I'm really happy that people get to know this! I'm really glad I've been able to interview people who are willing to share these truths. Thank you Chantell Frazier, Ph.D. (She/Her) for these gems!

In this episode we discuss:
-How to take responsibility of yourself
-Why people need to attempt to make things right
-What values can come against your wellbeing

mayed is a design researcher and creative strategist. They bring a critically-informed approach to community-centered design that seeks to advance culturally thriving and sustainably empowering outcomes. Inside and out, mayed is an abolitionist at heart. They seek to articulate the ways in which carceral logics and discourses are reproduced in our lives, and dream of the ways in which we can liberate ourselves and reclaim the freedom to define our own realities.

At some point people are going to show you whether they are able and willing to support you. They will show you whether they prioritize your needs. Thank you Mondo Vaden (He/They) for sharing your experiences and teaching us when to walk away!

Avi is an actor and voice-over artist. They come from a theatre background, having performed in a number of stage productions and is also the narrator of several audiobooks including the New York Times Best Seller Cemetery Boys by Aiden Thomas. Lastly, you can hear them as the voice behind Raine Whispers on Disney Channel's animated series The Owl House.

I'm not hired to give history lessons. I've done some presentations about bias and Black mental health disparities and I have directed people to a book. I specialize in what patients need right now in the moment. How do we help them in the immediacy? And if you need history to help you help them, that's fine, but I'm gonna direct you to a book.

Obella is a DEI specialist, licensed Psychology Associate, and creative artist who loves to talk about identity, cultivate growth environments, and strategize on how to turn compassion into action. As The Radical Empath, Obella aims to use his years of experience and his lens as a Black, queer, second-generation East African man to decolonize toxic belief systems and reframe them to empower folks to be the most authentic versions of themselves, and create an accepting community of healing.

With Special Guest Dr. Janice Gassam Asare (She/Her) https://www.linkedin.com/in/janicegassamphd/ Dr. Janice is the founder of BWG Business Solutions, an award-winning DEI consultancy designed to help organizations create cultures built on racial equity. She is a senior contributing writer for Forbes having authored over 350 articles.

There are very few people who still rock with me since the start of Absolutely Not! I have transitioned in many ways since creating this space and a lot of people have shown where their support stops. The people who continue to show up have made this all possible. I knew exactly what I wanted to do when I started this space and have given everything I can to get it done.

You're walking in with all these firm boundaries that really aren't based in humanity or connection, and then you're saying that you know how things are going. The reality is there's a wealth of research, there's a wealth of scholarship, and I'm sure, we've both seen, in person, when folks call themselves neutral very often, they're the exact opposite of it.

And so colorism is something I feel I can speak directly to, because any anything can be a source of that for someone else, right? For some people, it's sizes, and for some people, it's ableism, transphobia, you know? So a lot of these social problems can have this a similar impact on other people, depending on their identity, and because of my particular identity and experiences, I feel like I can speak to colorism in a way that does create change, both for individual people but also in communities and cultures.

We are not all educators and should not all be expected to be. I love talking about boundaries because they make it so easy to see how harmful people truly are after setting them. Thank you so much Jessica for reminding us of the boundaries we are allowed to set! In this episode we discuss: -Why Blackness in the workplace is different -Knowing that it's not you, it’s them -How documentation is key to being safe