The Opt-In

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 whe...

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 kin...

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 talen...

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 col...

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...

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 j...

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 th...

 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 Mc...

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 bou...

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...

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...

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...

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 individuali...

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 n...

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...

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 an...

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 Was...

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-just...

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...

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 w...

We're back! New episodes of the Opt-in drop next week. The Opt-In is hosted by Kelly + Aurora, two socially, generationally and ethnically divergent besties getting real with honest, messy conversations. This season we're talking all about community. Subscribe on all your favorite podcast platforms. And find us know on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter @theoptin. Twitter Instagram Faceboo...

Aurora + Kelly are joined by Erica Taxin Bleznak and Lisa Lord, from Season 1's 10,000 White Women: Doing the Work episode, to reflect on Season 2 and share their growth from the last year. Find us on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter @theoptin. Twitter Instagram Facebook Produced by Rachel Ishikawa Music by Jordan McCree Hosted by Aurora Archer and Kelly Croce Sorg If you enjoyed this convers...

Layla Saad is a globally respected writer, speaker and podcast host on the topics of race, identity, leadership, personal transformation and social change. Aurora + Kelly talk with Layla about her NY Times Bestseller Me + White Supremacy, spiritual white women, and Layla's work to 'become a good ancestor' -- living and working in ways that leave a legacy of healing and liberation fo...

BONUS MINI EPISODE! Penn State Football Head Coach James Franklin shares with Aurora + Kelly his goal of being the first African-American coach to win a National Championship, how to raise daughters without entitlement and what it's like to be Black in a white sports engine. Find us on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter @theoptin. Twitter Instagram Facebook Produced by Rachel Ishikawa Music by...

Anne Devereux-Mills, an author, speaker, advocate, entrepreneur and corporate leader, was sick of transactional and boring interactions with competitive white women.  After a career spent running advertising agencies in New York and faced with some of her biggest fears come true, Anne craved authentic friendships with deep connection and in 2012, founded Parlay House, a salon-style series of gathe...