In June, I was already exhausted from my own fear and frustration of growing racism and prejudice as a Chinese woman born and living in the UK, since Brexit, since Covid-19; this continued heartbreak was exacerbated in light the senseless killings and police brutality in the US. Even more so, the dialogue around #BlackLivesMatter, public figures vocalising transphobic ideas, and the exasperation of “why are we still talking about this – why can’t people just treat people as people”. With my final last f***s, I channelled this into three open sessions to help people make sense of the complex picture around how we understand and talk about diversity.
These sessions were designed for people who were trying to make sense of the language used when talking about prejudice; to learn more about the experiences outside of their own; and who wanted to know what they could do to make people feel safer, but didn’t know how. After three hours, engaging with 80+ people, my heart was on track to heal again.
Since then, attendees have changed how they approach talking about race in their workplace; commissioned for organisational training on active allyship; run their own workshops; written beautiful blog and social media posts; joining together to support one another in their own allyship journey; and being braver in having those conversations at home, at work and on social media. These incredible people are owning and using their power, influence and privileges to bring people together through opening up opportunities and environments for a curious, courageous and compassionate conversation that most of us have experienced as divisive, problematic and difficult.
Thank you to each of you have taken part and supported these sessions and subsequent events for specific groups. Due to demand, I will be hosting three more sessions in August. Still open to people who are interested in learning more and addressing their own internal barriers; still free to attend. These sessions are open, semi-structured conversations where we can bring our collective understanding, experiences and tools together to help each of us make more sense around allyship for ourselves. In order to do this, you’ll find a PDF with some ground rules to enable an environment where this work can happen.
TLDR: all you need to do is sign up for details in the form below and bring into the session with you your curiosity, compassion and courage.
This event is now closed.
Thanks for taking the time and interest in this work! If you have any questions, you can drop me an email. Speak soon!
Lou Chiu Coaching and Consultancy 