly tips, advice, and resources to help you build the Next Economy: https://lifteconomy.com/newsletter

---

Next Economy MBA

This episode is brought to you by the Next Economy MBA.

What would a business education look like if it was completely redesigned for the benefit of all life? This is why the team at LIFT Economy created the Next Economy MBA (https://lifteconomy.com/mba).

The Next Economy MBA is a nine month online course for folks who want to learn key business fundamentals (e.g., vision, culture, strategy, and operations) from an equitable, inclusive, and regenerative perspective.

Join the growing network of 250+ alumni who have been exposed to new solutions, learned essential business skills, and joined a lifelong peer group that is catalyzing a global shift towards an economy that works for all life.

Learn more at https://lifteconomy.com/mba.

---

Show Notes + Other Links

For detailed show notes and interviews with past guests, please visit https://lifteconomy.com/podcast

If you enjoy the podcast, would you please consider leaving a short review on Apple Podcasts/iTunes? It really helps expose these ideas to new listeners: https://bit.ly/nexteconomynow

Twitter: https://twitter.com/LIFTEconomy

Instagram: https://instagram.com/lifteconomy/

Facebook: https://facebook.com/LIFTEconomy/

YouTube: https://youtube.com/c/Lifteconomy

Music by Chris Zabriskie: https://chriszabriskie.com/

Vanessa Roanhorse: Forging Stronger Pathways for Indigenous Women

Today we have a powerful and important conversation with Vanessa Roanhorse, the CEO of Roanhorse Consulting and the Co-Founder of Native Women Lead. Our guest has dedicated her life to building wealth and power for indigenous women, investing in community initiatives, and firmly putting people back at the center of this conversation.

Vanessa also sits on the board of Native Community Capital, Delta Institute, Zebras Unite, and is an advisor to the Angels of Impact Fund and the Decolonizing Wealth Project. All these branches of her work share the common goal of creating a better future for marginalized people through representation and access, and in today's conversation, we get to hear all about how Vanessa thinks about and approaches her work.

We talk about the importance of trying, and how an open-hearted attitude towards learning and mistakes is so valuable in the social enterprise world. Vanessa also touches on the vital component of capital, and how collectivism and cooperation can make all the difference in network and community work. So without further ado, make sure to listen with us as we go deep with this amazing guest!

---

Key Points From This Episode:

• Vanessa's path to her current work; unexpected turns, family decisions, and important connections. 

• The biggest barriers standing in the way of native women in social enterprises.  

• Lessons that Vanessa learned in the early days when she started Roanhorse Consulting

• The amazing grant that Vanessa and Native Women Lead have received from Equality Can't Wait!

• How culture informs Vanessa's work and the value of this approach for her.

• Ways to support indigenous entrepreneurs; Vanessa shares her thoughts on the best routes. 

• Vanessa's experiences in The Boston Impact Initiative and her reasons for getting involved. 

• A call to action from Vanessa and how you can connect with her and her important work.  

• The message of patience and self-care that Vanessa believes we all need!

---

Tweetables:

“That is one of the biggest challenges, is the never-ending work to not only reclaim our narrative, but to address the invisibilization that has happened to native and indigenous people.” — @vrroanhorse

“America is built on colonization, patriarchy, white supremacy, and capitalism.” — @vrroanhorse

“I am still going to meetings and panels and spaces where I am definitely the only indigenous woman. I hope in ten years it doesn't look like this though.” — @vrroanhorse

“It is very difficult to learn something new in an environment and through a story that isn't yours.” — @vrroanhorse

“We have to be on a healing journey, but the only way to be healing around that journey, is that we need to be in more positions of decision-making as indigenous people.” — @vrroanhorse

---

Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:

Roanhorse Consulting — https://roanhorseconsulting.com/

Vanessa Roanhorse on LinkedIn — https://www.linkedin.com/in/vanessaroanhorse

Vanessa Roanhorse on Twitter — https://twitter.com/vrroanhorse

Native Women Lead — https://www.nativewomenlead.org/

New Mexico Association of Grantmakers — https://www.centerfornonprofitexcellence.org/

Native Community Capital — https://nativecap.org/

Delta Institute — https://delta-institute.org/

Zebras Unite — https://zebrasunite.coop/

Angels of Impact — https://www.angelsofimpact.com/

Decolonizing Wealth — https://decolonizingwealth.com/team/

Equality Can't Wait — https://www.equalitycantwait.com/

Decolonizing Wealth — https://www.powells.com/book/decolonizing-wealth-9781523097890

Edgar Villanueva — https://www.edgarvillanueva.net/

The Boston Impact Initiative — https://bostonimpact.org/

---

LIFT Economy Newsletter

Join 7000+ subscribers and get our free 60 point business design checklist—plus monthly tips, advice, and resources to help you build the Next Economy: https://lifteconomy.com/newsletter

--- 

Next Economy MBA

This episode is brought to you by the Next Economy MBA.

What would a business education look like if it was completely redesigned for the benefit of all life? This is why the team at LIFT Economy created the Next Economy MBA (https://lifteconomy.com/mba).

The Next Economy MBA is a nine month online course for folks who want to learn key business fundamentals (e.g., vision, culture, strategy, and operations) from an equitable, inclusive, and regenerative perspective.

Join the growing network of 250+ alumni who have been exposed to new solutions, learned essential business skills, and joined a lifelong peer group that is catalyzing a global shift towards an economy that works for all life.

Learn more at https://lifteconomy.com/mba.

---

Show Notes + Other Links

For detailed show notes and interviews with past guests, please visit https://lifteconomy.com/podcast

If you enjoy the podcast, would you please consider leaving a short review on Apple Podcasts/iTunes? It really helps expose these ideas to new listeners: https://bit.ly/nexteconomynow

Twitter: https://twitter.com/LIFTEconomy

Instagram: https://instagram.com/lifteconomy/

Facebook: https://facebook.com/LIFTEconomy/

YouTube: https://youtube.com/c/Lifteconomy

Music by Chris Zabriskie: https://chriszabriskie.com/

Roxy Manning: Consciousness, Compassion, and Nonviolent Communication

Today we are very lucky to be joined by the amazing Roxy Manning, who is here to talk to us about her work in non-violent communication, and commitment to building a more equitable and compassionate future. Roxy is an Afro-Caribbean immigrant to the US, a licensed clinical psychologist, a trainer at the Center for Nonviolent Communication, and a lead consultant for the Center for Efficient Collaboration.

Our guest has a strong passion for working towards social change on multiple levels, from the personal and interpersonal, right down to the systemic level. Her goal of helping opposing voices hear each other is a tool toward the larger aim of combatting the structures that contribute to the disparity we so often experience.

In this episode, we get to hear from Roxy about how to approach resistance from different people, some of the many challenges that business owners of color face, the importance of being able to ask for help and support, and how our listeners can reach out and get involved in this powerful work. So for all this and so much more, join us to hear what Roxy has to say!

---

Key Points From This Episode:

• The roots of Roxy's drive to work with the themes of communication and compassion.

• Information on the revolutionary workshop on self-compassion that Roxy is currently involved with!

• Unpacking the concept of nonviolent communication; the foundations of better alignment.

• Roxy's experiences of resistance to difficult conversations about race and white supremacy.

• Examples from Roxy's work in workplaces in which these racial dynamics play out.

• Pathways to consciousness and starting with the raising of awareness through feedback.

• Recommendations from Roxy for helpful resources for getting started with NVC.

• Working with microaggressions and the ubiquity of these types of interactions.

• How to get involved and connect with Roxy; the mutual benefit of promoting this kind of work.

• The journey of improvement and the self-compassion that is necessary to learn from mistakes.

---

Tweetables:

“I realized that I had lived a life of always putting other people's needs first. Always putting what is important to other people first. And always trying to take care of other people first.” — @roxymanningphd

“I have always been an activist, even when I was relatively small.” — @roxymanningphd

“There were so many different confluences that led me to think that the only way I could be successful was to follow all of these unspoken rules and learn how to put other people first.” — @roxymanningphd

“For me, self-compassion and compassion are the only counters that will be effective in the long-run.” — @roxymanningphd

“Changing the systems that we have, to me, will not be a success if all I have done is flip who is on top.” — @roxymanningphd

---

Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:

Roxy Manning — http://www.roxannemanning.com/

NVC — https://nvctraining.com/

Roxy Manning on Twitter — https://twitter.com/roxymanningphd

Howard University — https://home.howard.edu/

Myisha Cherry — https://www.myishacherry.org/

Sarah Peyton — https://sarahpeyton.com/

'How can Nonviolent Communication (NVC) Be Helpful in These Transformative Times?' — https://www.nonviolentcommunication.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/How-can-NVC-be-helpful-in-these-transformative-times_-PuddleDancer.pdf

An Introduction to NVC — http://www.roxannemanning.com/2021/01/18/an-introduction-to-nvc/

---

LIFT Economy Newsletter

Join 7000+ subscribers and get our free 60 point business design checklist—plus monthly tips, advice, and resources to help you build the Next Economy: https://lifteconomy.com/newsletter

---

Next Economy MBA

This episode is brought to you by the Next Economy MBA.

What would a business education look like if it was completely redesigned for the benefit of all life? This is why the team at LIFT Economy created the Next Economy MBA (https://lifteconomy.com/mba).

The Next Economy MBA is a nine month online course for folks who want to learn key business fundamentals (e.g., vision, culture, strategy, and operations) from an equitable, inclusive, and regenerative perspective.

Join the growing network of 250+ alumni who have been exposed to new solutions, learned essential business skills, and joined a lifelong peer group that is catalyzing a global shift towards an economy that works for all life.

Learn more at https://lifteconomy.com/mba.

---

Show Notes + Other Links

For detailed show notes and interviews with past guests, please visit https://lifteconomy.com/podcast

If you enjoy the podcast, would you please consider leaving a short review on Apple Podcasts/iTunes? It really helps expose these ideas to new listeners:

https://bit.ly/nexteconomynow

Twitter: https://twitter.com/LIFTEconomy

Instagram: https://instagram.com/lifteconomy/

Facebook: https://facebook.com/LIFTEconomy/

YouTube: https://youtube.com/c/Lifteconomy

Music by Chris Zabriskie: https://chriszabriskie.com/

Janine Firpo: Activate Your Money

The rising tide of women in the world of investing has already been shown to be facilitating positive results. Our guest today is Janine Firpo, a champion of this wave, and an individual who is staunchly committed to transformation in the financial sector and beyond. She has worked at the World Bank and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, and she is here to tell her personal story and share some of the amazing wisdom she has accrued in her professional career.

Janine's mission is to consolidate and spread her knowledge to help other women to take control of their money, and thus aid positive change in the world. She speaks about the role of technology in solving social problems, and how the concept of impact investing can be a powerful tool on many levels. She speaks about the simple yet revolutionary idea that investments can transform the world and the economy, and the part that shifting the narrative around women and money can play in these changes.

We also hear from our guest about why she is most concerned by the current state of politics, what investors should be aiming for, and why she is so excited by the increases in success and action from women with regards to their money. For a truly inspiring conversation with a generous authority on the financial sector, be sure to listen in.

---

Key Points From This Episode:

• The primary role that Janine's mother played in her money education.

• Janine's professional and investing backstory and early days in Silicon Valley in the 1980s!

• Why Janine is most excited by the prospects of women and young people.

• Janine's motivations behind her book, Activate Your Money and companion website.

• The types of investments that Janine has targeted for her personal portfolio.

• Things that currently worry Janine: politics and the speed of change.

• Examples of what Janine views as powerful investments that create the right kind of change.

• Patterns and themes that Janine has noticed in her work with women and their money.

• Looking to the future with Janine and how to get involved in her great work!

• Janine's thoughts on retirement investment and taking independent control of it.

---

Tweetables:

“I credit my mother with a lot of my knowledge today, she started teaching me about money when I was in my teenage years.” — @janinefirpo

“We can literally change the economy to a more sustainable, equitable economy by the way we invest.” — @janinefirpo

“Power goes where the money flows.” — @janinefirpo

“I think it is really time for women to recognize that we do not have to be afraid of our money, that we can actually take control of it, and we can be great investors.” — @janinefirpo

“Every chapter ends with a section that tells you exactly what you need to do to move your money or invest that way.” — @janinefirpo

---

Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:

Janine Firpo on Twitter — https://twitter.com/janinefirpo

Activate Your Money — https://www.powells.com/book/activate-your-money-9781119777083

Activate Your Money Website — https://activateyourmoney.net/

Activate Your Money on YouTube — https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCvu1ZRakODsxDjEzTTCkYNw

Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation — https://www.gatesfoundation.org/

Stony Creek Colors — https://stonycreekcolors.com/

Invest for Better — https://investforbetter.org/

Women and Capital — https://www.womenwithcapital.com/

---

LIFT Economy Newsletter

Join 7000+ subscribers and get our free 60 point business design checklist—plus monthly tips, advice, and resources to help you build the Next Economy: https://lifteconomy.com/newsletter

---

Next Economy MBA

This episode is brought to you by the Next Economy MBA.

What would a business education look like if it was completely redesigned for the benefit of all life? This is why the team at LIFT Economy created the Next Economy MBA (https://lifteconomy.com/mba).

The Next Economy MBA is a nine month online course for folks who want to learn key business fundamentals (e.g., vision, culture, strategy, and operations) from an equitable, inclusive, and regenerative perspective.

Join the growing network of 250+ alumni who have been exposed to new solutions, learned essential business skills, and joined a lifelong peer group that is catalyzing a global shift towards an economy that works for all life.

Learn more at https://lifteconomy.com/mba.

---

Show Notes + Other Links

For detailed show notes and interviews with past guests, please visit https://lifteconomy.com/podcast

If you enjoy the podcast, would you please consider leaving a short review on Apple Podcasts/iTunes? It really helps expose these ideas to new listeners:

https://bit.ly/nexteconomynow

Twitter: https://twitter.com/LIFTEconomy

Instagram: https://instagram.com/lifteconomy/

Facebook: https://facebook.com/LIFTEconomy/

YouTube: https://youtube.com/c/Lifteconomy

Music by Chris Zabriskie: https://chriszabriskie.com/

Bex Kwan and Jenna Peters-Golden: Facilitation as a Craft

Today we host two guests with a passion for facilitation. Bex Kwan and Jenna Peters-Golden both work at AORTA, a worker-owned cooperative devoted to helping movements renew a stronger sense of liberatory vision, values, and purpose. Their name is based on the acronym for Anti Oppression and Resource Training Alliance and in today's conversation, we get to hear all about our guests' passion for facilitation, the limits of personality in this work, and their thoughts on the craft and power of facilitation.

Bex is an artist, organizer, athlete, and worker-owner at the coop. Their heart lies in conflict work, having been involved with grassroots organizers, cooperatives, non-profits, and universities. Jenna is a founding member of AORTA, and is an organizer, visual artist, and parent with a strong passion for transformative justice, and community solutions to preventing violence.

Listeners can expect to gain some great insight into progressive approaches and frameworks for facilitation work, and how our guests' skills have developed over the past few years. They also fill us in on the current projects and initiatives on the go at AORTA, and explain how to get involved and make the most of their great offers and resources.

---

Key Points From This Episode:

• The roots of our guests' current roles and facilitation work at AORTA.

• Visions for better connections and information on the current Headwaters project at AORTA.

• Traits attached to good facilitation; listening, performance, processes, and more!

• Pursuing the craft of facilitation and who might be best suited to this kind of work.

• Reflections on the development and tendency towards particular styles of facilitation.

• The framework and vision that guide the work that AORTA does with different groups.

• Lessons learned recently: questions about feelings and articulating approaches to adaptation.

• Some of the exciting programs that AORTA is currently offering for listeners to check out.

---

Tweetables:

“There is just something about finding and creating deep collaboration around stuff that I really care about that has been really nourishing for me amidst unreasonable chaos around me.” — Bex Kwan

"We are coming from a really specific political framework where we are actually actively promoting specific directions based on our political values and vision.” — Jenna Peters-Golden

“If someone wants to be a facilitator and is actually facilitating, you're a facilitator. I don't think there is any qualifying test or anything like that. To me it is about cultivation of craft.” — Bex Kwan

“I think there is a little bit of a myth of neutrality, which I think is rooted in patriarchy.” — Jenna Peters-Golden

“I don't think our facilitation aims to reflect a group perfectly. We are not trying to be perfect mirrors.” — Bex Kwan

---

Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:

AORTA: https://aorta.coop/

AORTA’s Headwaters Training Program: https://aorta.coop/headwaters

Bex Kwan: https://aorta.coop/bex

Jenna Peters-Golden: https://aorta.coop/jenna

---

LIFT Economy Newsletter

Join 7000+ subscribers and get our free 60 point business design checklist—plus monthly tips, advice, and resources to help you build the Next Economy: https://lifteconomy.com/newsletter

---

Next Economy MBA

This episode is brought to you by the Next Economy MBA.

What would a business education look like if it was completely redesigned for the benefit of all life? This is why the team at LIFT Economy created the Next Economy MBA (https://lifteconomy.com/mba).

The Next Economy MBA is a nine month online course for folks who want to learn key business fundamentals (e.g., vision, culture, strategy, and operations) from an equitable, inclusive, and regenerative perspective.

Join the growing network of 250+ alumni who have been exposed to new solutions, learned essential business skills, and joined a lifelong peer group that is catalyzing a global shift towards an economy that works for all life.

Learn more at https://lifteconomy.com/mba.

---

Show Notes + Other Links

For detailed show notes and interviews with past guests, please visit https://lifteconomy.com/podcast

If you enjoy the podcast, would you please consider leaving a short review on Apple Podcasts/iTunes? It really helps expose these ideas to new listeners:

https://bit.ly/nexteconomynow

Twitter: https://twitter.com/LIFTEconomy

Instagram: https://instagram.com/lifteconomy/

Facebook: https://facebook.com/LIFTEconomy/

YouTube: https://youtube.com/c/Lifteconomy

Music by Chris Zabriskie: https://chriszabriskie.com/

Zoe Spencer: Critical Race Theory, the Law of Ma’at, and Co-Creating a More Equitable Future

Today we are extremely lucky to be joined by Black mother, grandmother, lover, professor, and activist, Dr. Zoe Spencer! Zoe is a published author who currently teaches at Virginia State University, where she is dedicated to educating and opening the minds of her students, in order to build a better and more equitable future. She has dedicated her life to fighting for the rights of oppressed people and in this episode, we get to talk about what her vision for the future looks like.

Our guest explains how oppression has been held in place by the belief that it is necessary for certain groups to be down so that others can be up. We also get into some very useful information on critical race theory, the development of the sociological framework, and how it can be impactful in today's context.

Throughout this inspiring conversation, Zoe shares her personal experiences with honesty and purpose, talking about her evolving opinion of working with police and white men, groups she previously avoided at all costs. We also get to hear from her about what keeps her inspired and fighting the good fight in spite of its challenges. For all this and more, be sure to listen in to this great episode.

---

Key Points From This Episode:

• Zoe's personal and professional background and her path to her current academic and community work.

• An introduction to critical race theory and situating its recent rise in popularity.

• Confronting the privilege and power of US history and how it is taught.

• The necessary steps in creating a future that has more compassion and liberty.

• Rethinking ownership in the social economy and a more equitable model for society.

• An explanation of the ancient laws of Ma'at and how they could be applied today.

• Mobilization from the grassroots level and the important network of connected goals.

• How Zoe's belief about working with police departments and white men has evolved.

• Zoe's main sources of inspiration throughout her life; God, books, and intellectuals.

• The wish that Zoe has for an elevation of consciousness towards more connection.

---

Tweetables:

“Being in a family where things weren't handed to us, you are forced to view life, even at a young age, in a different way.” — @dr_zoespencer

“My students absolutely give me life because I view them as being extensions of myself.” — @dr_zoespencer

“Critical race theory looks at how these ideologies are embedded in our systems, and how as they are embedded in those systems, it manifests itself in our social interactions with our institutions and each other.” — @dr_zoespencer

“The struggle is not about people, and sometimes people want to kidnap the struggle and snatch the mics away from the people, and that weakens the movement.” — @dr_zoespencer

“In this work, I am not watching or listening for anybody other than my creator's guidance, because that is important. I am fallible, and humans are fallible.” — @dr_zoespencer

---

Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:

Dr. Zoe Spencer: https://www.drzoespencer.com/

Virginia State University: https://www.vsu.edu/

Derrick Bell: https://law.marquette.edu/facultyblog/2011/10/r-i-p-derrick-bell-pioneer-of-critical-race-theory/

Kimberlely Crenshaw: https://www.law.columbia.edu/faculty/kimberle-w-crenshaw

Richard Delgado: https://www.law.ua.edu/directory/People/view/Richard_Delgado

Jean Stefancic: https://www.law.ua.edu/directory/People/view/Jean_Stefancic

Dr. Jennifer Harvey: https://jenniferharvey.org/

Raising White Kids: https://www.powells.com/book/raising-white-kids-bringing-up-children-in-a-racially-unjust-america-9781501878077

Erykah Badu: https://pitchfork.com/artists/537-erykah-badu/

How Europe Underdeveloped Africa: https://www.indiebound.org/book/9781788731188

Cointelpro: https://www.abebooks.com/9780937091043/Cointelpro-FBIs-Secret-Political-Freedom-0937091049/plp

Ida B. Wells: https://www.biography.com/activist/ida-b-wells

Bell Hooks: https://www.britannica.com/biography/bell-hooks

---

LIFT Economy Newsletter

Join 7000+ subscribers and get our free 60 point business design checklist—plus monthly tips, advice, and resources to help you build the Next Economy: https://lifteconomy.com/newsletter

---

Next Economy MBA

This episode is brought to you by the Next Economy MBA.

What would a business education look like if it was completely redesigned for the benefit of all life? This is why the team at LIFT Economy created the Next Economy MBA (https://lifteconomy.com/mba).

The Next Economy MBA is a nine month online course for folks who want to learn key business fundamentals (e.g., vision, culture, strategy, and operations) from an equitable, inclusive, and regenerative perspective.

Join the growing network of 250+ alumni who have been exposed to new solutions, learned essential business skills, and joined a lifelong peer group that is catalyzing a global shift towards an economy that works for all life.

Learn more at https://lifteconomy.com/mba.

---

Show Notes + Other Links

For detailed show notes and interviews with past guests, please visit https://lifteconomy.com/podcast

If you enjoy the podcast, would you please consider leaving a short review on Apple Podcasts/iTunes? It really helps expose these ideas to new listeners: https://bit.ly/nexteconomynow

Twitter: https://twitter.com/LIFTEconomy

Instagram: https://instagram.com/lifteconomy/

Facebook: https://facebook.com/LIFTEconomy/

YouTube: https://youtube.com/c/Lifteconomy

Music by Chris Zabriskie: https://chriszabriskie.com/

LIFT Economy Earns B Corp "Best for the World" in Workers and Governance

The LIFT Economy team is excited to announce that we have been recognized as one of the “Best for the World” B Corps of 2021!

The “Best for the World” are companies who score in the top 5% of all B Corps worldwide in one or more of the five impact areas assessed towards the certification. LIFT Economy has earned recognition in both the “Best for Workers” and “Best for Governance” categories.

Other winners this year include @Patagonia, @DrBronners, @KingArthurBaking, @NewBelgium, and many more.

LIFT’s overall score of 154.7 puts it in the top 25 highest scoring B Corps in the entire world. We like to joke with Patagonia that they need to step up their game if they want to improve their 151.4 overall score to our level :)

B Corps are businesses that meet the highest standards of verified social and environmental performance, public transparency, and legal accountability to balance profit and purpose.

We will continue to collaborate with the global B Corp community to improve and positively impact all our stakeholders.

Check out the full Best for the World 2021 list on www.bcorporation.net.

2 New Online Events with LIFT Partner Phoenix Soleil

LIFT Partner / Worker-Owner Phoenix Soleil has just announced two exciting new workshops coming in August:

Play for Connection and Resilience

Fri, August 6, 2021; 1:00 PM – 2:00 PM PDT
Fun is critical but can feel counterintuitive and awkward.

But it really is important because fun, silliness and creativity disrupt and push back against the inhuman oppressive systems and allows space for healing, for invention, for us to be more human. It allows us to imagine the new world that we want, this new world that's liberated, that's full of justice, that's a foundation for us to really, truly live our lives.

During this one hour event we will explore improv games, mindfulness moments, and laughter yoga games suited for video conferencing. Sign up today!

How Progressives Can Root Ourselves with the Currents of Today

Fri, August 13, 2021; 12:00 PM – 1:15 PM PDT
The world's current reality is challenging -- climate change, systemic racism, exploitative economics, poverty, the list goes on. The media is often adversarial, cynical, and looking for the punchline that is the most sensational.

For those of us who value compassion, caring, empathy for all people, and see the constructiveness of those values, how do we maintain our awareness and our commitment to addressing what is wrong without being sucked in by the toxicity of the public discourse?

This will be a 90-minute learning circle with LIFT Partner Phoenix Soleil who uses her background as a diversity and inclusion consultant, social enterprise organizational consultant, Buddhist teacher, Nonviolent communication trainer, a holder of multi-targeted identities, and trauma survivor to weave frameworks that offer our hearts more peace and confidence.

This event is for people who identify on the progressive side of the political spectrum. Sign up today!

Dr. Jennifer Harvey: Raising White Kids

We live in a white supremacist system, and if white parents cannot help their children make sense of this environment self-reflexively, they will grow up to perpetuate this system rather than dismantle it. Today, we are joined by Dr. Jennifer Harvey to discuss the question of raising children who will grow up to have anti-racist values.

Dr. Harvey is a writer, teacher, and activist who has been long engaged in work for racial justice and white anti-racism. Her books include the New York Times bestseller Raising White Kids and Dear White Christians. Our conversation begins with Dr. Harvey talking about how she got involved in the work of racial justice. She talks about how she realized that white people can show active commitment in solidarity across racial lines while she was engaged in forms of anti-racist activism in her 20’s. From there she talks about her work with the church and how it sparked the process of writing her books.

We then take a deep dive into the subject of the legacy of white racism and how to break it by the way we raise our kids. We get into the idea that as white people we have inherited internalized taboos around talking about race and these stand in the way of healthy parenting. Dr. Harvey shares her thoughts on how to help children think in more sophisticated ways about race. As parents, it is important to not shield our kids from the realities of injustice and we explore different ways of keeping an open dialog at home from the time they are very young.

---

Key Points From This Episode:

• Race and theology and how Jennifer got interested in the work she does today.

• What Jennifer learned in her early activism with the slim resources available for confronting racism.

• Reconciliation versus reparations and the thinking behind Dear White Christians.

• Committing to raising white kids who are not racist and why Jennifer wrote Raising White Kids.

• How children interpret the world racially and how to help them become self-reflexive about this.

• Perspectives on what ages kids should be to hear explicit conversations about race and violence.

• The work adults need to do to get to the point where conversations about race with their kids are easy.

• Modeling by showing vulnerability and learning alongside your children in an ongoing conversation.

• Resources to help adults raise children with anti-racist values.

• Common ways adults avoid talking about race with their kids.

• How to deal with children speaking about race in ways that sound racist but might not be.

• Early conversations about race as forms of making your kids do things before they understand why.

• Positive steps forward and some of the main things that keep Jennifer motivated.

• How listeners can get involved and help to build a more just system.

---

Tweetables:

“It was helpful for me to realize in my 20s that I was not wallowing in white guilt because I was a bad person but because I have never seen a white person do something different. This is a legacy that we have inherited.” — @drjenharvey

“My ten-year-old only grows able and ready to talk in increasingly sophisticated ways about race and racism if from the very beginning of their life I am chattering about difference.” — @drjenharvey

“When we say that we value equality and thus we don’t notice difference we are first creating incredible cognitive dissonance in our children because they do see difference.” — @drjenharvey

“People’s lives depend on white parents doing differently with this next generation.” — @drjenharvey

---

Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:

Dr. Jennifer Harvey: https://jenniferharvey.org/

Dr. Jennifer Harvey on Twitter: https://twitter.com/drjenharvey?lang=en

Raising White Kids: https://www.amazon.com/Raising-White-Kids-Bringing-Children/dp/1501856421

Dear White Christians: https://www.amazon.com/Dear-White-Christians-Reconciliation-Christianity/dp/0802872077

Race Conscious: http://www.raceconscious.org/

Embrace Race: https://www.embracerace.org/

Integrated Schools: https://integratedschools.org/

---

LIFT Economy Newsletter

Join 7000+ subscribers and get our free 60 point business design checklist—plus monthly tips, advice, and resources to help you build the Next Economy: https://lifteconomy.com/newsletter

---

Next Economy MBA

This episode is brought to you by the Next Economy MBA.

What would a business education look like if it was completely redesigned for the benefit of all life? This is why the team at LIFT Economy created the Next Economy MBA (https://lifteconomy.com/mba).

The Next Economy MBA is a nine month online course for folks who want to learn key business fundamentals (e.g., vision, culture, strategy, and operations) from an equitable, inclusive, and regenerative perspective.

Join the growing network of 250+ alumni who have been exposed to new solutions, learned essential business skills, and joined a lifelong peer group that is catalyzing a global shift towards an economy that works for all life.

Learn more at https://lifteconomy.com/mba.

---

Show Notes + Other Links

For detailed show notes and interviews with past guests, please visit https://lifteconomy.com/podcast

If you enjoy the podcast, would you please consider leaving a short review on Apple Podcasts/iTunes? It really helps expose these ideas to new listeners:

https://bit.ly/nexteconomynow

Twitter: https://twitter.com/LIFT_Economy

Instagram: https://instagram.com/lifteconomy/

Facebook: https://facebook.com/LIFTEconomy/

YouTube: https://youtube.com/c/Lifteconomy

Music by Chris Zabriskie: https://chriszabriskie.com/

Kevin Bayuk: Is Cryptocurrency "Good" for the Next Economy?

Today, LIFT Partners Kevin Bayuk and Ryan Honeyman chat about the topic of decentralization and how this manifests to varying degrees within the blockchain and cryptocurrencies.

We start off with some simple definitions, clarifying the differences and relationships between the concept of a decentralized ledger, the blockchain, and the cryptocurrencies that use it.

The important questions here are around who benefits from these systems and platforms, and whether it is possible to create cryptocurrencies and decentralization that serve more people. This raises the important theme of governance and how it can decide the fate of a technology or company.

The last part of our chat is spent looking at historical and contemporary examples of decentralization, and how these can inform our vision of what a decentralized world might look like.

One of the most valuable ideas here is to position new technologies as ethical tools to build cornerstones of a more equitable world, with less self-interest and wealth accumulation.

Key Points From This Episode:

• A quick definition of terms; decentralized ledger, blockchain, and bitcoin

• The opportunities and challenges of reducing the exploitation associated with intermediaries

• Looking at some of the more equitable examples of cryptocurrency such as FairCoin.

• A litmus test for blockchain projects; avoiding self-interested wealth accumulation

• The exciting work being done by the team at Regen Network on the Terra Genesis project

• Considering a few historical examples of successful decentralized communities

• Contemporary initiatives that are running against mainstream economic trends

• Imagining a future of locally-reliant economies and the language necessary for this

Tweetables:

“I think it's helpful to disambiguate cryptocurrency from blockchain. And even to disambiguate blockchain as a form of decentralized ledger.” — Kevin Bayuk, @LIFT_Economy

“Bitcoin shows up as concentrating wealth in very few hands, if you look at the ownership.” — Kevin Bayuk, @LIFT_Economy

“There are some things that add value over time, but in the long run, they decay. Imagine if we could design our currencies to be in alignment with the natural world.” — Kevin Bayuk, @LIFT_Economy

“The allure of hyper-accumulation of wealth becomes the main driver for a lot of the projects.” — Kevin Bayuk, @LIFT_Economy

“When we are able to help each other meet our needs without having these intermediaries there is less leakage and more local self-reliance.” — Kevin Bayuk, @LIFT_Economy

Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:

• FairCoin — https://fair-coin.org/

• Holochain — https://holochain.org/

• Regen Network — https://www.regen.network/team/

• Nori — https://nori.com/

• For All the People — https://www.indiebound.org/book/9781604865820

• NEXTSYSTEMS — https://nextsystems.com/

LIFT Economy Newsletter

Join 7000+ subscribers and get our free 60 point business design checklist—plus monthly tips, advice, and resources to help you build the Next Economy: https://lifteconomy.com/newsletter

Next Economy MBA

What would a business education look like if it was completely redesigned for the benefit of all life? This is why the team at LIFT Economy created the Next Economy MBA (https://lifteconomy.com/mba).

The Next Economy MBA is a nine month online course for folks who want to learn key business fundamentals (e.g., vision, culture, strategy, and operations) from an equitable, inclusive, and regenerative perspective.

Join the growing network of 250+ alumni who have been exposed to new solutions, learned essential business skills, and joined a lifelong peer group that is catalyzing a global shift towards an economy that works for all life. Learn more at https://lifteconomy.com/mba.

Show Notes + Other Links

For detailed show notes and interviews with past guests, please visit https://lifteconomy.com/podcast

If you enjoy the podcast, would you please consider leaving a short review on Apple Podcasts/iTunes? It really helps expose these ideas to new listeners: https://bit.ly/nexteconomynow

• Twitter: https://twitter.com/LIFT_Economy

• Instagram: https://instagram.com/lifteconomy/

• Facebook: https://facebook.com/LIFTEconomy/

• YouTube: https://youtube.com/c/Lifteconomy

• Music by Chris Zabriskie: https://chriszabriskie.com/

David Jackson: Marrying Purpose, Passion, and Profession

We are excited to welcome the CEO of Evolve Oakland, David Jackson, to the show today to talk about his work, philosophy towards positive impact, and the important work that is happening and still needs to be done right now. David anchors his life with three 'Ps'; purpose, passion, and profession, and it was through the marriage of these that he found his calling at Evolve, helping marginalized people of color grow business and become their best selves.

In our conversation, we hear about the time that David spent working with the Golden State Warriors, the development of his message of having faith, fun, and fight, and also how he and Evolve have reacted to the pandemic to rebuild what was lost. David's dedication to creating pathways to Black ownership is truly inspiring, and the priority he places on this area sheds much light on the hurdles that we have yet to overcome as a society.

David aims to create gathering spaces for Black folks, with an eye on a future without the lack that is still so prevalent in today's world. He talks about collectivism and mobilization, and what exactly is needed to build this future. We also get into some of David's favorite things to do and read, and the fountains from which he currently draws inspiration.

Key Points From This Episode:

• David's professional history and entrepreneurial journey leading to his work with Evolve.

• Unpacking what Evolve does, its model, and how it serves the community.

• The impact of the last year and the pandemic on Evolve and the work they do.

• Next steps for Evolve and their current move to downsize and relocate.

• White supremacy, anti-blackness, and a vision for the future; things that keep David up at night.

• David's most recommended book: The Medici Effect by Frans Johansson.

• Creating a space to call home and financial partnership; the biggest priorities for David and Evolve.

Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/david-jackson-582a2451

https://evolveoakland.com/

https://www.instagram.com/evolveoakland

https://www.facebook.com/evolveoakland/

The Medici Effect: https://bit.ly/2U3DYSJ

Darcelle Lahr: https://www.mills.edu/faculty/darcelle-lahr.php


LIFT Economy Newsletter

Join 7000+ subscribers and get our free 60 point business design checklist—plus monthly tips, advice, and resources to help you build the Next Economy: https://lifteconomy.com/newsletter


Next Economy MBA

This episode is brought to you by the Next Economy MBA.

What would a business education look like if it was completely redesigned for the benefit of all life? This is why the team at LIFT Economy created the Next Economy MBA (https://lifteconomy.com/mba).

The Next Economy MBA is a nine month online course for folks who want to learn key business fundamentals (e.g., vision, culture, strategy, and operations) from an equitable, inclusive, and regenerative perspective.

Join the growing network of 250+ alumni who have been exposed to new solutions, learned essential business skills, and joined a lifelong peer group that is catalyzing a global shift towards an economy that works for all life. Learn more at https://lifteconomy.com/mba.


Show Notes + Other Links

For detailed show notes and interviews with past guests, please visit https://lifteconomy.com/podcast

If you enjoy the podcast, would you please consider leaving a short review on Apple Podcasts/iTunes? It really helps expose these ideas to new listeners:

https://bit.ly/nexteconomynow

Twitter: https://twitter.com/LIFT_Economy

Instagram: https://instagram.com/lifteconomy/

Facebook: https://facebook.com/LIFTEconomy/

YouTube: https://youtube.com/c/Lifteconomy

Music by Chris Zabriskie: https://chriszabriskie.com/

Erin Heaney: Showing Up for Racial Justice

In today’s episode of Next Economy Now, your host, Ryan Honeyman, gets together with Erin Heaney, executive director of Showing Up for Racial Justice (SURJ).

Erin shares about her family history of involvement in activism, from the struggles in Northern Ireland to Union groups in America, and how her queer identity has connected her to her work in social justice reform.

Erin explains that while SURJ was founded relatively recently in 2009, its mandate strives to respond to a call from The Black Panthers, made in the 1960s, on white folks to address racism in their communities.

The conversation centers on the important work being done at SURJ and the role that white folks can play in social justice reform by supporting solutions that have been set by those most affected by white supremacy.

Erin unpacks the importance of discussing race and class concurrently in activism and reform work, and how racism and white supremacy have undermined every single social justice movement in the USA by weaponizing racial divides.

Later she discusses what SURJ has been doing to prepare for the 2020 election through voter education and outreach. Tune in today for a thought-provoking conversation about what it means to be involved in social justice reform and much more!

Key Points From This Episode:

• Meet today’s guest, Erin Heaney.

• Erin shares her family history of involvement in activism, from the struggles in Northern Ireland to Union groups in America.

• How Erin’s queer identity has connected her to her work in social justice reform.

• Erin shares how she found a political home at SURJ during the Ferguson Protests.

• The founding of SURJ in 2009 and how its mandate is connected to the 1960s and The Black Panther’s call on white folks to address racism in their communities.

• Why it’s important to discuss race and class concurrently in activism and reform work.

• The importance of communicating to white constituents the stake that they have in social justice work and reform.

• Recognizing how racism and white supremacy have undermined every single social justice movement in the USA.

• How the Black Lives Matter movement centers on policy that would benefit all poor people.

• The merits of convergence theory: how the interests of Black folks, and achieving racial equality will only be accommodated when it converges with the interests of white folks.

• How SURJ approaches maintaining accountability without making themselves a burden to communities of color.

• How SURJ is reaching out to voters, and conducting voter education in preparation for the 2020 election.

• The level of pragmatism that needs to be applied in politics, while also balancing long-term goals like abolishing the police and medicare for all.

• Moving white folks from consciousness into action and ensuring they remain active and engaged for the long haul without overcorrecting, centering themselves, and taking over.

• The importance of supporting solutions that have been set by Black, Indigenous, and people of color.

• The lifelong project of unlearning white supremacy as a white person.

• Erin shares her expectations for the 2020 election and lists the movements and individuals that have been giving her hope.

• What surge is doing to push The Breathe Act and address the failings of an unjust economic system.

Tweetables:

“This goes back as long as this country has existed. There has been an intentional strategy by those at the top to make sure that, in particular, poor and working-class, white folks don't see their fates as connected to working-class communities of color.” — @heaney_erin

“Racism and white supremacy has been used to undermine every single social movement in this country, whether it was rights for women, or the labor movement, or the populist movement.” — @heaney_erin

“For those of us who are white, it's not our responsibility to set the solutions, it's to build power in our communities so that the solutions that have been defined by people most directly impacted by white supremacy have a shot at winning.” — @heaney_erin

“Communities of color have been on the frontlines of electoral justice for many years. So we're trying to make sure that we're taking responsibility for organizing our own.” — @heaney_erin

“I think our success will in part be determined by turning this into concrete action over time and be connected to how well we can build ongoing political homes for people that they want to be part of, and then asking people to take action on a regular basis.” — @heaney_erin

Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:

Showing Up for Racial Justice (SURJ)

Erin Heaney on LinkedIn

Erin Heaney on Twitter

Erin Heaney on Instagram

Next Economy Now Podcast

LIFT Economy

---

LIFT Economy Newsletter

Join 7000+ subscribers and get our free 60 point business design checklist—plus monthly tips, advice, and resources to help you build the Next Economy: https://lifteconomy.com/newsletter

---

Next Economy MBA

This episode is brought to you by the Next Economy MBA.

What would a business education look like if it was completely redesigned for the benefit of all life? This is why the team at LIFT Economy created the Next Economy MBA (https://lifteconomy.com/mba).

The Next Economy MBA is a nine month online course for folks who want to learn key business fundamentals (e.g., vision, culture, strategy, and operations) from an equitable, inclusive, and regenerative perspective.

Join the growing network of 250+ alumni who have been exposed to new solutions, learned essential business skills, and joined a lifelong peer group that is catalyzing a global shift towards an economy that works for all life.

Learn more at https://lifteconomy.com/mba.

---

Show Notes + Other Links

For detailed show notes and interviews with past guests, please visit https://lifteconomy.com/podcast

If you enjoy the podcast, would you please consider leaving a short review on Apple Podcasts/iTunes? It really helps expose these ideas to new listeners:

https://bit.ly/nexteconomynow

Twitter: https://twitter.com/LIFT_Economy

Instagram: https://instagram.com/lifteconomy/

Facebook: https://facebook.com/LIFTEconomy/

YouTube: https://youtube.com/c/Lifteconomy

Music by Chris Zabriskie: https://chriszabriskie.com/

Alicia Kidd / Mari Kemp: Elevating Women and Winemakers of Color

CoCo Noir Wine Shop & Bar is a woman and BIPOC-owned urban wine shop and online store located in downtown Oakland, CA in the heart of the Black Arts Movement Business District. The company brings culture, life, and global experience to amazing wines, foods, and art. CoCo Noir is committed to always providing and sourcing the best wines produced by women and winemakers of color. To learn more about this exciting project, visit: https://www.coconoirwine.com/

You can also be an investor in the CoCo Noir Wine Shop & Bar for as little as $100! Visit their Wefunder page for more information: https://wefunder.com/coco.noir.wine.shop

About the Founders:

In addition to confounding CoCo Noir, Alicia Kidd is the founder and CEO of The Wine Noire LLC., an import, export, and wholesale distribution company based in Berkeley, CA. Launched in 2017, The Wine Noire specializes in helping winemakers who are women and people of color get their wines into the marketplace, as well as directly into the hands of consumers. Learn more: https://www.linkedin.com/in/aliciamar...

Mari Kemp, a native of San Francisco, brings over 20 years of global human resources management experience with expertise in supporting overall business strategy through the identification and development of people, processes and systems. Previously, Kemp held leadership positions at Nokia, Google and several start-ups. Learn more: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mari-kemp...

Interview highlights:

- Learn how Alicia and Mari first got interested in the work they are doing today

- What the CoCo Noir Wine Shop & Bar is, where it will be located, and when it will be opening

- Why it is important to highlight and elevate BIPOC and women winemakers

- How Alicia and Mari are raising money via investment crowdfunding on Wefunder

- The long term vision for CoCo Noir Wine Shop & Bar

Make sure to visit https://www.coconoirwine.com/ to learn more!

---

LIFT Economy Newsletter

Join 7000+ subscribers and get our free 60 point business design checklist—plus monthly tips, advice, and resources to help you build the Next Economy: https://lifteconomy.com/newsletter

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Next Economy MBA

This episode is brought to you by the Next Economy MBA.

What would a business education look like if it was completely redesigned for the benefit of all life? This is why the team at LIFT Economy created the Next Economy MBA (https://lifteconomy.com/mba).

The Next Economy MBA is a nine month online course for folks who want to learn key business fundamentals (e.g., vision, culture, strategy, and operations) from an equitable, inclusive, and regenerative perspective.

Join the growing network of 250+ alumni who have been exposed to new solutions, learned essential business skills, and joined a lifelong peer group that is catalyzing a global shift towards an economy that works for all life.

Learn more at https://lifteconomy.com/mba.

---

Show Notes + Other Links

For detailed show notes and interviews with past guests, please visit https://lifteconomy.com/podcast

If you enjoy the podcast, would you please consider leaving a short review on Apple Podcasts/iTunes? It really helps expose these ideas to new listeners:

https://bit.ly/nexteconomynow

Twitter: https://twitter.com/LIFT_Economy

Instagram: https://instagram.com/lifteconomy/

Facebook: https://facebook.com/LIFTEconomy/

YouTube: https://youtube.com/c/Lifteconomy

Music by Chris Zabriskie: https://chriszabriskie.com/

Yana Ludwig: Moving Toward Cooperative Culture

Yana Ludwig: Moving Toward Cooperative Culture

The United States is one of the most individualistic, competitive, materialistically-oriented cultures in the world. To move forward to a less oppressive environment we need to radically shift our values and learn to work together.

Here to discuss these important topics today is Yana Ludwig, cooperative culture pioneer, intentional community advocate, and oppression activist.

Yana is the author of Together Resilient and The Cooperative Culture Handbook and today we explore the ways that she is confronting power, oppression, privilege, and individualism in her writing and intentional actions.

We talk about the focus on local community-based responses to climate destruction in Together Resilient and how the themes of culture and group process work in that book grew into The Cooperative Culture Handbook. 

On the topic of organizations struggling to cooperate, Yana weighs in on her approach to remedying this by positing sustainable cooperative culture as a middle ground between the two extremes of mainstream and counter culture.

A few of the themes Yana discusses in her book are around how our culture thinks about security and listening, and the effects that disintegration has on us psychologically.

Part of the work she tries to do is reframe these concepts so they can underlie a more equitable cultural value system or drive a behavior change.

Our conversation also explores the difficult terrain of oppressor cultures confronting their privilege, cultural appropriation and Yana’s decision to change her name multiple times, and a few organizations that are pushing the needle forward as far as cooperative culture.

So for all this and more about moving to a more equitable society through reframing our values, tune in today.

Key Points From This Episode:

• Hear about the commune Yana lives on and the philosophy they follow.

• The focus on responses to climate change in Yana’s first book and how this research led to her second book.

• Problems with mainstream and counter culture and the healthy balance between them written about in The Cooperative Culture Handbook.

• The ‘this is why consensus doesn’t work mentality’ that led to Yana writing her book.

• Cultural appropriation and how this fits into Yana’s name-changing experiences.

• How Yana’s book approaches redefining culture, power, and confronting conversations around race and class.

• Conscientizing oppressor classes to the idea that their lives are racialized.

• Examples of different books and groups who are setting examples of new ways of living.

• How to create a culture where not only the loudest voices get heard.

• The theme of the psychological damage caused by disintegration and code-switching in Yana’s book.

• Getting back to a place where our lives are values-aligned.

• How Yana and her community are grappling with the problem of intentional communities being something privileged people only have access to.

• Yana’s experiences and lessons learned while running for US senates.

• North stars for Yana as far as what to focus on to move forward to a better economy.

• The projects that Yana is involved with and how to support what she does.

Tweetables:

“In the United States, we are the most individualistic, competitive, materialistically oriented culture in the world, and that is incredibly problematic. If you can’t compete in a capitalistic, hyper-competitive framework you are kind of worthless in that mainstream culture.” — Yana Ludwig [0:05:18]

“Noticing who you don’t bother to listen to as a daily practice can be really powerful.” — Yana Ludwig [0:27:59]

“If there is a capstone to the book it is this phenomenon of disintegration versus having our lives reintegrated, and being able to be whole, coherent people is a rare gift.” — Yana Ludwig [0:33:18]

“I want to move to a place where we are asking questions about how do we get back to a place where our whole being is values-aligned for us.” — Yana Ludwig [0:33:38]

Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:

Yana Ludwig

Yana Ludwig’s Patreon

Together Resilient

The Cooperative Culture Handbook

Surrendering Ma’ikwe: A Step Back From Cultural Appropriation

The Solidarity Collective

Solidarity House Patreon

How It Is

Tawana Petty

The People of Color Sustainable Housing Network

Acorn

The Foundation for Intentional Community

All We Can Save

Next Economy Now Podcast

Yana is now the Executive Director of Leadership East Side

LIFT Economy Newsletter

Sign up for the LIFT Economy newsletter! Join 5000+ subscribers and get our free 60 point business design checklist—plus monthly tips, advice, and resources to help you build the Next Economy: https://www.lifteconomy.com/newsletter

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Next Economy MBA

This episode is brought to you by the Next Economy MBA.

What would a business education look like if it was completely redesigned for the benefit of all life? This is why the team at LIFT Economy created the Next Economy MBA (https://www.lifteconomy.com/mba). 

The Next Economy MBA is a nine month online course for folks who want to learn key business fundamentals (e.g., vision, culture, strategy, and operations) from an equitable, inclusive, and regenerative perspective. 

Join the growing network of 250+ alumni who have been exposed to new solutions, learned essential business skills, and joined a lifelong peer group that is catalyzing a global shift towards an economy that works for all life.

Learn more at https://www.lifteconomy.com/mba.

—

Show Notes, Review Request, and LIFT’s Social Media Links

For detailed show notes and interviews with past guests, please visit www.lifteconomy.com/podcast

If you enjoy the podcast, would you please consider leaving a short review on Apple Podcasts/iTunes? It really helps expose these ideas to new listeners:  https://bit.ly/nexteconomynow

Twitter: https://twitter.com/LIFT_Economy

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lifteconomy/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/LIFTEconomy/

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/Lifteconomy

Music by Chris Zabriskie: https://www.chriszabriskie.com/

Sarah Peyton: Using Relational Neuroscience to Enable Change

Subscribe to Next Economy Now on iTunes, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.

While there is an ever-growing pool of ideas on how to use business as a force for good, and how to change systems, getting people to open their hearts and listen to one another can often be a sticking point in enabling systemic change.

Sarah Peyton is a neuroscience educator, constellations facilitator, Certified Nonviolent Communication trainer, and author of the book, Your Resonant Self. She invites her audiences to understand how trauma affects their brains, and teaches them about their brain’s capacity for healing.

In this episode, Sarah talks about how we can use neuroscience to understand people in the workforce. When we understand people’s inability to meet expectations, not only can we soften, but we can also create organizational structures and interventions that foster people’s healing. Although viewing employees as whole people is becoming increasingly common, it is still not the dominant business culture. We talk about what it means to go against the status quo and the implications this has.

Our conversation also touches on sustainability, and expanding the definition of the concept, the importance of community, and what can happen when we allow emotions into the workplace. Opening the hearts and minds of others is not a simple task, but incredible change is possible with these shifts can happen.

Key Points From This Episode:

• What Sarah’s work entails and how she came to be interested in this line of inquiry. 

• How we can use relational neuroscience to better understand how individuals fit in the workforce. 

• Some questions to ask when thinking about bringing a whole person into an organization. 

• The importance of understanding how our patterns have impacted past experiences. 

• What we can do when people do not meet performance expectations. 

• When we understand the root cause of people’s ‘bad behavior’, we can help them better. 

• Some evidence-based practices that have been proven to help people in organizations. 

• The decision-making shifts that happen when organizational power structures are flattened. 

• Reflecting on the power of giving people autonomy and creativity in their roles. 

• Why Sarah believes that we have to rethink the definition of sustainability. 

• Unpacking the differences between the right and left hemispheres of the brain. 

• How we can bring our right and left-brain hemisphere knowledge into the workplace. 

• The extraordinary shifts that happen when we allow space for emotion in organizations. 

• Some strategies for how we can make space for our colleagues’ feelings. 

• We live in a dominant culture and when we go against the status quo, we pay a price. 

• The value of creating communities where there are spaces for narratives counter to the dominant ones. 

• What Sarah means when she says we have all made contracts with ourselves. 

• How to connect with Sarah and some of the work she has in the pipeline.  

Tweetables:

“One of the things that relational neuroscience gives us is that it gives us a sense of what kinds of patterns we repeat and why we repeat them.” — @resonantself [0:06:38]

“I always take the word sustainable with a grain of salt because are we talking about sustainable where we’re making sure that those who have a stock share in your organization are getting a good return on their investment? Or are we talking about sustainable in terms of everyone getting a living wage and being able to create a good solid mission in this world that changes the world?” — @resonantself [0:24:10]

“There is something quite extraordinary that happens when we do make room for emotion.” — @resonantself [0:29:07]

“There’s a way that our little personal systems are no different than our business systems and our bigger systems, and we make contracts, very often with ourselves in order to avoid the pain and discomfort of previous traumatic experiences.” — @resonantself [0:39:49]

Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:

Sarah Peyton

Sarah Peyton on Twitter

Your Resonant Self

Marshall Rosenberg

Reinventing Organizations

Phoenix Soleil

— 

Sign up for the LIFT Economy newsletter! Join 5000+ subscribers and get our free 60 point business design checklist—plus monthly tips, advice, and resources to help you build the Next Economy: https://www.lifteconomy.com/newsletter

—

This episode is brought to you by the Next Economy MBA.

What would a business education look like if it was completely redesigned for the benefit of all life? This is why the team at LIFT Economy created the Next Economy MBA (https://www.lifteconomy.com/mba). 

The Next Economy MBA is a nine month online course for folks who want to learn key business fundamentals (e.g., vision, culture, strategy, and operations) from an equitable, inclusive, and regenerative perspective. 

Join the growing network of 250+ alumni who have been exposed to new solutions, learned essential business skills, and joined a lifelong peer group that is catalyzing a global shift towards an economy that works for all life.

Learn more at https://www.lifteconomy.com/mba.

—

For detailed show notes and interviews with past guests, please visit www.lifteconomy.com/podcast

If you enjoy the podcast, would you please consider leaving a short review on Apple Podcasts/iTunes? It really helps expose these ideas to new listeners:  https://bit.ly/nexteconomynow

Twitter: https://twitter.com/LIFT_Economy

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lifteconomy/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/LIFTEconomy/

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/Lifteconomy

Music by Chris Zabriskie: https://www.chriszabriskie.com/

Autumn Brown: Anti-Oppressive Facilitation for Democratic Process

Subscribe to Next Economy Now on iTunes, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.

In today’s episode of Next Economy Now, your host, Ryan Honeyman, sits down with Autumn Brown, mother, organizer, theologian, artist, facilitator, and worker-owner at AORTA, the Anti-Oppression Resource and Training Alliance.

As a fellow worker-owned co-op devoted to strengthening movements for social justice, AORTA brings valuable cross-issue experience garnered over 10 years of seeing patterns and common mis-steps across organizations whose purposes are rooted in racial, gender, economic, environmental, and disability justice, trans and queer liberation, and anti-capitalism and anti-imperialism.

This discussion revolves around anti-oppressive facilitation for democratic process, the daily decisions we make, whether conscious or unconscious, and some of the assumptions underlying those decisions.

Autumn also reflects on the roles of the facilitator and shares some practical advice and techniques for those looking to use this important skillset as a means for furthering systemic change.

Tuning in, you’ll learn some of the key principles of facilitation and why Autumn believes it is a skillset that everyone can (and should!) develop, so make sure not to miss this episode!

Key Points From This Episode:

• What has (or hasn’t) changed for Autumn since she was last on the podcast in fall 2019.

• Find out why anti-oppressive facilitation for democratic process is an important topic.

• The experiences that led Autumn to a career in facilitation.

• Why she believes facilitation is a skillset that anyone can and should develop.

• Some of the key principles of facilitation, including presence over preparation.

• The importance of putting your ego aside as a facilitator and paying attention to the process.

• Practical tips and tricks for facilitators; why Autumn says “access is magic.”

• Using techniques like ‘weighted stack’ and skillful confrontation to address the group dynamics of systemic power and privilege.

• Autumn explains why the politics of blame don’t work inside a democratic space.

• Supporting people to feel they can take the risk of stepping into their power and inviting a level of shared responsibility.

• How to identify when and how to address problematic behavior in a group setting.

• Understanding that there is no such thing as a neutral facilitator; how to be multi-partial.

• Autumn emphasizes that part of the journey is becoming comfortable with the power that you, as the facilitator, has to name dynamics.

• Hear about AORTA’s Facilitate for Freedom Fundamentals Training and the initiative Autumn is developing within AORTA, The Whiteness Institute.

Tweetables:

“Having someone whose job it is to facilitate people making a decision together makes the work of democratic practice more obvious and transparent.” — @meansaggitarius [0:09:15]

“I believe that anyone can and should develop the skillset of facilitation. I don’t think it's one of those skillsets that should be held by just a few people. Everyone benefits from learning how to listen, and how to recognize patterns, and how to support people to come to consensus.” — @meansaggitarius [0:15:07]

“When we’re engaged in democratic practice, one of the things that we have to do is take full responsibility for what is happening in the room. The politics of blame don’t work inside a democratic space.” — @meansaggitarius [0:29:41]

“You have to do two things at the same time that may seem contradictory – one is get really comfortable with your own power, and two is practice a lot of humility around your role.” — @meansaggitarius [0:39:29]

Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:

Autumn Brown on LinkedIn

Autumn Brown on Twitter

Autumn Brown on Instagram

Autumn Brown

AORTA

AORTA on Instagram

Facilitate for Freedom Fundamentals Training

How To Survive the End of the World Podcast

Episode 172 with Autumn Brown

— 

Sign up for the LIFT Economy newsletter! Join 5000+ subscribers and get our free 60 point business design checklist—plus monthly tips, advice, and resources to help you build the Next Economy: https://www.lifteconomy.com/newsletter

—

This episode is brought to you by the Next Economy MBA.

What would a business education look like if it was completely redesigned for the benefit of all life? This is why the team at LIFT Economy created the Next Economy MBA (https://www.lifteconomy.com/mba). 

The Next Economy MBA is a nine month online course for folks who want to learn key business fundamentals (e.g., vision, culture, strategy, and operations) from an equitable, inclusive, and regenerative perspective. 

Join the growing network of 250+ alumni who have been exposed to new solutions, learned essential business skills, and joined a lifelong peer group that is catalyzing a global shift towards an economy that works for all life.

Learn more at https://www.lifteconomy.com/mba.

—

For detailed show notes and interviews with past guests, please visit www.lifteconomy.com/podcast

If you enjoy the podcast, would you please consider leaving a short review on Apple Podcasts/iTunes? It really helps expose these ideas to new listeners:  https://bit.ly/nexteconomynow

Twitter: https://twitter.com/LIFT_Economy

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lifteconomy/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/LIFTEconomy/

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/Lifteconomy

Music by Chris Zabriskie: https://www.chriszabriskie.com/