Design Thinking & Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, Part 1 (Deconstructing Dominant Cultures Series)
Release Date: 03/01/2021
Women of Color Writers’ Authentic Voices: Natalie Obando, Part 2
The Nasiona Podcast
We continue with the second part of my conversation with , the current national president of the and first Latina to take the helm. They continue to discuss the , her experiences and thoughts about the White Gaze in publishing and storytelling industries, how she uses her influence to transition us out of it so we can become more authentic and reflect a more realistic representation, and much more. They also dissect the harmful urge to center the comfort of others by anglicizing our names, thereby decentering ourselves at the outset of relationships, and the kind of impact this form of...
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Women of Color Writers’ Authentic Voices: Natalie Obando, Part 1
The Nasiona Podcast
Today’s 2-part conversation is the first of’s new series showcasing the authentic voices of Women of Color writers. The Nasiona teamed up with the’s and the organization to publish their inaugural first anthology, entitled. Check our website at for more information on the anthology. For our podcast series, I interviewed everyone we published in the anthology to present you with an in-depth exploration of their individual literary journeys, their relationships to authenticity, experiences where they learned that language and their stories have power, obstacles they have experienced as...
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Relationship Between Psychological Trauma and Physical Illness
The Nasiona Podcast
What is the relationship between psychological trauma and physical Illness? Co-producer joins on the podcast to interview Molly “Marco” Marcotte to answer this question. Molly “Marco” Marcotte (they/them) is program designer, evaluator, and consultant in their eighth year of work in the anti-violence field. They have co-implemented and evaluated over 30 county-level sexual violence primary prevention initiatives, co-authored multiple state-level and organizational change models and corresponding evaluation plans, designed culturally relevant programming and evaluation for...
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Blue Blood: Challenging the Rhetoric that Trans People are ‘Unnatural’
The Nasiona Podcast
We all begin in water and are called back to water. Blue Blood challenges the rhetoric that trans people are “unnatural” through captivating verses about metamorphosis and meditations on the concept of home. Robin Gow invites readers to celebrate identity; to question what their own body means to them.
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Decolonizing & Indigenizing Storytelling, Part 2
The Nasiona Podcast
We share Part 2 of a virtual public event Julián Esteban Torres López gave on what it means to decolonize and indigenize storytelling, hosted by Texas A&M, San Antonio. He talks about the relationship between language and identity; how the concept of time can be used to challenge hegemonic epistemologies; the importance of centering/circulating thinking/art from the Global South; and more. Dr. Alexandra Rodriguez Sabogal interviews Julián, followed by a Q&A w/ the audience moderated by Dr. Katherine Gil
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On Healing, Transformation, & Reclaiming Authority of Your Authenticity
The Nasiona Podcast
What does it mean to show up as you beyond the you you were told to be? Christine Cariño joins The Nasiona to discuss the philosophy of authenticity, how getting over trauma often means finding your way back to that person you were before the trauma, and the transformative process of rerooting and replanting yourself and reclaiming deferred dreams. This episode is about healing, empowerment, and giving ourselves permission to say yes to ourselves and to create the conditions we need to become ourselves.
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Decolonizing & Indigenizing Storytelling, Part 1
The Nasiona Podcast
What does it mean to decolonize and Indigenize storytelling? How do institutionalized Euro-centric storytelling frameworks limit creativity, understanding of stories and histories, and how we relate to others, our selves, our environment, and our art creations? In this episode, Julián Esteban Torres López addresses the importance of decolonizing storytelling, affirming Indigenous storytelling traditions, and creating safe and encouraging spaces for BIPOC stories.
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Being Latina/e/o/x
The Nasiona Podcast
A tour of what it means to be Latina/e/o/x through the voices of previous The Nasiona Podcast guests: Sylvia Salazar, Colette Ghunim, Alondra Adame, Eva Gonzalez, Diana Castellanos, Mireya S. Vela, Liza Ann Acosta, Alexandra Meda, Christina Igaraividez, J.L. Torres, Irma Herrera, Beezy Montaña, Ra Avis, Patrick A. Howell, Carlos Carrasco, and Deborah Taffa. Our stories are complex, nuanced, and deserve to be heard. In the show notes, you can find links to the previous guests’ episodes.
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Growing up Black and Brown in a White Town
The Nasiona Podcast
What’s it like growing up Black and brown in a predominantly white town? Joe Sparkman and Julián Esteban Torres López share their experiences of growing up together in the 1990s as teenagers in Nashua, New Hampshire: Money magazine’s best place to live in the US in 1987 & 1997; where JFK announced he would run for president; and home to the first racially integrated US team in modern baseball. With this episode we glimpse into the kinds of situations that give rise to activists and social justice warr
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The Nuyorican Hallway: Belonging & Living Between Worlds
The Nasiona Podcast
J.L. Torres is the author of Migrations, the inaugural winner of the Tomás Rivera Book Prize. His work focuses on the diasporican experience—living in the inbetweeness that forms and informs the Puerto Rican experience. We dissect the central themes of Migrations—a collection of stories deeply rooted in Puerto Rico's history—where he elevates the experiences of Othered individuals. This is a far-ranging conversation that spans colonialism, Nuyorican identity, colorism, Critical Race Theory, and heal
info_outlineMost environments are not designed to include and value everyone, and as a result such designs fail to center the concerns of those in the bottom rungs of our class and caste systems. So, if we really want to value and include everyone in our teams, in our communities, in our societies, in our politics, then we have to be intentional in the way we design our worlds. We must be intentional in the way we invent environments and opportunities so we may create different relationships with the self, with the other, with our environments, with our work, and with our life activities.
This is where design thinking comes in. How do we create new environments that may assist in valuing, centering, elevating, amplifying, and including those whose concerns have traditionally been left out of the ways we have designed our workplaces, our institutions, and our communities.
In today’s episode, I speak with Vanessa Weathers, Founder & Principal Consultant at Conscious Employee Experiences, to further explore design thinking and its relationship to diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI).
Vanessa Weathers is an experience designer who has spent nearly 20 years guiding and coaching leaders on becoming more human centered. She uses ethnographic techniques and journey mapping to bring visibility to the people and the issues often overlooked and ignored by dominant cultures. She is an activist, a futurist, and a pioneer who is passionate about the future of work and fostering inclusive work environments. She has dedicated her life to fighting for justice for the marginalized, which has been fueled by her own personal experiences of being in the minority in many aspects of her identity. Having always felt like an “outsider” in corporate America, she is currently embarking on her own journey of self-exploration and continuing to leverage her background in human centered design and diversity, equity, and inclusion to shift attitudes around equity in the workplace.
Vanessa Weathers and I spoke on August 22nd of 2020. What follows is the first of my two-part interview with Vanessa, where we introduce what design thinking is and how we can apply it DEI work. Specifically, we explore the importance of intentionally designing environments to cultivate inclusion, growth, and flourishing for different individuals and communities. We also critique the desire to build teams and societies based on cultural fit, and we dissect the difference between managers and leaders.
But before we jump into the conversation, Aïcha Martine Thiam and I introduce you to The Nasiona Music Series. Starting today, we will begin every episode by showcasing a BIPOC musical artist from our series, which you can explore at TheNasiona.com. Today's musical guest is Mallika Vie, and she performs her track "Bluebells Still Grow," which you can find in The Nasiona's compilation BIPOC musical album, Volume 1: Petrichor.
The Nasiona Podcast amplifies the voices and experiences of the marginalized, undervalued, overlooked, silenced, and forgotten, as well as gives you a glimpse into Othered worlds. Hosted, edited, and produced by Julián Esteban Torres López. Follow him on Twitter and Instagram: @JE_Torres_Lopez
Please follow The Nasiona on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook for regular updates: @TheNasiona
Thank you to Aïcha Martine Thiam for co-producing the Music Series component of the episode, and to Mallika Vie for being our first musical guest.
Original music for The Nasiona Podcast was produced by the Grammy Award-winning team of Joe Sparkman and Marcus Allen, aka The Heavyweights. Joe Sparkman: Twitter + Instagram. Marcus Allen: Twitter + Instagram.
The Nasiona Magazine and Podcast depend on voluntary contributions from listeners like you. We hope the value of our work to our community is worth your patronage. If you like what we do, please show this by liking, rating, and reviewing us; buying or recommending our books; and by financially supporting our work either through The Nasiona’s Patreon page or through Julián Esteban Torres López's Ko-Fi donation platform. Every little bit helps.
Thank you for listening, and thank you for your support.