Dear <<First Name>>,
I'm excited to share with you an interview I just did with Emma Mayerson, founding Executive Director of Alliance for Girls (AFG) in Oakland, CA.
We talked about:
- How burying yourself in the work is NOT the best way to solve problems,
- why cultivating your own network of personal advisors is so important,
- the critical need to center joy for adaptability and creativity as a leader,
- the different ways leading with racial justice has shaped AFG, and more.
Emma has led AFG over the past ten years with connection and deep listening to the community as a core value. The essential question that drives all of their work is, “What is the community telling us they need?”
She has seen that women of color are using this model of listening to community, yet all too often their organizations are the most underfunded. She points out:
“There’s another way to operate – a way that has been led by women of color for centuries. This way of operating is deeply relational, and values people above product at all times. And people above product at all times is so fundamentally different than what we’re used to.
It’s hard to execute because it’s not what we write in grant reports. It’s not how we apply for funding, which asks questions like how many people did you serve, and what’s the data about how they’ve changed?
The grant proposals aren’t asking how do you make sure every person who walks through the doors is held and respected as a person? Or how are you centering joy and freedom in the work?”
- Emma Mayerson
You can read the full interview with Emma here.
How can you center joy and community in your life and work?
Warmly,
-Sande
p.s. Too often we are caught up in the day-to-day. We’re pushed to the max and don’t have time to stop and think. Yet we’re surrounded by challenges that demand we think bigger. Here are some tools for reflection to help you take time and make space for big picture thinking and planning.
|
|
|
|
|
