Tuesday 8 February 2022, feeling like we are having a real summer for once in Narm, feeling really hopeful for the start of the year even though it’s the third year living with the pandemic.
Race and gender will always be themes of our work. It’s what we do. It’s who we are. Our vision is to make a positive difference in the lives of women and girls of colour. We will always keep this alive as our north star. As I think about what this means for us, I keep coming back to the word ‘unlock’. To me, this is the essence of what we do. There is so much potential, creativity, joy, love, peace, security, achievement and abundance available from unlocking the power of women and girls of colour.
The White hetero, cis-normative patriarchy has put legal, organisational and social barriers to constrain the power and potential of women and girls of colour including violence and trauma. And much of the work we do, is to uncover these constraints, design new systems, policies and programs that are gender and race transformative, and amplify voices and experiences of women and girls of colour.
Our vision for this year is ‘finding treasure’ - that means finding the treasure in ourselves, with our clients to uncover the potential of their staff and organisations, with our collaborators to find the treasure in partnership and to showcase the creativity and achievements of women and girls of colour. Some of the vibes that we are seeding in 2022 are:
Voice - We CANNOT wait to share with you our new podcast that will launch next month. Our first season is about unpacking race, in a fun, funny, very real way talking about experiences, what we dislike about DEI initiatives and what we can do next.
Data and performance measurement - Ok this doesn’t sound sexy I know. But we love data, data equity and the power of measurement to drive change. We are exploring wellbeing indicators and the possibilities of expanding these to focus on equality and quality of everyone’s lived experience.
Gender and money / finance - We keep coming back to this. Partly because of our training and networks. Partly because it is an area that is underdone. We’re building on the networks and connections started last year at the Criterion Institute conference to put more meat on the bones.
Community and connection - One of the things that we’ve been most ecstatic about starting this business is the connections that we made last year. We met the best, most amazing people, solo consultants, collaborators, researchers, NFP leaders - all with a shared commitment to deep, sustained and impactful social change. We want to build on this and bring people together in community this year.
Joy as guidance - One of the key principles about the way we work and wanting to start this business is to do business in a different way. And one of the things we do is we acknowledge our bodies and our feelings, not just our thoughts. And we follow our joyful vibes.
Trust - Same as above, starting this business is a leap of faith, a trust that we will find our path, our clients and collaborators with joy and shared purpose.
...and other random things that we’re exploring this year are - stand up paddle boarding, talking and listening to our mothers, narrative therapy, fashion as a means for finding yourself.
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