Zaki's Reflections

Zaki Hamid, LT'22, KUOW Public Radio

A conversation our Lab Team (All The Pizzas) had about access and leadership resonated with me for days. We agreed that centering the people most affected by an issue in the conversation, especially about solutions, is essential. But how often do we do that? How often do we create opportunities for people with lived experience (i.e. expertise) to be a part of the team fighting for meaningful change? And how often do we create obstacles for people to successfully navigate the very systems we say are created to help them?

So I realized that an important aspect of my job as a manager and leader is to remove the structural barriers that exist between good ideas and their path to fruition. Providing access, removing barriers, and helping with system navigation is how change happens.

Two quotes during the day stuck with me as well. The first is from one of my lab teammates, who said, “Focus on reaching out, instead of expecting others to reach in.” The second is from my classmate who wrote: “Leadership should be centered on curiosity.”

I am thankful for this day, for the insights that I gained, and the wonderful conversations I had with so many committed people. Thank you to LT for providing the access and removing the barriers. 

Sumona's Reflections

Sumona Patel, LT'22, University of Washington

At this Challenge Day, LT truly demonstrated the power of adaptive leadership. The panel the prior Challenge Day generated the question as to whether harm was actively being done to communities during the session. LT allowed for the space to discuss how the session intersects with the goal of furthering antiracist community leadership. The acknowledgment by LT to provide context, take accountability, and define and contrast the definitions of organizational versus community leadership modeled the power of listening and adapting to the community you serve. Being witness to this discussion reframed how I approached the work going into this day.

This was my first time experiencing the collaborative efforts through an Open Space method. Our session built upon Marc Dones’ perspective of empowering those with lived experiences, to discuss avenues to engage those with lived experiences without over burdening these communities. A couple of days after this session, what continues to stick with me is:

• How can engagement with those with lived experiences be authentic and built on a foundation of trust?
• What are the avenues to empower those with lived experiences with the tools to create change? Is it through positionality within the organization, in contrast to consultation and collaboration?

These questions permeate into my professional relationships with patients and communities, as an agent of change within healthcare in the Pacific Northwest. These questions challenged me to see whether our engagement is performative and where we can move from collaborating to empowering our patients and communities. 

Rosella's Reflections

Rosella Picado, LT'22, WSP USA

There is one thought that stuck with me after our first Challenge Day and through the second one: “Refuse to have the wrong conversation.” I am finding this notion quite liberating. But it’s also a call to be informed and to have clarity of values and purpose. To know how to reframe the conversation so it is the right conversation to have, and to feel free to walk away when that’s not possible. Walking away from “wrong conversations” seems defeatist, but perhaps it’s essential to be kind to ourselves and to others, and to save our energy for the right conversations.

I have also been reflecting on the meaning of solidarity, and the notion that anti-Blackness breeds competition and division among people of color. It is especially painful and disorienting when people of color (Black and non-Black) are the agents of these divisions. And lastly, I have been trying to keep asking myself “What can I do?” I don’t have answers yet but I am encouraged by the conversations we have had thus far.