2021 GlobalMindED
The Future of Work is Diverse, Inclusive, Just and Equitable
GlobalMindED closes the equity gap by creating a capable, diverse talent pipeline through connections to role models, mentors, internships for low-income students, returning adults, First Gen to college and inclusive leaders who teach them, work with them and hire them.
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As we celebrate International Women this month, we feature outstanding women every day. Today, we meet Lana Wong, Communications Lead for the Education Commission and Community Impact and Partnerships Director at Shout Mouse Press. Lana is passionate about creating opportunities for others and collaborating with students and leaders to solve some of the world's greatest problems. Start your week with her story and prepare to be inspired!
Upcoming March Equity Events Celebrating Inclusive Women- 2:00 MST/4:00 EST click link to register, details below:
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Lana’s high school graduation with her parents and sister |
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Lana, you are a successful woman who works globally to make big change happen. What is your personal story and how did you achieve this success?
My parents came to America as scholarship students on boat journeys that lasted more than a month. They met and fell in love in New York, where I was born. Like so many immigrants, my parents raised me to value family, education, and hard work. They encouraged my sister and me to pursue our passions: my father always stressed that “happiness and health should come first” and doing work that was “good for the soul” was worth more than a big house or a fancy car. My folks worked hard and sacrificed a lot so I could earn a Harvard degree. I’m grateful for the freedom to take risks and a loving family environment that supported my non-traditional path. London, Nairobi, Paris, and currently Washington, DC are places I can call home and I’ve been lucky to wear many hats – including as an artist, BBC television broadcaster, photographer, climate campaign director, educator, and proud mother of two sons.
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Lana with Shootback students in the Mathare slums of Nairobi |
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Tell us about the Shootback Project and Shout Mouse Press and how that work fulfills your personal mission for equity and inclusion? Lana and the original Shootback Team, Nairobi 1997, left
When I lived in Kenya more than twenty years ago, I founded Shootback – a youth photography and development project in the Nairobi slums that empowered young Kenyans to tell their own stories. I taught photography and writing to a group of boys and girls aged 11-17 for two years and my students’ powerful photos and words became the basis of a 200-page book, an international exhibition that toured more than 12 countries, and a documentary film. More than two decades later, I’m thrilled that the project is still ongoing, numerous youth media training organizations inspired by Shootback have developed, and many Shootback students are now professional photographers and filmmakers.
When I moved to Washington, DC, I helped launch a youth-focused climate change campaign at the World Bank. During this time, I was fortunate to meet Kathy Crutcher – a kindred spirit who started Shout Mouse Press, a nonprofit writing program and publishing house dedicated to amplifying underheard youth voices. Given its equity-focused #ownvoices mission, working with Shout Mouse has been a gift and an enriching extension of my Shootback work. It feeds my passion to help underrepresented youth develop their creative voices and share their stories with the world.
Since 2014, Shout Mouse has published 45 books by more than 300 diverse young authors that address the realities of Black, Latinx immigrant, Muslim American, incarcerated youth experiences and more – with over 70,000 books in circulation.
“We believe everyone has a story to tell. We believe everyone has the ability to tell it. We believe by listening to the stories we tell each other—whether true or imagined--we are learning empathy, humility, community, and grace.” -from the Shout Mouse Press mission statement
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Tell us about your service work, including that with the Education Commission?
The DC nonprofit community is creative and vibrant. I’ve had rewarding experiences working as a teaching artist and volunteer with many organizations that serve communities in need, including Beacon House, Bread for the City, City Year DC, Inner City Inner Child, Reach Incorporated, and WomenStrong DC.
During the day, I lead strategic communications for the Education Commission – a global initiative dedicated to ensuring every child in the world has an inclusive and equitable quality education. The Commission is chaired by former UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown and its members are a stellar group of 26 Commissioners that include former heads of state, five Nobel laureates, experts in education, economics, health, and business, and Columbian singer and activist Shakira.
The combination of my service work with local grassroots organizations and global policy and advocacy work with the Education Commission has given me valuable insights into the realities on the ground for both underserved communities and youth in DC as well as high-level policymakers around the world. I feel privileged to have this “glocal” approach to my work because these wide-ranging experiences inform each other and provide me the opportunity to contribute what I can at both a human and a systems level.
Lana moderating a UNICEF event in
New York as part of her work with the
diverse collective, Moderate The Panel
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Lana and Education Commission Chair Gordon Brown |
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What makes your involvement with the Trust for Indigenous Cultures and Health (TICAH) meaningful?
I serve on the US board of TICAH – a Kenyan-based nonprofit dedicated to promoting a deeper understanding of the connections between health and indigenous culture and to use that understanding to help communities make the best choices possible for health and well-being. Thanks to TICAH and the Shootback Project, I have been able to maintain a strong connection to Kenya – a beautiful country that will always have a special place in my heart. TICAH was founded by Dr. Mary Ann Burris, who was the Ford Foundation Program Officer in Nairobi that made Shootback possible. Throughout the years, Mary Ann has been a mentor, a partner-in-crime, and a true soul sister as we are both deeply committed to participatory, culturally-sensitive, and creative processes for community change. TICAH’s “Art with Heart” programming is especially meaningful with its aim to harness the power of art, beauty, expression, and storytelling for health, healing, and justice.
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What do you most want to say to women this week of women?
I’d like to share the words of the amazing writer, poet, activist, singer, feminist and champion of civil rights Maya Angelou: “Each of us has that right, that possibility, to invent ourselves daily. If a person does not invent herself, she will be invented. So, to be bodacious enough to invent ourselves is wise.”
Don’t be afraid to create your own key and sing your own song. Just do it!
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Lana singing with the DC band Midnight Swim |
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Click below to watch the Inclusive Leader Award Ceremony featuring inspirational messages from the diverse Award Winners
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GlobalMindED and the SDG Impact Fund are delighted to announce GlobalMindED's Donor Advised Fund. 2020 is the 75th Anniversary of the United Nations and the 25th Anniversary of the Beijing Women's Declaration and Action Platform. Many from around the world are thinking of 2020 as the gateway to our most vital decade for delivering equity, the Sustainable Development Goals, and a world where all can thrive. Our key time for these outcomes is 2020-2030.
GlobalMindED DAF and the SDG Impact Fund are a powerful combined force for good as the 2019 year comes to a close and we reflect on the gratitude and the commitments we make to the causes we care most about. The DAF offers immense power and flexibility for giving prior to the year's end as you plant seeds of generous intention for 2020 and the decade ahead.
When you contribute to GlobalMindED, you support First Gen students. We have served more than 400 students by connecting them to role models, mentors, internships and jobs. Your generous support will allow us to take our work 10x and reach these talented students at scale who lack the resources and support we provide. Your support also helps teachers who can't afford the conference fees, faculty at colleges which are under resourced and students who persist at those universities despite food insecurity and/or housing insecurity.
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Links to read about Inclusive Leaders, many of whom are African American and people of color:
Curated sessions from GlobalMindED 2020 YouTube channel:
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From the Center for Positive Organizations:
From the Economist:
From Forbes:
From Harvard Business Review:
From the World Academy of Art & Science and UN; Geneva Global Leadership in the 21st Century econference:
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Listen here for an interview with Pam Newkirk, GlobalMindED speaker and author of Diversity Inc.: The Failed Promise of a Billion- Dollar Business.
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Meet GlobalMindED Founder, Carol Carter as interviewed by Tim Moore on his podcast Success Made to Last: From Success to Significance
Listen to Part 1 of Carol's interview
Listen to Part 2 of Carol's interview
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Recent GlobalMindED Newsletter Profiles:
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Since 2006 when the flagship TGR Learning Lab opened its doors in Anaheim, CA, TGR Foundation has had a lot to celebrate, including its most recent milestone of one million students impacted by TGR EDU: Explore, alone.
Developed in partnership with Discovery Education, TGR EDU: Explore is a free digital resource library that offers interactive web experiences, lesson plans, training videos and tools for educators, students and families to explore new disciplines and gain skills for a modern and expanding workforce.
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As you start the New Year, are you looking for ways to re-engineer your classroom culture? Check out Designing the Future: How Engineering Builds Creative Critical Thinking in the Classroom. The associated website has lots of activities, projects, and resources you can implement immediately. Our fall workshops using the book as a roadmap for change have been highly successful. Start designing the future today - try using the customized Study Guide for a book study in your PLC. Or contact ProjectEngin or Solution Tree to learn how you can bring professional development based on Ann's book to your school, district, or conference.
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THE FLYOVER NATION
Energy's Role in a Troubled Heartland
By J.C. Whorton
A unique and timely discussion of the challenging issues facing the country’s troubled Heartland.
Since the beginning of westward expansion into the Heartland’s vast regions, natural resource development has played a historic role in shaping its communities. Today, domestic oil and gas development offers one of the strongest prospects for the Heartland’s present and future prosperity as well as the nation’s re-emergence as a dominant player in the global energy economy.
The U.S. is now the world’s largest producer of crude oil and natural gas, two circumstances that are universally disrupting international geopolitical order. The earth has a finite supply of natural resources and a rapidly growing and over consuming population.
As America positions itself for a very uncertain and constantly evolving global marketplace, will the Heartland become America’s “great connector” or “great divide”?
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J.C. Whorton is a senior level energy and financial professional with over forty years of essential experience. Having a ranching and Native American heritage, Mr. Whorton is a strong advocate for rural education and economic development initiatives.
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