The Opt-In

The Opt-In

Courageous conversations about race with accountability via a judgement-free podcast + learning community. The Opt-In invites you to an intimate, ongoing conversation on practicing self awareness, building racial literacy, supporting cross-racial friendships, and opting-in everyday. The Opt-In aims to show the messiness of human transformation through the lens of uncomfortable conversations happening in real-time.

Episodes

May 7, 2024 23 mins

Goodbyes can be hard. But they’re a little easier when you know you’re headed on the right path. In the final episode of this season, we show you the results. We hear from CHOP Foundation managers about how their team has grown because of The Opt-In’s learning program. Plus, we hear about what they have in store for the future. 

Imagine a workplace that can better humanity. A kind of workplace where diverse talent is recruited, lea...

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DE&I has big impacts on workplace culture. But it also has a big impact on a team’s personal development. In this episode we hear from two of The Opt-In learning program participants about how the program has shaped their lives in AND outside of work. Plus we’ll interrogate some of the blocks that keep us from being our full authentic selves.

Imagine a workplace that can better humanity. A kind of workplace where diverse talent...

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April 9, 2024 27 mins

We need to improve cultural competency, but getting there isn’t all rainbows and butterflies. In this episode we get into how leaders can commit to a more equitable workplace. Plus we get real about some of the challenges BIPOC staff can experience while participating in DE&I programs at work.

About Season 4: Imagine a workplace that can better humanity. A kind of workplace where diverse talent is recruited, leaders can show up...

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March 26, 2024 25 mins

In this episode, we draw back the curtains and show you what partnering in a comprehensive cultural competency learning program actually looks like. You’ll also get to meet more of The Opt-In team and hear why they do this work.

About Season 4: Imagine a workplace that can better humanity. A kind of workplace where diverse talent is recruited, leaders can show up as their authentic selves, and collaboration means innovation. In Sea...

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March 12, 2024 28 mins

This episode dives into some of the Cultural Competency skills needed to get to our desired DE&I outcomes - specifically self awareness and racial competency, and also introduces The Opt-In’s theory of change.

Imagine a workplace that can better humanity. A kind of workplace where diverse talent is recruited, leaders can show up as their authentic selves, and collaboration means innovation. In Season 4 of The Opt-In podcast we ...

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February 27, 2024 26 mins

Imagine a workplace that can better humanity. A kind of workplace where diverse talent is recruited, leaders can show up as their authentic selves, and collaboration means innovation.

In this season of The Opt-In podcast we take you through a 2+ year journey of cultural transformation with the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia.

In this episode we explore the motivation, and broader market justification for investing in your t...

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February 21, 2024 2 mins

This season, we will be showing you how one organization took the leap in implementing real cultural change through a partnership with us at The Opt-In. Together we supported their DE&I strategy with a comprehensive cultural competency learning program. And now this organization - Children's Hospital of Philadelphia - is paving the way for others to follow suit.


We’re going to tell you their story in six episodes. We’l...

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December 1, 2020 26 mins

 Aurora + Kelly went LIVE to wrap-up Season 3 of the Opt-In Podcast.  Missed it? You can catch up with the wrap-up here!

This season we touched on so many different aspects of community over the last few months + we want to highlight a few pieces of wisdom that struck a chord in us.⠀

Follow the Opt-In on Instagram, Facebook, + Twitter @theoptin.

Produced by Rachel Ishikawa
Music by Jordan McCree

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Imagine you're a woman in your 30s, an entrepreneur, and you found a planet to live on where you felt great in your mind and body, you had friends that lifted you and your business up and you were surrounded by a diverse group of women that you learned oodles from. Well, welcome to the Rebelle Con community. Shannon Siriano Greenwood is the Founder and CEO of the Rebelle brand, offering a boutique conference experience (Rebell...

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November 17, 2020 57 mins

Everyone has a birth story.  A warrior for sexual and reproductive health, Carmen Green, Vice President of Research & Strategy at National Birth Equity Collaborative (NBEC), is creating solutions to optimize Black maternal and infant health stories through training, research, policy advocacy and community-centered collaboration.  Aurora + Kelly dig deep into her experience in operationalizing anti-racist frameworks and Black fe...

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November 10, 2020 61 mins

Jeff James was one of the good white guys—or so he thought. But when he asked an African American friend how he could help fight the rising tide of racism, he had to think again. "Simple," she shot back, "get rid of whiteness."  Thus began his journey to discover, name, and dismantle the racial category that had defined and advantaged him for a lifetime. Aurora + Kelly sit with Jeff as he shares his discoveries ...

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November 3, 2020 38 mins

In such turbulent + expansive times, we call on every drop of equanimity we can muster.  Reverend Rhetta Morgan has been gathering tools for healing + inspiration over a lifetime and joins Aurora + Kelly in cultivating hope + connection as a pathway back to wholeness. Regardless of election results, there is transformation to be birthed.  This work of bringing our whole selves to joyful expression contributes to internal, communal ...

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Named one of TIME Magazine's top 100 Influential people of 2020, Sister Norma Pimentel has been providing food, shelter, dignity + compassion to migrants seeking refuge in the US. Aurora + Kelly are invited into Sr. Norma's grounded and joyous space to discuss the community which refugees of all different countries create under hazardous circumstances, why we are stuck in our individualism and what we can do to wake up to...

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How do we heal the trauma of a country built on stolen land with stolen people? Look no further for a holistic plan for America, than Dr. Gail Christopher.  Dr. Gail is the visionary and architect for the Truth Racial Healing and Transformation (TRHT) Commission, a resolution going in front of the US House of Representatives. Healing is a natural process, whereas our structures of human value is not. Aurora + Kelly sit down in pure...

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October 13, 2020 42 mins

Colette Pichon Battle is a climate justice WARRIOR. A generational native of Bayou Liberty, Louisiana, she is founder + ED of the Gulf Coast Center for Law & Policy, developing programming focused on Equitable Disaster Recovery, Global Migration, Community Economic Development, Climate Justice + Energy Democracy.  Colette works with local communities, national funders and elected officials in the post-Katrina/post-BP disaster r...

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Water is LIFE. As a water scientist and protector, Dr. Kelsey Leonard seeks to establish Indigenous traditions of water conservation as the foundation for international water policy-making. Fighting for legal personhood of water, Dr. Kelsey Leonard represents the Shinnecock Indian Nation on the Mid-Atlantic Committee on the Ocean, which is charged with protecting America's ocean ecosystems and coastlines. With Aurora + Kelly c...

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September 29, 2020 42 mins

We are getting SCHOOL-ed with co-authors, lifelong educators, parents, + great friends Alli Frank + Asha Youmans. Their debut novel, Tiny Imperfections, offers a lighthearted take on race, family, and friendship in the world of elite private schools—a product of their shared experiences as educators and also their differences: Asha, a black woman from Seattle and Alli, a white woman from rural Washington. From elitism in private sc...

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How do we raise our kids to talk, play, learn and rise up for racial justice? Aurora + Kelly virtually sit with Tia Mathisen, the managing director at The Philadelphia Citizen, whose interest resides in connecting people and building community. Tia is deeply intrigued and ignited by the disparities within the socio-economic structures in society and seeks solutions to combat them. As a social-justice facilitator and co-founder of t...

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Jenna Arnold pulls the curtain back on the proverbial White Woman of Oz to reveal why America's most powerful demographic seems to think they're, well, powerless. She is the author of Raising Our Hands, an educator, social entrepreneur, activist + mother who lives in New York City with her husband and two children. Jenna was one of the National Organizers of the Women’s March in 2017 and Oprah named her as one of her “100...

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September 8, 2020 19 mins

For Aurora, community is love, family and life.  For Kelly, community is joining a pool or gym. To break down what community means and how we need it more than ever, they're joined by great friends on the journey small-biz owner Bonkosi Horn of Freedom Apothecary and yogi/entrepreneur Mariel Freeman of Three Queens Yoga to have an intimate conversation about what community means to them and what we yearn for during this fearfu...

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