TONIGHT: "Imagine a New Democracy" with Casper ter Kuile & Erica Williams Simon

TONIGHT: Join us for the second conversation in our Unlocking Possibility speaker series:

CONVERSATION 2:

Imagine A New Democracy

TONIGHT: Thursday, November 5, 2020

7:00 – 8:15 pm (Eastern)

Suggested donation: $10 per event

What does it look like to imagine a new way to be community in light of our failing political systems? Our current moment invites us to envision the future we want for our life as a people, not just the one that we fear. It also calls us to craft new hopeful stories for how we can relate to one another in ways that transcend and transform the painful limitations of our current systems.

Here in this historic moment, as our entire nation watches and waits, take a deep breath and join us to envision new possibilities for democracy in local, national, and global contexts, with acclaimed authors Casper ter Kuile, co-founder of Sacred Design Lab, and co-host of the award-winning podcast, “Harry Potter And the Sacred Text,” and Erica Williams Simon, educator, entrepreneur, and author of You Deserve the Truth, which puts the power of story back into the hands of the people.

Meet our conversation partners:

Casper ter Kuile is helping to build a world of joyful belonging. In the midst of enormous changes in how we experience community and spirituality, he connects people and co-creates projects that help us live lives of greater connection, meaning, and depth.

He’s the author of The Power of Ritual (HarperOne) and the co-host of the award-winning podcast Harry Potter and the Sacred Text. He’s also a Ministry Innovation Fellow at Harvard Divinity School and founder of startup Sacred Design Lab – a research and design consultancy working to create a culture of belonging and becoming.

Casper holds a Masters of Divinity and Public Policy from Harvard University, and before moving to the U.S. he co-founded Campaign Bootcamp and the UK Youth Climate Coalition, both training and mobilizing young activists.

Casper lives with his husband in Brooklyn, NY.

Erica Williams Simon is an award-winning writer, host, educator and entrepreneur. She is the CEO of Sage House, a content and experience company that creates spaces both online and off for compelling conversations, critical questions and shared storytelling. She is also cohost and co-creator of the Rosario Dawson produced talk show The Assembly and is also the host of the popular podcast The Call with Erica.

Previously, Simon worked as the founding Creative Director of Upworthy.com and as a columnist for TIME.com. Before moving to a career in media, she spent nearly a decade in Washington D.C. at the nation’s premier progressive think tank, Center for American Progress, and the country’s oldest civil and human rights coalition, the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, developing innovative Millennial engagement programs on key social issues. She has advised on projects with diverse partners ranging from the White House and Rock the Vote to Fortune 500 companies. For her social impact work, Simon was named one of Politico’s Top 50 Politicos to Watch, an NAACP’s 40 under 40, a world Economic Forum Global Shaper, and an Aspen Institute Ideas Fellow.

Her first book, You Deserve the Truth, published by Simon & Schuster in 2019, puts the power of story back into the hands of the people, exploring how to engage with the dominant cultural narratives of our time to build an authentic life worth living. Simon has appeared as a guest and commentator on media outlets including CNN, HBO, MTV, PBS, BET, and more. Her work has also been featured in Harvard Business Review, The Washington Post, Huffington Post, and ESSENCE magazine. A self-proclaimed “armchair theologian” and preacher’s daughter for life, Simon resides in Los Angeles with her high school sweetheart husband, and she serves on the board of ColorofChange.org and NPR’s Generation Listen.

Unlocking Possibility Speaker Series

Every crisis can be an invitation to dream. Even in uncertain moments, we are called to imagine better futures together: for ourselves, for our communities, and for our planet. In this series, we’ll be talking with leading thinker-practitioners about the art and practice of imagination: both how to create wide-open spaces for possibilities that others find impossible and what it looks like when our dreams become reality.

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