It’s book launch day! And if you haven’t already pre-ordered, it’s time that you get your order in for Dear White Women: Let’s Get (Un)comfortable Talking About Racism!

And then tell your friends and family today about it so they order, too.

Will make for some good conversations – plus, we’ll be opening up a book club conversation with you in November!

What to listen for, in celebration of our book launch, are the answers to a few questions we whittled down from an “Ask Us Anything” 24-hour callout we made on social media and our email list – so you’ll get our real, authentic selves in response to YOUR questions.

Remember the Titans has the specific scene that happens part of the way through the movie, when Coach Boone gets everyone out of bed in the middle of the night and tells them they’re going for a run in the woods. They run to the location of the Battle of Gettysburg. And Coach Boone stands there and he tells them:

“Anybody know what this place is? This is Gettysburg. This is where they fought the Battle of Gettysburg. Fifty thousand men died right here on this field, fightin’ the same fight that we’re still fightin’ amongst ourselves today. This green field right here was painted red, bubblin’ with the blood of young boys, smoke and hot lead pourin’ right through their bodies. Listen to their souls, men: “I killed my brother with malice in my heart. Hatred destroyed my family.” You listen. And you take a lesson from the dead. If we don’t come together right now, on this hallowed ground, we too will be destroyed - just like they were. I don’t care if you like each other or not. But you will respect each other.”

That’s a movie, but we’re in this same place right now. We’ve been here throughout the past 5 years and while people have chosen to look away, believing that things are better in 2021 - they’re not. Listen to this episode to hear just how bad things have become - and what we can do about it, because while we are in a constitutional crisis, it’s not too late to push for change and get loud.

Sometimes there are those books that are so hauntingly beautiful, disturbing, or touching (or all three) that you can’t stop thinking about them for days after you finally put them down after binge reading them. Some of those for us are The Handmaid’s Tale, or Americanah, or Song of Solomon. But recently, we found another book that we’ve been thinking about ever since putting it down - Beautiful Country.

In her debut memoir, which she started writing in 2016 while on the subway on her iPhone, Qian Julie Wang tells her story of being an undocumented seven-year-old who arrives in New York City in 1994 with her parents from northern China - and all of the wonders and heartbreak and LIFE that happens as you come of age in a country that has expressly shown you that you don’t belong, in so many ways. Talking to her was like seeing this book come to life - but we didn’t just stop with the book. Listen in to hear about Beautiful Country, but also so much more, in this conversation that we didn’t want to end.

Last week’s episode was all about QAnon and how conspiracy theories can divide us as a nation. One of the things we think we can do to bridge the divide is bring mindfulness and skills around living with mindfulness into conversations about race, racism, identity, and beliefs - and to do that, we got to speak with an incredible law professor named Rhonda McGee.

In speaking with Rhonda, we learned not only about the role of law in helping - and hurting - racial divides, but we also discussed the role of mindfulness in helping people come into a grounded space to do this work in the first place. Once we added in her own brand of racial awareness called ColorInsight, we left this conversation with not only some reframed concepts but a deeper understanding of why we all need to be doing this work.

This fall we’re focused on hot-button topics. If you remember, we kicked off the fall with a conversation about the census and representation, which then moved into representation in the media and movies with Kamala Avila-Salmon, the head of inclusive content at Lionsgate Films. Today, we’re here to talk about another hot button topic that we’ve all heard about the last couple of years but we’ve never touched yet on the show: QAnon.

This conversation we’re about to share gave us some perspective on what really was happening with the development of the conspiracy theory, what risks we face as a country if we let this fester (it’s not good), and what we can each do differently that we weren't doing beforehand.

ALSO - we have one month until our book launch! For those of you who are at all interested in joining our book launch team, email us at hello@dearwhitewomen.com for details on what’s involved. We’d love to have you be a part of our book community!

Hello and welcome to Fall! What we’re really excited about - besides our book coming out in mid October! - is our fall lineup of episodes. Now that we’re done with our Summer of Action, we’re focused on issues that have not only been in our consciousness, but ones that we’ve been hearing about throughout 2021 and ones that we’d like to highlight for the fall.

In September, we’ll be focusing on current events and topics that you may have heard about in the news - including representation in the media, Qanon, and so much more. October will be devoted to all things voting and our political systems as we look at the practical things we all need to be aware of when we vote this November, or in 2022 - or as we read or listen to the news. Finally, in November, we’ll be talking to people who are working on transformative change in their own spheres of influence, and see how they got involved in doing this impactful work.

And to kick this off - let’s talk about the Census. Because we’ve learned a lot about who we are and our own communities with the news that’s been coming out over these last few weeks.

Hello and welcome to Fall! What we’re really excited about - besides our book coming out in mid October! - is our fall lineup of episodes. Now that we’re done with our Summer of Action, we’re focused on issues that have not only been in our consciousness, but ones that we’ve been hearing about throughout 2021 and ones that we’d like to highlight for the fall.

In September, we’ll be focusing on current events and topics that you may have heard about in the news - including representation in the media, Qanon, and so much more. October will be devoted to all things voting and our political systems as we look at the practical things we all need to be aware of when we vote this November, or in 2022 - or as we read or listen to the news. Finally, in November, we’ll be talking to people who are working on transformative change in their own spheres of influence, and see how they got involved in doing this impactful work.

And to kick this off - let’s talk about the Census. Because we’ve learned a lot about who we are and our own communities with the news that’s been coming out over these last few weeks.

Let’s talk about workplace safety. No, not that kind of workplace safety - we’re here to talk about building psychologically safe workspaces, which in our opinion is a crucial conversation especially as we’re reimagining workspaces in this era of COVID. And you’ll want to hear this WHOLE conversation, because there are knowledge bombs just being tossed around by our guest throughout this entire episode.

Today we’re talking to Jeff Harry, who is the founder of Rediscover Your Play, and who works with companies and individuals to help lift their veil of BS in order to make their work more fulfilling and rediscover their joyful purpose, all the while removing what is getting in the way of their success. This conversation got us thinking, and we hope it gets you thinking too.

After this episode, which sadly is the very last in our Summer of Action, our ask is this: tell all your friends to listen to this episode, especially those with workplaces. And take a good hard look at your own workplace. How can you make it more psychologically safe for EVERYONE who works there?

If you’re listening to this episode at the time that it’s being released, and you’re thinking about work, you’re probably thinking about returning to a physical office in this new land of the Delta variant, or perhaps you’re looking for a job, or you’re figuring out how to get a new job because you’re done with the one that you have. Or maybe you don’t want to talk or think about work at all. But the reality is - we all understand work dynamics and most of us cannot escape the reality that we do need to belong to a group that provides us with money to make a living.

So here’s our question: what happens when you make a mistake at work?

What if we told you that there’s another way to do business - one that focuses on love?

We were convinced that this might work after we spoke with our guests today - and read their book. Mohammed Anwar and Jeff Ma are executives at Softway, a company whose mission is to bring humanity back to the workplace. In their book, Love as a Business Strategy, they break down how this is possible. After you’ve heard what they have to say, here’s what we’d like you to do: tell all your friends to listen (you knew that was coming!). Then buy their book from their website, and download the free resources too. Read it, and share it with your teams - both at work, and in other spheres. And then let us know what most resonated with you by emailing us at hello@dearwhitewomen.com.

Let’s put humanity first at work and see where that gets us.

After last week’s episode with Christine Platt (aka the Afrominimalist), this scenario may sound familiar: You look around your house. It’s full of stuff - stuff that you don’t wear, stuff that you don’t use, stuff that you don’t need. You gather everything up in bags and boxes and, once the Donate pile is big enough, you move it to the garage or outside, ready for the next step. But then you pause. What IS the next step? Where do you take what you don’t need anymore, that can provide the most help for people who really do need these things?

We sat down with Sable Schultz, the Director of Transgender Services at the Center on Colfax in Denver, Colorado, to talk about a very different - and important - way in which your donations can make not only an impact, but really show someone that they matter.

After you tell all your friends about this episode, look up the organizations that Sable mentions. Do the Google search for your own city. Think twice about where your donations go, because sometimes, even if it’s not the easiest option, it’s the most impactful. And remember that small things, like adding your pronouns to your email or asking someone for theirs, can make all the difference.