This month, I have had such a hard time buckling down and getting to work - and I don't think I'm alone in this. It's like the entire world slowed down to accommodate the hot days and summer vacations. Thank goodness because I have no intention of going back into the frenzy that I left behind in June.

Everything is in blooming and bursting and days have a languid quality where one rolls into another. Time both slows down and speeds up for me around this time of year. I am acutely aware of the fleeting summer days and simultaneously recognize that I still have to exist in a world that demands my attention and presence most of the time. I rebel against these expectations by taking a long, lovely break every July. I just returned to my office after a magical 16 days overseas - this is almost unheard of here in America.

One of the biggest things that makes me angry is seeing the words of Black queer feminists taken out of context and used to prop up someone's business. Oh, you want to use Audre Lorde's words when it serves you? And ignore all the other times that she talks about liberation or criticizes capitalism? You want to define her work through your narrow lens to help you sell coaching packages? HOW CONVENIENT.

A couple months ago, I found myself at an event where I was talking to a bunch of students and an older male entrepreneur. We were talking explicitly about racial and gender equity and how to integrate those concepts into a new business. The students were brilliant in their suggestions and really pushed the envelope on what they expected to see companies do in this day and age. The entrepreneur exclaimed at one point, "I just really want to get this right. I am doing the work. I'm in a book club". Reader, I wish you could see how hard I rolled my eyes.

Earth Day is my favorite holiday, partly because it's also my half birthday! My actual birthday is in October, but who doesn't love also having a reason to celebrate their half birthday?

Later this month, I am facilitating a workshop on gender equity and intersectionality for a corporate client as part of their Women's History Month programming. I love doing these kinds of workshops because we can pack a lot of learning into a short period of time and plant seeds that will help shift perspectives, as long as they're given some time and attention.

It's February. It's Black History Month. It's also one month into 2023 and we're seeing yet another Black man brutally killed by the police. Tyre Nichols deserved so much better. As did Eric Garner, Breonna Taylor, George Floyd, and so many more.

I believe in the power of a new year. I was having a conversation recently with my partner about understanding the conditions for revolution and I remarked that it was a fallacy to think that simply understanding past history yields a perfect roadmap for the future.

I spent my day at Queen City Pride on Saturday, the 18th, volunteering at the Affirming Spaces Project table while rocking my favorite biodegradable glitter from Eight Legged Octopus. ASP’s mission is to help local businesses and organizations create more welcoming and affirming spaces for all. They provide education and have created a directory of community partners across NH - these are businesses and organizations that support trans and gender non-conforming folks and have committed to creating inclusive spaces. Allgood Strategies is a proud ASP community partner!

Earth Day 2022 finds us at a very important crossroads. As a society, we have been conditioned to think that we can solve the climate crisis by all chipping in and doing our part by recycling, biking to work, and/or sourcing our food locally. There’s something romantic in thinking that we can make a dent in this enormous problem with these individual actions. And that’s what that kind of thinking really is - romanticized, fictitious, a fantasy.

The recent IPCC report paints a worst case scenario that we’re seeing playing out in real time. We can’t recycle our way out of this problem. We can’t address this problem with individual actions. We need systems level thinking to solve systems level problems. Over 70% of pollution is created by a mere 100 companies and the U.S. military creates more carbon emissions most countries. The over-consumption of natural resources, the unfettered growth, the need to be the biggest and the best at all costs - to reduce the climate crisis down to an individual failing (“you should be recycling more!”) rather than acknowledge the complexity of the systems at play is very intentional. Invisibilizing these systems makes it easier to continue the status quo and shift the blame to the individual. n goes here

Some readers may know that I hold an MS in Nutritional Sciences (with a focus on nutritional biochemistry), a BA in Biochemistry along with a fellowship in Leadership for Sustainability. Looking at my educational background, you very well may be scratching your head trying to understand where creativity fits in the mix.

I had the opportunity recently to go for a walk with my old advisor from my Master's program. We hadn't seen each other in many years and she was wondering how I went from this budding scientist to what I do now. As I described how I do my work, she mused that it sounded like there was a lot of creativity in my work - the opposite of her understanding of science.

"Diversity is being invited to the party;
inclusion is being asked to dance" - Verna Myers

And belonging is when your music is playing. Last week, I wrapped up my Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging for Consultants training program. It was an emotional goodbye - over the last few months, I have grown alongside my fellow consultants and deepened my understanding and commitment to equity in all that I do while leaning into my unique role as a consultant doing this work.

“The future can’t be predicted, but it can be envisioned and brought lovingly into being. Systems can’t be controlled, but they can be designed and redesigned.” -Donella Meadows

On the surface, it feels like social change happens in an instant: The Civil Rights Act. Roe v Wade. The Clean Water Act. Gay marriage. We see how quickly change happens. Those watershed moments, however, are the result of decades of activism that cultivated the conditions to catalyze momentous change. The great systems thinker, Donella Meadows, talks about leverage points in a system - once that leverage point is identified, it takes little to no pressure to create cascading effects.

I often say that losing hope is a liability in my line of work.

The last two years have been some of the most challenging many of us have ever faced, myself included. A global pandemic, faltering economy, a worsening environmental crisis, and political turmoil are enough on their own to make anyone feel hopeless. But add in the uptick in racial violence and the very real possibility of losing reproductive rights, and it’s easy to be consumed.

With everything happening in the world right now, it is important to take a step back and get some perspective. To see not only the losses and hardship, but the forces of resistance, community, and change that have been built in the face of all that is happening.

I've been exploring the idea of what it means to build your business like you give a damn over the last few years. It's been pretty fun, to be honest, and eye-opening. I've thought long and hard as to what it takes to run our businesses free from systems of oppression. It's not easy to do but it's also vitally important if we're going to usher in the kind of social change we hope to see in our lifetime.