Really excited for Lesbian Visibility Day, April 26th, this year. I’m giving a talk ‘Is Lesbian Visibility Day in your Diversity Calendar?’ for the Diversity, Inclusion and Belonging in the North East network. You can find out more here.
Category: Events
Understanding Privilege
What would it feel like to build your self-awareness and gain greater confidence when working with diverse clients, colleagues or customers?
What difference would it make to the service you provide?
Peggy McIntosh is an American academic and activist whose reflections on white privilege are the starting point for this workshop. McIntosh uses the metaphor of an invisible knapsack to reflect on her position as a white woman in the USA:
I have come to see white privilege as an invisible package of unearned assets which I can count on cashing in each day, but about which I was “meant” to remain oblivious. White privilege is like an invisible weightless knapsack of special provisions, maps, passports, codebooks, visas, clothes, tools and blank checks”
Peggy McIntosh, 1989
Privileges we are born with we have no influence over. What we can influence is what we do with those privileges.
This online workshop offers a safe space to explore privilege in various forms: race, sexual orientation, gender, disability for example. It will enable you to:
- Know what privilege is and its impacts
- Be equipped with language for talking about privilege
- Be equipped with tools for countering the impacts of privilege in your work environment
- Become aware of your own level of privilege and how to harness it
- Get more comfortable with being uncomfortable (conversations around privilege and inequality are difficult – that’s ok)!
The workshop takes place via Zoom, is interactive, and numbers are limited in order to facilitate discussion. You will participate in breakout rooms, giving you the opportunity to meet and discuss with others and will engage in tasks to get you thinking and doing!
The workshop will be of interest to Human Resources professionals, people leaders and coaches, working independently or within organisations (or, frankly, anyone working with human beings!).
Women in Academia Resolutions Retreat, online June 2020
An impact of the Covid-19 pandemic is its challenge to our day-to-day working and living practices.
For many people, this has provoked a reflection on what is truly important, what our personal values are.
Building on a successful Resolutions Retreat for Women in Academia held in ‘real life’ earlier this year, I’m pleased to offer an online version of this retreat.
The aim is to support women in academia to reflect on work and work/life values and consider how to set realistic goals at a time when the space to focus is stretched or maybe feels non-existent.
Numbers are strictly limited in order to enable plenty of interaction, with lots of reflection and discussion time – and space for coffee breaks!
The Resolutions Retreat:
- gives you a space to reflect on your values
- takes a values-led approach to deciding priorities and setting realistic goals
- provides a framework for supporting you stick to your resolutions and achieve your goals
Give yourself an afternoon to focus on you.
Share the space with other women who understand the particularities (and peculiarities?!) of the academic world.
Sign up on the Eventbrite page here
If you have any queries about the event, or are wondering if it is right for you, please do get in touch with Julie. You can email her via her website contact form or find her on LinkedIn or Twitter
Feedback on the previous (in person) Resolutions Retreat:
The space:
“Time for reflection and re-evaluation”
“A quiet, respectful space”
“There was openness and mutual respect”
The takeaways:
“It has consolidated ideas and next steps”
“Really enabled a clear thought direction”
“Enabled me to re-set goals and resolutions”
“It has helped me focus in terms of my direction, but also why I find certain things/issues important”
“It gave a framework for thinking/reflecting”
“It has made me see the mismatch between values and goals and made me think about how to create space for the values”
“It has really made me understand/see why I am struggling to ‘fit’ in both with the institution where I work and academia. I’ve realised this is because of the dissonance between my values and goals”
The shared experience:
“One of the best things was hearing other women discuss their experiences and goals”
“It helped me realise I am not alone in these difficulties”
The facilitator:
“It was run in a thoughtful and peaceful way”
“Julie is a skilled and enabling facilitator”
The only suggestion for improvement was that people wanted more…..!
Testimonial:
“Julie fostered a very safe atmosphere of positivity during the ‘Resolutions Retreat’ I attended, and she really helped me to think about my goals, aspirations, and why this is my career. The conversations were lively but incredibly respectful – not always something I’m used to at work. It was really important to get together with like-minded women, of different ages, experience, and backgrounds, and really heartening to know we often share similar stories. I was especially interested in the match or mismatch with an ‘institutional message’, and how to navigate that in terms of my own ethics. The most important thing though, was that Julie helped us all explore different perspectives, and learn new things about ourselves.”
And do take a look at this blog for some thoughts behind putting on the first resolutions retreat in January 2020.
Someone to talk to
Someone to talk to is an event with a blend of archive film, artist film and live elements being held at the Tyneside Cinema on 16 October. With other colleagues in the Yes We Can Coaching Collective, I’ll be offering ‘speed-coaching’ sessions to attendees wishing to take advantage of the chance for ‘someone to talk to’. This should be fun!!
Women in Academia: Resolutions Retreat
25 January, 2020, 10AM-1PM, Newcastle-upon-Tyne
- Too much to do?
- Hard to find time for the important tasks?
- Not sure what your priorites are?
Give yourself some space to focus on YOU.
This interactive workshop will support you to:
- Define what is important to you, professionally or personally.
- Set realistic goals to aim for.
- Leave with a personalised plan of how to stay on track and achieve your goals.
Be guided to reflect, to learn and to set your goals.
Share the space with other women who understand the particularites (and peculiarities?!) of the academic world.
Join us in the supportive retreat of the Figgis Suite at the Tyneside Cinema to set your direction for 2020.
Tea and coffee will be served on arrival to help us get started!
***EARLY BIRD OFFER: Book by midnight on 8th December to qualify for a 30 min phone/skype call with Julie in February/March/April to provide personalised support in progressing with your plan!***
BOOK VIA EVENTBRITE: https://wiarr.eventbrite.com
Information about the Tyneside Cinema, including information for people with acccess requirements, can be viewed on their website.
If you have any queries about the event, or are wondering if it is right for you, please do get in touch. You can email me via my website contact form or find me on LinkedIn or Twitter
And do check out this blog on my rationale behind this event!
EDI in the Charity Sector, Panel Discussion
I was delighted to contribute to the Institute of Fundraising North East Conference, September 2019. It was my second year of supporting the conference and this year I was invited to be part of a panel discussing Equality, Diversity and Inclusion in fundraising and in the charity sector more broadly.
Rafiki, panel talk, Tyneside Cinema
Rafiki is a powerful film telling the story of of two young lesbians who fall in love in Kenya, where their relationship is forbidden. The film was banned in Kenya, its country of origin. I was pleased to contribute to a panel discussion after the Tyneside’s premiere screening in March 2019.
Pink and Blue Forever? Gender Stereotypes talk at Sister Shack
I gave a talk on the dangers of gender stereotypes at Sister Shack’s International Women’s Day events in Sunderland and Newcastle in March 2019. I focused on the impact of stereotypes on wellbeing and on how we can all work to challenge stereotypes.
Women and LBT intersections: creating an inclusive culture
For LGBT History Month, I delivered a workshop for Newcastle University jointly hosted by NU Women and the Rainbow network on Women and LBT intersections. We considered the impact intersectionality may have on organisational culture and how to be inclusive.
Being an LGBT Ally
I was pleased to offer a workshop on ‘Being an LGBT Ally’ for staff at North East Business and Innovation Centre , Sunderland. The BIC do great work offering support to people starting and growing their businesses. We considered how to create an inclusive culture for LGBT people as both colleagues and clients. Check out a testimonial from the workshop here.
