Sep 2, 2020
Today we’re chatting with Mia Birdsong, a woman whose TED talk has been viewed over 2 million times, and who can best be described as a bright light. She’s also one of those people who shows you how to believe in true change, and what role you can play in doing that within your own spheres.
Listen in to hear us talk about white supremacy, capitalism, trust circles, the role of community (hint: it’s pretty much everything), and so much more. We can’t wait to hear what part most resonates with you.
Have questions, comments, or concerns? Email us at hello@dearwhitewomen.com
What to listen for:
- The title of her new book, How We Show Up, and what she thinks it means to truly show up for one another.
- How tenets of white supremacy show up in the values and aspirations we have for ourselves. Enter perfectionism.
- The fallacy behind the American Dream.
- How we can’t have safety without community, what it means to be each other’s first responders, and how we need to ask for help.
Twitter @miabirdsong
ABOUT MIA BIRDSONG:
Mia is a pathfinder, community curator, and storyteller who
steadily engages the leadership and wisdom of
people experiencing injustice to chart new visions of American
life. She has a gift for making visible and leveraging
the brilliance of everyday people so that our collective
gifts reach larger spheres of influence, cultural and
political change, and create wellbeing for everyone.
In her book How We Show Up: Reclaiming Family, Friendship,
and Community (Hachette, June 2020), Mia charts swaths of
community life and points us toward the promise of our collective
vitality. In “More Than Enough,” her podcast miniseries
from The Nation, she expands the current guaranteed
income movement by tapping into the voices and visions
of low-income people. Previously, as founding Co-Director
of Family Story, Mia lifted up a new national story about what
makes a good family. As Vice President of the Family
Independence Initiative, she leveraged the power of data and
stories to illuminate and accelerate the initiative low-income
families take to improve their lives.
Believing that, taken collectively, we are the guides we most
need, Mia has made an art out of inviting people into
rich explorations of how we map paths forward. Her public
conversations, like the New America series centering Black women
as agents of change and her 2015 TED talk “The Story We Tell
About Poverty Isn’t True,” draw targeted attention to
the stories of people who are finding their way into
leadership roles despite myriad barriers, while also
highlighting the vibrant terrain of all marginalized people
who are leading on the ground and solving for tomorrow.
Mia is a Senior Fellow of the Economic Security Project.
She was an inaugural Ascend Fellow and faculty member with The
Aspen Institute, a New American California Fellow,
and Advocate-in-Residence with University of Pennsylvania’s
School of Social Policy and Practice. Mia lives and
dreams big on the occupied land of the Chochenyo Ohlone people
(AKA Oakland, CA).
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