The co-founders of Rosa Rebellion, Virginia Cumberbatch and Meagan Harding, serve as co-hosts along with Dr. Sylvia Rousseau to bring a dynamic, inter-generational conversation about creative activism to life, fueled by stories of lived experiences from women we admire.
Listen to gen/activist Season 1 here.
(illustration by Eileen Wu)
Episode 1: do better // Spiritual Activist and Author Rachel Ricketts joined us for a conversation on spiritual activism, racial justice and how everyone needs to pull up to fight anti-Blackness. Using her new book, Do Better, as a guide, we discuss how we all must fight white supremacy including in ourselves and rest is needed for people of color.
Purchase her new book, Do Better: Spiritual Activism for Fighting and Healing from White Supremacy. We encourage people to buy from a Black owned or people of color owned bookstore and you can do that here.
Here are some other ways to support Rachel and the fight for racial justice:
Episode 2: coagitate + care // Alice Yi and Ashley Cheng are community activists and voting rights advocates. They join us to discuss the important of Asian people being involved in electoral politics, the violence inflicted historically and contemporarily against Asians and Asian Americans and how communities of colors must join together in collective power.
If you are in the Austin area and would like to join in person, Ashley Cheng is helping to lead a rally to #stopasianhate on April 17th at Huston-Tillotson University. If you cannot attend, but would like to donate, please do so here.
Check out the organization Alice founded here and Ashley's organization and podcast here.
Episode 3: reclaim + resilience// Micheli Oliver is an indigenous woman who is a photographer and a geographer who approaches her work with the intention of honoring indigenous people and the land they have cultivated with "compassion and consent". She is a creative activist who uses her camera to document stories and preserve indigenous culture. We talk to Micheli about the historical and contemporary realities of indigenous communities, the need to document their stories and for those stories to center joy and the evolution of her own identity.
You can learn more about Micheli's work at https://loudmouthvisuals.com/.
Episode 4: the / reprise // In the first installment of a new part of the pod called THE REPRISE, unfiltered reactions from G-mom, Virginia and Meagan on current events, podcast interviews and whatever else sparks conversation. In this episode they discuss their reactions to the inauguration. This was recorded the day after the inauguration and contains unfiltered reactions and cautious hope for the road ahead.
Episode 5: healing + wholeness // We had wellness expert and Founder of Black Girl in Om, Lauren Ash, join us for a conversation about how Black people can operate from a place of healing and wholeness. We discuss all the traumatic images and messages we get on a daily basis and how to center our mental wellness and rest. Taking care of ourselves is essential and Lauren had created an amazing digital community that helps us learn to do so and now she is building a physical space called Home. Check out the links below for how you can support her work.
Episode 6: reclaim + redeem // We invited this dynamic mother and daughter duo to the podcast to talk about a property that their family owns in rural Texas called Thelmawood. Land ownership has been a way for Black people to acquire wealth, but it's also been a source of pain as so much land was stripped from Black families fracturing generational wealth. In 2017, Chrystel decided to purchase a ranch in her hometown and now uses it as a place for community, freedom and to inspire others to do the same.
See the beautiful property and all the updates on Instagram: @thelmawoodtx.
Episode 7: our stories + our power // Elsa Collins and Carmen Perez-Jordan, two of the cofounders of Poderistas, an organization dedicated to organizing and leveraging Latina power, joined us for a conversation on how history is connected to the lived realities of Latino's today. We discussed the need to recognize our shared struggles and to work in solidarity to leverage our power. Although those in power have always sought to divide us, there is freedom in using our collective power for liberation.
These dynamic women not only organize through Poderistas but have started other organizations dedicated to addressing systemic racism in the criminal legal system and helping vulnerable families at the US-Mexico border. Check them out at poderistas.com.
Episode 8: faith + justice // We invited, Cole Arthur Riley, the founder and author of Black Liturgies to talk with us about the role of faith in racial justice and her experience giving words to the movement in the form of prayer. We talk about making space for lament and slow processing while also listening to the stories of our ancestors to learn from triumphs. While we recognize that this conversation is being offered through the lens and language of the Christian faith, we believe Cole's work, writings and the history are universal and we invite all to explore racial trauma, justice and lament, through your own spiritual practice, and your own experience.
Instagram: @blackliturgies
Website: blackliturgist.com
Episode 9: miseducation // We invited Dr. Rita Suh to talk with us about her vast experience with educational inequity and her amazing work to design a more equitable education system. G-mom is a lifelong educator, so this conversation was right up her alley. We discussed the ways that our education system intentionally miseducates its students and the ways that discrimination and bias produces inequity. So often things like language or dialect can be misread and greatly impact someone's learning experience. We discuss ways teachers can be more aware and intentional about examining their own biases and creating equitable classrooms where all students can thrive.
Episode 10: ceding power + privilege // Brooklyn Decker, an actress and model and Sara Wood, one of G-mom’s oldest friends, join us to discuss co-agitation as a sustained practice of everyday life. They explore what it means to cede power and privilege as white women and how to amplify, co-labor and work in solidarity with women of color. In the aftermath of 2020’s summer of unrest, in America and globally, Brooklyn discusses the phenomenon of racial justice fatigue and why it is imperative to keep moving forward. Sara, affectionately known as “Aunt Sara,” talks with us about how our spaces of faith can be a space for learning/unlearning and educating others. These women show us how they are challenging their communities and setting the foundation for the next generation of co-agitators.
Episode 11: youth power + creative activism //
For our last episode of our launch season Mikaila Ulmer, founder of Me & The Bees Lemonade, sits down with us to discuss the ups and downs of being a young, Black, female entrepreneur. At just 11 years old, she began building her empire and has not looked back since, from appearing on and winning Shark Tank and introducing President Barack Obama at the United State of Women Summit to writing her first book last year, Bee Fearless, and Dream Like a Kid'' last year. A leading voice of the Gen Z generation, Mikaila discusses the pressures to address all injustices, and in the midst of a global pandemic, social unrest and global warming disrupting her junior year of high school, experiencing trauma exhaustion. But in the midst of it all Mikaila’s mission to save the bees and elevate environmental justice as a cause and a way of life is both clear and inspiring. Most importantly we explore how she navigates the world as a Black girl, the challenges that accompany it professionally and personally, and most importantly how she protects and maintains her joy through it all.
For more information about Me & The Bees, check out Meandthebees.com. Be sure to catch Mikaila Ulmer on the June cover of Austin Woman Magazine!
gen/activist feedback
Thank you for listening to our gen/activist podcast. We have been overwhelmed by the engagement, support, and love! We hope we can continue to curate a digital living room conversation to discuss historic and contemporary activism, learn from each other, exchange stories and share some laughter and light.
We want to hear your feedback so we can keep improving our content, format, and have your input for our second season. Please fill this quick survey and let us know your thoughts HERE.