• Home
  • keyboard_arrow_right Society & Culture
  • keyboard_arrow_rightPodcasts
  • keyboard_arrow_right 59. Be a Covert Systems Changer for Racial Justice with Leah Gordon, Associate Dean, Boston College

Society & Culture

59. Be a Covert Systems Changer for Racial Justice with Leah Gordon, Associate Dean, Boston College

August 24, 2023

Background
share close

How do you go from being anti-system to being a system changemaker for racial justice?

For this Women of Color Rise episode, Analiza talks with Leah Gordon, Associate Dean for Inclusive Excellence, Diversity, and Belonging as well as an Associate Professor of the Practice at Boston College.

Leah shares how she was consistently told she was not enough. She was a mom at 19, on welfare, and told no many times for jobs because she didn’t have the right degree.

Leah points to not just her perseverance and mentors who spotted her talent that got her where she is today. She also had the vision to be a systems changemaker, to rise to leadership so that marginalized communities would not face injustice.

Leah shares the keys to being a systems changemaker:

  • Don’t listen to the many voices that will tell you that you can’t do it. You can. Source that belief from yourself and seek out mentors who can uplift you.

  • Be your full authentic self and also practice thoughtful restraint. Before speaking your truth and burning up the system, consider whether restraint might help you now. Later, you can share stories of the injustice you faced to urge others to change.

  • Get the support of the “mothership” organizations with authority to back why DEI is important. In Leah’s case, she had health organizations such as the National League of Nursing and American Nurses Association that influence nursing education.

  • Take care of yourself. Rest is a form of resistance. Prioritize you for the benefit of the movement.

Get full show notes and more information here: https://analizawolf.com/ep-59-be-a-covert-systems-changer-for-racial-justice-with-leah-gordon/

Rate it
Previous episode