Anima Café Podcast

Join Anima Leadership co-founder Shakil Choudhury in a immersive discussion on breaking down polarization in the workplace. Conflict by its very nature emotionally divides, forcing us to “choose” sides…but then who looks after the Whole? Yet being “neutral” is not the answer as this only maintains the unjust status quo when we seek to fix systems that carry the stains of racism and sexism. In this...

Tools for Compassion & Justice Leadership Series While the psychological safety of employees is essential, a workplace is not a therapeutic space…and learning to hold the tension between personal-professional is a key leadership capacity.   This free podcast will explore the reasons why psychological safety is a critical factor for both well-being as well as performance, and strategies for lea...

with Annahid Dashtgard Another way of thinking about the leader role is one who tells the best, most engaging, most believable, story.  If we don’t tell it, others will, and usually it’s the most negative version.  This cafe with Anima CEO Annahid Dashtgard, offers a framework for framing our messages so they get heard and get buy in, especially important in fostering trust in today’s diverse and...

Join Anima Leadership co-founder Shakil Choudhury in a conversation on how to use a system-thinking approach to politic-proof your EDI efforts. In an era of increasing political volatility, anti-EDI forces have been using social media and legal levers to successfully push back on progressive policies designed to advance historically excluded groups in both the US and Canada.  This cafe explores wa...

Join Anima Leadership co-founder Shakil Choudhury in a conversation about navigating conflict and polarizing global events as a leader. This cafe explores factors for organizational leaders to consider when real world events explode into the workplace whether it's the climate crisis, the murder of George Floyd or Israel-Palestine. How and when do you decide to lean into an issue and when do yo...

Join Anima Leadership co-founder Annahid Dashtgard in a conversation about finding purpose and joy in equity work. What does it mean to work towards justice, inclusion, belonging and equal rights in this time where these topics are more and more polarizing? Instead of being guided by clear analysis and data, equity efforts are increasingly being determined by whose opinion is loudest.  Many of us...

If there’s one way to describe our current political landscape, it’s  polarized . As both sides seem to pull further and further apart, how can we drive action across differences? How can we create the connections and relationships we need to make change? And how can we empower bridge builders to lead us towards a more inclusive future? Join Anima Leadership co-founder Shakil Choudhury in conversa...

Join Annahid Dashtgard, and Emma Lind for a conversation about the Leader Labs and some important takeaways and secrets challenges when addressing race and equity issues. How do we avoid jumping to conclusions with each other? When is it important to listen versus hold our ground? What does it look like to step into uncomfortable conversations in order to advance equity in our organizations? BIPOC...

Anima Leadership co-founders Annahid Dashtgard and Shakil Choudhury host an interactive conversation about this tricky moment in equity, diversity and inclusion work. Topics include where we are in challenging times, how we can navigate these changes together as a community, and how Anima Leadership can offer some extra support.

Join Annahid Dashtgard, Kwame Scott Fraser, and Farzana Doctor in conversation about what it means to belong as racialized individuals—in a profession, to a country, even within our own skin. Cultivating belonging could be voted the top human challenge for the twenty-first century. Meeting it is not going to come from facts alone, but will be driven by stories—all of our stories, but especially th...

Do you struggle with leaders who think they are EDI (equity, diversity and inclusion) experts after a single anti-bias training session? Or leaders who may “talk the talk” regarding privilege, but are oblivious to their own biased behaviours? If these are your leaders, it’s time for your organization to reframe equity, diversity and inclusion as a literacy project.  Research tells us that adults n...

Leaders often, and unknowingly, jeopardize their organization’s EDI (equity, diversity, and inclusion) efforts, wasting time and effort as well as the most critical resource: employee morale. This results in negative impacts on both racial marginalized and white people. But it doesn’t have to be this way. In this webinar we’ll explore four common traps that trip up leaders in their EDI work and ho...

Host: Annahid Dashtgard Date: Wednesday, October 26th, 2022 2022 marks Anima Leadership’s 15th anniversary, a decade and a half of taking a compassionate approach to racial justice with thousands of participants from organizations from around the world. Join us as we explore 15 leadership lessons learned from 15 years in the JEDI world with Annahid Dashtgard, CEO and co-founder of Anima Leadership...

Date: Wednesday, May 25th, 2022 Host: Annahid Dashtgard Guest: Deepa Purushothaman Join Annahid Dashtgard in conversation with Deepa Purushothaman, about her new book “The First, the Few, the Only: How Women of Color Can Redefine Power in Corporate America“. Since #metoo we’ve seen a societal tipping point moment in realizing the gap between gender forward policies and what happens in reality. Tha...

It’s common for anti-racist practitioners to turn to the language of “white fragility” to describe those moments where white folks “freeze” out of fear of doing the wrong thing. And the resulting dynamic for people who identify as BIPOC often includes anger and frustration. In both cases, it’s easy for disempowerment to set in. And when that happens oppression wins. So what does it look like to pu...

In his new book, Deep Diversity: A Compassionate, Scientific Approach to Achieving Racial Justice, Shakil Choudhury asks the question, “how do we make all people feel like they matter and belong?” Equity and inclusion is about justice, and from an Indigenous perspective, there can be no equity until justice is central to the conversation. As Clayton Thomas-Müller points out, “if Indigenous peoples...

The human brain comes hardwired to pay attention to stories—whether in the form of personal narrative, collective myths or gossip—and prioritize them over dry facts and figures.  So how can storytelling be used to challenge racism and Islamophobia? Why are counter-stories so important for nurturing equity and what lessons are relevant for organizational leaders? Join Shakil Choudhury in conve...

In a time of extreme political polarization, call-outs and cancel culture, how do leaders support constructive dialogue and de-escalate conflict in society and organizations? How do we make meaningful change leveraging our diverse identities while working with opposing beliefs and experiences? Join Shakil Choudhury and Adam Kahane in an intimate fireside chat as these two amazing leaders, facilita...

Trigger Warning: Loretta Ross does briefly touch on her experience as a rape and incest survivor. No details are given but she does talk about how it has effected her life. How do advocates and allies of the anti-racist movement work towards a more just society? What does it mean to integrate, inner and outer, psychology with power? How do we place love and compassion at the centre of our act...

We’re witnessing unprecedented openness and vulnerability from leaders over the last year in addressing anti-Black racism and overall equity in their organizations. Despite this, the struggle persists to create long-lasting systems change. Leaders are still misfiring on who they hire, advance, and retain because of limitations in JEDI (Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion) know...

Humans are born with basic pattern recognition skills which allow us to make meaning and navigate the world around us whether learning to speak, read and write, or identifying songs we like to navigating our phone controls by touch and feel. Pattern detection is essential to our very survival as a species. As social justice activists and educators, we have developed a keen awareness to repeated cy...

Are you a racial justice educator who: Is frustrated by the resistance and fragility you experience among people you hope to bring along on the equity journey? Has felt that traditional anti-racist/anti-oppression approaches offer useful strategies but also seem imbalanced, one-sided or ineffective? Has experienced, or want to avoid, emotional burnout, and want a way of doing the work that is more...

Join host Annahid Dashtgard and guests as with the advent of Nowrooz (Persian New Year) on March 21, we explore the fine line between celebrating diverse cultures vs. appropriating them. Taking Rumi as an example, we look at the western love affair with Rumi, one divorced from his Islamic heritage and roots.  What questions do we need to develop respectful relationships with other cultures? H...

What are the common understandings of why we celebrate Black History Month and for whom do we celebrate it? Are the moments of pride for Black communities the same as the national narratives and how are the continued protests for civil rights framed by both? This cafe explores how Black History Month both helps and hinders forward movement for the Black community. How much are we talking about cur...

The US is in a political crisis due to unclear election results. What is clear is that US democracy is broken, with at least half the electorate voting for an authoritarian leader who is racist, corrupt and undermines democracy on a daily basis. Regardless of who actually becomes president, the implications are global in nature, especially for minoritized peoples. the next 50 years are being descr...