We Create Conditions for Paradigm Shifts
What’s with all the pics of dirty windows?
We’re so glad you asked! You know how your windows just get dirty over time? You don’t really notice it happening–you don’t mean for them to get dirty–but once you see it, you realize how blurry the view is…
We use the dirty window metaphor to look at “isms,” unconscious biases, and stereotypes in a similar way.
Our brain “dirt” happens gradually over time, with our thoughts and ideas coming from family, the media, our greater society, the stories we believe about ourselves, etc., and before any of us know it, our view gets less and less clear.
SYP helps you develop tools to see your brain, others, and the world around us through clearer windows.
General FAQs
What do y'all do?
We Create Conditions for
Individuals, Groups, and Systems to
Shift Perspectives and Paradigms.
We provide STRATEGIC PLANNING, SYSTEMS DESIGN, and LEARNING & DEVELOPMENT services as well as being available for BOARD SEATS and PUBLIC SPEAKING.
Our Decolonized Methodology is called “Nature Responsive Learning,” (“NRL”) and it continually evolves from 30+ years using applied Psychology and Neuroscience, Systems Thinking, Intersectionality, Embodied Cognition, and Experiential Learning principles.
Please note these snapshots of our services are simply “30-second” versions and not comprehensive of what we do.
These group experiences generate long-term outcomes although they can be used as an intervention for immediate results or to address an immediate need.
For groups that are ready to reduce dependency on outsourcing, one of our favorite services is to train your people how to self-facilitate effective, adaptive, and sustainable engagements amongst yourselves.
As CONSULTANTS we provide expertise so you can address specific business problems, or develop your business as a whole related to diversity, equity, justice, accessibility, or inclusion topics. In this capacity we deal with the overall organization, processes and systems, but not necessarily the individuals within it (our Group Workshops work with individuals).
Specifically we can help to operationalize inclusive systems, and edit, oversee, develop or guide as you create strategic and learning plans and modernize your processes, materials, Social Media or other public content.
Available for BOARD SERVICE, we are able to connect you to people with broad, deep, and diverse points of views and lived experiences beyond a ticked box. For Boards ready for meaningful and active engagement we happily fulfill Board, Advisory, Steering, and Ad Hoc seats in corporations, small or large organizations, and civic or NGOs.
When you seek PUBLIC SPEAKERS who come with unique, impactful perspectives to elevate your conversations, SYP is happy to connect you with individuals or groups of people for Keynote, Panel, Symposium, Focus Group, Moderator, Podcast, Content Creation or other roles.
I've been to other workshops for these topics, what's different about yours?
TL;DR: SYP’s Methodology brings lasting awareness to your “dirty windows,” personalizes the issues, and teaches you tools to create change within your home, your life, work and community.
- Our work stems from the neuroscience understanding that because of how our brains operate (mostly behind the scenes, subconsciously), each of our brain’s primary objective is to keep us alive, and it achieves this by automating life and simplifying information that rises to our consciousness.
As a result of this intended help however, our brains can oversimplify things and as an unintended result, we see ourselves and those like us as “insiders” and everyone else as “outsiders.” This “us/ them” pattern leads to subconscious actions in subtle micro- and overt macro-aggressive (or even helpless) ways, and passive or active participation in larger, oppressive systems in our homes, schools, communities and larger global systems.
The “dirty window” metaphor leading into these FAQs is used to normalize this awareness, and our approach helps you pull back the curtain on your brain in order to process through guilt, fear, shame and blame so you can take action to create lasting change.
- Data we’ve gathered from our own 30+ years of experience refining and adapting this Methodology (the inspiration for which has origins dating to the late 1920s) shows that when issues are personalized, putting faces to them so to speak, there is increased engagement, interest, and action taken as a result.
Ultimately, if an issue doesn’t personally impact us or someone we know, by our brains’ design it really doesn’t register on our radar. In a very tongue-in-cheek synopsis of how our brains narrow our choices, there is a view that since we only have a finite amount of cares (aka
s) to give on any day, week, year, or in our lifetime, we shouldn’t be giving those cares away so easily! So, before you know it, your brain is looking at “others” through that very dusty window, and since they aren’t on our radar personally anyways, we simply don’t give a
Our approach narrows the divide between “us” and “them.”
Your founder looks white; shouldn't I be hiring more visibly diverse consultants?
You statistically and anecdotally will benefit from seeking out and working with people and groups that represent a wide range of thinking, backgrounds, experiences, etc., that’s the whole point of this work!!!
By simply asking this question you’re one step further on this learning journey!
SYP programs have been and are developed with teams (not just token amounts) of group insiders who relate to each topic or “ism,” as well as other stakeholders, thought leaders and community members. Depending on the work you are hiring SYP for you may encounter a wide range of folx we work with depending on your needs and objectives.
In full transparency, none of what SYP offers has ever been, will be, or is, a one-and-done solution.
It has taken centuries to get where we are today, and there is zero agreement as to what the “best” answer is for any of these topics. There is no individual, or company, or coach–or anything in life really–that meets the expectations, needs, hopes and perspectives of everyone, period.
No individual can speak for everyone in a group.
No panel can express monolithic views of a group.
No group is exactly the same in every aspect of their identity.
This work is a journey, a process, a life-long practice where the goal is growth, learning, understanding, connections…
“Perfection”
is. simply. not. real.
Yes, our founder looks hhwhhhite. She was mixed by a Native mom and white dad, and her dual-perspective is why she considers this her life’s work. Shaped by experiences intersecting across poverty, childhood trauma, being a woman, domestic partner violence, and processing through mental/emotional barriers, her view from being between worlds and acutely aware of her skin privilege has often contributed to her not wanting to “take up space.”
However, witnessing her own healing and brain’s plasticity mandates her to not stifle her own voice out of colorism, shame or blame, doubt or fear. In her own words,
“If I can help explain this stuff; if I can help other activists, marginalized, or privileged folx; to bolster their brains to create more full, present lives; if I can help even one other trauma survivor free themself from their past–
if not now…….when?!”
Private Coaching FAQs
What is coaching? Is it therapy, or a mentor? Something totally different?
While many tools and approaches to this work share some similarities and even results, there are differences too. Please note that the following snapshots are in no way definitive or comprehensive.
SYP works primarily as COACH, FACILITATOR, and CONSULTANT, and are NOT therapists or counselors.
These group experiences generate long-term outcomes although they can be used as an intervention for immediate results or to address an immediate need.
As CONSULTANTS we provide expertise so you can address specific business problems, or develop your business as a whole related to DEJAI topics. In this capacity we deal with the overall organization, processes and systems, but not necessarily the individuals within it (our Group Workshops work with individuals).
Specifically we can help to operationalize inclusive systems, and edit, oversee, develop or guide as you modernize your processes, materials, Social Media or other public content.
COUNSELING and THERAPY
Counselors and Therapists are licensed medical professionals who help their clients find relief from psychological or physical symptoms, or emotional and mental pain. This approach is equipped to address the client’s underlying mental health and is more likely to involve understanding and working with past experience than coaching does.
While these professionals and coaches may both work with clients who feel uncomfortable or are perhaps dissatisfied with their life, coaches are not able to offer medical support or advice in any way, nor should clients interpret coaching to be a substitute for professional mental health services.
SYP is neither counselor nor therapist.
MENTORING
Mentoring may be most similar to coaching, and is when someone with considerable experience and expertise in the individual’s line of business and/or role gives advice and serves as a role model to help someone learn or develop faster than they might do alone. Mentoring involves wide ranging discussions that may or may not be limited to the work context.
Both mentoring and coaching are concerned mainly with achievements in the present and the future, however mentoring may tend to focus on the future, career development, and broadening an individual’s horizons, whereas coaching may tend to focus more on the here and now and solving immediate problems or issues.
SYP as an organization is able to mentor activists in the realm of inclusive systems and curriculum design.
Can you explain a bit more?
Private Coaching One-on-One:
Are you happy with your life and outcomes?
Do you love and accept yourself unconditionally?
Have you wanted to move beyond trauma, improve your quality of life, and feel day-to-day evidence of your healing?
Do you want to take an honest look at yourself and work through guilt, shame, blame, or resentment?
Do you want to be a better ally?
Has your sense of “wokeness” been questioned lately?
Are you or your public persona under a microscope for your personal beliefs?
Is your professional reputation linked to your company’s politics or vice versa?
Whether you are coming to this work willingly with excitement, nervously dragging your heels a bit, or frankly think this is b.s., that’s all ok!
Private, one-on-one coaching helps you identify opportunities in your thinking, and illuminates ways for your brain to redirect itself in order to meet your goals and achieve your desired outcomes!
Typical coaching is similar to working with a personal trainer: you’ll learn how to exercise (
your brain
) with direct feedback and guidance, and in between sessions you’ll be responsible for
“working out”
your new brain tricks. The effort you dedicate to this is proportionate to the results you can achieve.
Timeframes vary widely and can be ad hoc in reaction, or regular and proactive.
Would coaching be right for me?
You are the only one able to answer that question, but here are some thoughts and contexts that may help you decide.
Keep in mind that prior to working with SYP, whether that’s one-on-one or for group programs, there is an intake process that helps determine if we are mutually a great fit to work with each other. So don’t sweat it if you’re not 100% sure.
There are no hard rules or guides for this, and the Coaching/Client relationship is fluid and flexible enough to pivot or adapt as needed, however in general to really get your money’s worth, Coaching and Thought Work require an ability for you to be present with your emotions and thoughts.
That inherently means you WILL feel feelings throughout the process so…
If you find it difficult to stay present;
If you find yourself “checking out” or dissociating for extended periods;
If your brain just tells you to run as fast as you can from feeling alllll the feelings…..
then you may serve yourself by first practicing staying present & feeling the sensations, and then revisiting Coaching once you have the ability to not “run” when your brain screams at you.
To be crystal clear though, our brains will always be screaming at us to fight, flee, freeze or fawn–that means they’re doing their job!
You know you’re ready when you can tolerate some feels, and when you ask your brain to kindly take a seat and hush up: it does for a bit!
Have you recently begun to explore–or touch the surface of–past traumas, intersections, or life circumstances which impact your day-to-day life?
- Yes?
- If scratching the surface feels too overwhelming or you’re having a hard time staying present,
- Yes?
You may find that Therapy or Counseling first or in conjunction with Coaching will better prepare you with insights and tools for you to then draw upon, in order to best maximize what Coaching can do for you.
- No?
- If you’re able to sit with and in your feelings enough to not run for the hills;
- If you have the drive, desire, and/or willingness to “go there,”
- If you have an ability and the basic language to express your thoughts and feelings; or
- If you’ve “been there, done that” so to say or have some insight into your patterns,
- No?
then you’re probably ready for Coaching!
Does the thought of deepening your resiliency, self-knowledge, self-care, and self-fulfillment tingle anywhere in your body?
Does the idea of exploring and embodying your power and potential make you a touch queasy perhaps, but feel exciting?
Are you curious how to better stand in your strength to help yourself, your community, the world?
- Yes?
- Coaching can help propel all of this! Our Coaching is based in Thought Work skills that yield results equal to your efforts.
- We believe and observe that when each individual has these tools to create, to ground oneself, to shift perspectives, those individuals go on to create larger change within our homes, our communities, and our systems. (This is the “trick” to using neuroscience to create change.)
- No?
- If your response to those thoughts are not intriguing, if they provoke sensations that you aren’t interested in exploring, then Coaching may not be where you are at right now.
- And that’s okay! We’ll still be here when you’re ready…whenever you arrive will be the right time!
- Yes?
Who is your ideal coaching client?
SHORT ANSWER:
Are you a human?
Do you have a brain?
Are there areas in your life you’d like to change?
Cool, cool, cool…..then sign up!!!
LONGER ANSWER:
All levity aside and taking into account our response to the preceding FAQ
:
We looooooooove helping you see the your brain comes up with! Coaching is a unique process that pretty much anyone with an iota of curiosity will benefit from!
For a long time we admittedly couldn’t figure out how or when or why to get coaching even for ourselves, but the more we practice it, the answer is simply this:
Get coaching when you want different outcomes in your life.
Will it make you happy forever?
No.
Coaching helps you figure out how you want to roll with the punches that life deals out.
Life isn’t always happy. Do you want to be happy if a loved one dies? Probably not, so there’s proof alone that life ain’t always cake and winning and puppies. Happiness is only a part of life, no matter what the internet says.
Do you need it to “fix” yourself?
No.
Coaching is about helping you love and accept yourself unconditionally.
As you are now.
You, my dears, are not perfect. Neither are we. No-one is. There is no such thing, therefore nothing to “fix“–it’s an impossible paradox!
One can only determine, for (y)ourself, consciously, what you want out of life, how you want to go about it, and learn how to be the lead character in your own life’s story!!!
Is it something that we do for you?
No.
Coaches guide you, but you alone have the wisdom and insight within your brain already!
We help illuminate your path and see things perhaps your brain is disguising, but your answers are yours alone, and they will be uncovered when you put some thought to it.
Literally.
That’s IT!
P.S. (CANDID ANSWER)
If we haaad to say who our favorites are–and we’re not saying we have favorites–this is just like hypothetically cuz ya asked…we get really jazzed thinking about helping people who:
💛 want to thriiiiiiiive 💛
beyond trauma, marginalization, disenfranchisement, feeling like a victim, or feeling less than
want to feel bad. ass.
exactly how you are and take on the world
want to face your sh*t
own your stuff, face your privilege, and NOT feel like sh*t about it
want to help yourself
to help others to help themselves to help us to help the world
want to experience freedom
that knowing and changing your mind can bring
want MORE than a slice
of the pie
, you want the orchard
, the tools
and the whole damn recipe
!
Group Work FAQs
I’ve been to other workshops about the same topics, what’s different about SYP programs?
brings lasting awareness to the “dirty windows” (unconscious biases)
gives you faces to the issues (narrows the divide between “us” and “them”), and
teaches you tools to create change within your home, your life, work and community (leveraging how brains work).
- Our work stems from the neuroscience understanding that because of how our brains operate (mostly behind the scenes, subconsciously), each of our brain’s primary objective is to keep us alive, and it achieves this by automating life and simplifying information that rises to our consciousness.
As a result of this intended help however, our brains can oversimplify things and as an unintended result, we see ourselves and those like us as “insiders” and everyone else as “outsiders.” This “us/them” pattern leads to subconscious actions (in subtle micro- and overt macro-aggressive ways), and passive or active participation in larger, oppressive systems in our homes, schools, communities and global systems.
The “dirty window” metaphor leading into the FAQs is used to normalize this awareness, and our approach helps you pull back the curtain on your brain in order to process through guilt, fear, shame and blame so you can take action to create lasting change.
- Data we’ve gathered from our own 30+ years of experience refining and adapting this Methodology (the inspiration for which has origins dating to the 1950s) shows that when issues are personalized, putting faces to them so to speak, there is increased engagement, interest, and action taken as a result.
Ultimately, if an issue doesn’t personally impact us or someone we know, by our brains’ design it really doesn’t register on our radar. In a very tongue-in-cheek synopsis of how our brains narrow our choices, there is a view that since we only have a finite amount of cares to give on any day, week, year, or in our lifetime, we shouldn’t be giving those cares away so easily! So, before you know it, your brain is looking at “others” through that very dusty window, and since they aren’t on our radar personally anyways, we simply don’t care.
Our approach narrows the divide between “us” and “them.”
Can you explain a bit more?
Our pleasure! Here are a few examples of how SYP’s unique approach can help your Group:
Has your team experienced a crisis, internally or externally around these topics?
Is your team challenged by evolving cultural norms, expectations, and perceptions?
Do you want your group to increase innovation, resiliency, understanding, and capacity?
Does your organization need to meet public, client, or shareholder expectations that are blank spots for your teams?
Is your group running on empty or in danger of burnout?
Do you want to experience a life-changing paradigm shift that can impact future generations?
SYP group work is highly customized around the individual and group goals, challenges, and strengths unique to each group.
Once the program is customized, the in-person and/ or virtual sessions can be implemented across a variety of time structures that work with your constraints, as well as scaled up and/or rolled out to additional groups of stakeholders if you are part of a larger organization.
Follow-up support and optional one-on-one coaching can further integrate the experience for participants.
Would Group Work be right for us or me?
Through our intake process, we’ll collaborate with you to ensure we are a mutually-good fit to work with each other, but in the meantime, here are some thoughts and contexts that may help you decide.
Does your group have a workable level of cooperation, respect, and cohesion for and with each other?
- Yes?
- That’s a great starting point! The skills y’all already have are the foundation from where SYP can take your group. Although SYP programs are highly customizable and able to be used in groups without that set point, groups that are functioning already are able to dive in more quickly to nurture, address, and maximize aspects of their unique dynamics.
- No?
- We can still meet you where y’all are at too! Even with groups struggling with respect, cohesion, or cooperation, the core of our approach is rooted in one-to-one and small group interactions, which will reduce barriers amongst your people, and begin to seed new perspectives. Over time, your group may utilize longer-term aspects of SYP programs, adding more foundational blocks.
- Yes?
Is your group ready and interested in “in-sourcing” versus outsourcing?
- Yes?
- Then we’re a match! After decades of doing this work, it is painfully obvious that there is no singular answer, solution, or linchpin to create sustainable, resilient change. As a result, we are primarily interested in working with those who understand that more and more people need to learn and practice these skills, rather than repeating cycles of “let’s hire someone to come in for 2 days and then we can move on”👀 only to realize later that you still don’t know how to do it. Look, you can pay us over and over, but the only way through it, is to do it, so we are most effective when we can coach, support, and train you and your people to fish for yourselves!
- No?
- We can and will still help! Even with groups who may not have a mindset that you have the skills and wisdom in your own teams yet, we can get you started and build from there. We scaffold support strategies for groups at all stages because this is the journey, not the destination. If your group persistently resists autonomy or taking action internally, then SYP would at some point refer you outwards.
- Yes?
Is your group in the midst of a crisis or pressing challenge related to topics around identity, “isms,” or diversity?
- Yes?
- We’ll work with y’all to identify where tension or breakdowns are stemming from, and identify actionable ways to work towards repairs internally or externally. Within stress periods, the group energy will be focused on grounded, tangible ways to stabilize and “get out of the weeds.”
- No?
- Even in periods of calm, all organizations benefit from working on skills to boost resiliency, flexibility, and innovation. When your group is in a calm state, group resources go directly to creation and practice.
- Yes?
Are you an individual who wants to go deeply into your personal work, alongside others who share relatable life experiences?
- Yes?
- Our Group Sessions are right up your alley! Even if you’re not coming with others as an organization, we offer periodic cohorts for individuals matched by identity group, goal, or interest area in a “Choose Your Own Adventure” journey unlearning mindset traps. You’ll process your discoveries in small groups of other folx who are decolonizing themselves too!
- No?
- If a group setting to process this stuff isn’t your cup of tea, then perhaps Private One-on-One Coaching would be the starting point, or group sessions within an organization you belong to.
- Yes?
What makes for successful Group Work?
We reiterate that through our intake process, we’ll collaborate to ensure we’re a mutually-good fit to work with each other, but generally, here are some attributes of what all parties experience as having been “successful” group work:
Y’all:
- Learn shared language, frameworks, and tools, which reduces cognitive load for your people.
- When the going gets tough (aka conflict, tension, or change), our brains start to default to old patterns. This is NOT the moment to go in circles or explore the weeds, so having a shared understanding saves time by helping everyone focus energy on the issue at hand.
- Learn how to insource and self-facilitate, which compounds investments, and increases sustainability, resiliency, and autonomy.
- Tbh, we could sell you endless workshops that we do for you…however, that is not in line with our mission and values. We know that the only way significant systemic change and healing will happen is for more and more people to learn and practice the tools. Groups that “insource” are more likely to generate ongoing and sustainable progress as they evolve and adapt, eventually reducing the dependency on outside sources.
- Normalize learning and change stages, which increases psychological safety.
- Look. There are real, tangible harms that exist in our systems. And change is uncomfortable, period. (It’s actually meant to be uncomfortable, otherwise the brain won’t be bothered to change!) We’re not selling you blissful comfort for the rest of days, but, by normalizing and acknowledging the discomfort and ickiness, your teams and organization build tolerance to the side effects while mitigating harms.
If a cold is working its way through your team, you don’t shun each other as toxic a**holes–you just know people are under the weather. Similarly, recognizing the “ouches,” tension, and awkwardness that are normal as humans fumble through learning and adapting allow you to clearly define and practice which “first aid” is needed in each situation. This creates containers where making mistakes is normal and accepted as progress, while also preventing harm and damage, so the vibe or culture doesn’t disintegrate into apathy, division, or toxicity.
While We:
- Transition from lead to supporting roles: initially more active with upfront facilitation and leadership, then to a behind-the-scenes supporting coach and mentor role as your teams develop skills and capacity.
Consulting FAQs
Can you give an idea of what you do?
Whatever point of the journey your organization is at, SYP Consulting can:
- Provide easy-to-implement methods for conscientious content creation, editing, and iteration;
- Aid in modernizing your materials and tools, operationalizing systems of inclusion within your culture and framework;
- Support your organization, your C-Suite, staff and board through systemic, cultural, or structural change; and
- Amplify and exponentially increase the value of your current and future DEJAI investments and actions.
Read on to identify where your organization may be.
- Consulting for Processes and Systems:
Do your internal systems need an update to “future-proof?”
Has your organization been called out for being outdated or problematic?
Are your levels of employee satisfaction and retention not where you want?
Are your DEJAI metrics below goals?
Does your board need a wider range of perspectives?
Have you talked the talk, but haven’t walked the walk yet?
Has your company escaped criticism so far and you want to avoid pitfalls?
Is your organization pretty progressive and looking to fine-tune some aspects in these areas?
Is your group wanting to push the envelope of progressive thinking and leadership?
Has your organization “said yes” to DEJAI initiatives but realized you’re missing the needed skills?
Maybe your team just needs a bit of air in the tires from burnout or uncertainty.
Perhaps some of your tire is bare and you need a retread to meet current best-practices.
Possibly your company has a flat tire and needs an immediate spare fix after being called out publicly.
Maybe your organization has driven on the flat for so long the axle’s broken and needs serious help to repair and restore team & client faith in you…
Looking at any great accomplishment—did it come from a comfort zone or a growth point?
When organizations develop skills and processes that allow them and their members to embrace and welcome change, everyone wins.
Most if not all businesses benefit from change, as it builds resiliency and the ability to better meet client needs, which of course can then increase bottom lines.
This is an interesting time for organizations where the wheels don’t have to be reinvented, but your organizational choices, values, and culture can evolve so you thrive in our changing world.
SYP supports organizations as they evolve for the future.
- Diversity Consulting for Beauty, Fashion, & Media Industries:
SYP’s Founder has a unique perspective having worked inside these industries for decades, in tandem with her DEJAI experience. This dual view can help your brand explore and address the complexities that come from crossing cultures and continents, as well as the challenges that a fluid and largely independent workforce can bring.
We help Fashion, Beauty, and Media brands utilize their abundant creative strengths to reconcile optics, industry standards, practices and values to meet rapidly evolving shareholder and public perceptions and expectations.
Our organization is already diverse, why would we need you?
That’s a great question we’ll answer with some context first.
Diversity, Equity, Justice, Accessibility, and Inclusion (DEJAI*) is a name for our sector because the words represent quite different concepts within the Social Change Ecosystem.
An easy to understand analogy from University of Michigan’s Chief Diversity Officer, Robert Sellers, captures the difference well:
Diversity is where everyone is invited to the party
Equity means that everyone gets to contribute to the playlist
**Justice ensures effective checks & balances for fun & safety
**Accessibility helps everyone get in and participate without barriers
Inclusion means that everyone has the opportunity to dance
So Answer This:
Are the people you see as representative of diversity in your company routinely and substantially:
- visible, vocal and active at decision making tables?
- contributing equally to meetings and decisions in meaningful ways?
- able to access and participate in broad levels of the operations, culture, and efforts of the organization?
« AND »
- are there effective systems in place to routinely evaluate, address, and course-correct when any of the above aspects fall short?
If any of your answers are no, even though your organization may be doing great in one area, you (and many other organizations) have an opportunity to learn and grow in other aspects, and that’s totally normal–welcome to the dance!!! The moves you’re going to learn on this journey will make you a hit, increasing your achievements, improving staff satisfaction, and strengthening your position as your organization evolves for the future!
(*As mentioned in Disclaimer Two below our FAQs, language evolves constantly and the above DEI explanation is a prime example! Not long ago the first 3 concepts in Mr. Sellers’s analogy were common to describe this work, and justice was an inherent and/or implied component of many change efforts.
However, the recent global awakening that zeroes in on the (In)Justice aspect is emphasizing a long overdue “official” inclusion. Similarly, Accessibility is being finally recognized as critical for global well-being, as it enhances everyone’s life.
**Our expansion to Mr. Sellers’s analogy: all dances need a DEJAI!)
Public Speaking FAQs
Can you give some more information please?
- Public Speaking:
Do you want to deepen conversations with more nuance, diversity, and added value?
Do your panels dance around tough topics without “going there?”
What conversations could you facilitate to better meet your mission?
How can your organization “walk the talk” and hold space for differing perspectives?
What piece of these movements can you steward and help develop?
SYP has a plethora of humans we can connect you with that represent the gamut of identities, experiences, viewpoints, and opinions.
Whether a moderator, an individual voice, or entire panels or focus group participants, SYP sees beyond visible and invisible differences to match you with folx who have clear and strong messages, content, perspectives, and ideas.
Commonalities amongst them are:
- an understanding of Intersectional impacts within and amongst different systems, topics and “isms;”
- centering of BILAPOC and marginalized perspectives; and
- finding connections and solutions.
Board Support FAQs
Do you have people that are available for Board seats?
Yes! Amongst our vast network of diverse humans, we are able to connect you with candidates to meet your needs.
Whether For-Profit to Non-Profit, Advisory, Steering, or other Board seats, our candidate pool represents a full spectrum of varying identities, group memberships, educational and professional backgrounds, and focus areas.
Please email us with details of the Board; the seat; any particular qualifications, skills, or group affiliations your Board is seeking; and the position terms, and we will go from there!
Pricing FAQs
Key pricing features we’re proud to offer:
Consideration for Systemic Barriers
It’s well documented how a person’s color, education, name, accent, address or body–to name a few factors–can and does impact personal and intergenerational (financial) health. This is our way of shifting towards growth for those who have been impacted.
Sow + Grow Pricing Index
Everyone has needed help at some point. People, Groups, & Organizations who “Sow seeds” are as vital to Systemic Change as People, Groups, & Orgs that “Grow seeds.” Along our S+G Index each client can “Sow” portions of their fees to help Grow those seeds of change.
Money Forward Guarantee
Since the nature of this work isn’t a physical item and brain biases are strong, after the assessment + agreement phase, if any of our work together is unsatisfactory, you can Pay Forward any remaining or unused balances to a “Grow” client of your choice.
Accessible Payment Methods
We support alternative economy and valuation perspectives and welcome a range of compensation, including Time Banking, direct or multi-party Trades, Crypto and Digital payments, legacy formats, or any combination of the various methods as well.
Sponsored Segments
To mitigate the impact that various educational censorship efforts intend, we offer sponsored segments to fund and/or draw upon as a workaround, so restricted funding will not limit the curricula available to organizations.
Honor System
We believe in the best of people so the burden of proof is waived. If clients misrepresent core aspects of their experience, identity, or privilege, that’s a learning opportunity we’re happy to support them in, trusting it will be a significant growth point as it is discovered and they explore that choice.
We are not scholars or academics, yet we strive to credit and link to sources accurately wherever possible. We do this while also grappling with how citations, credentials, and "evidence" are often used to diminish authority in their absence. We grapple with how the concept of "ownership" is a pervasive paradigm we are actively working to untangle, as part of our decolonization approach.
Many tools and perspectives used within these realms are adapted widely, and a lot of these concepts morph from communal wisdom with no traceable or singular origin. In any instance we miss giving proper or accurate credit where there is an identifiable origin however, or in the event of outdated or broken links, please be kind *if able* to let us know, and we will correct the error or omission as quickly as we can.
Our site, materials, and programs reflect grammar, style, and communication choices that may vary from the "norm," or perhaps even be unfamiliar. These choices may prickle your senses a bit; maybe you're mentally screaming for us to use less ellipses or emoji...😬😳
We are passionate about normalizing imperfection and exploring what we've all learned about being "proper, correct, and professional." At SYP we're against "politically correct" approaches where "you're just told what to say," and instead prefer sparking conversation, curiosity, listening, slowing down, and learning.
This work can take HOOOOOOURRSSSSS of conversation determining which words to use, in which situation, for which person, by which group, or debating semantics and grammar.
We practice and champion critical thinking and thoughtfulness, period.
We also know that words, language and definitions (like "professionalism") have historically been used as weapons and tools at the worst, and as a distraction at least, so we choose to consciously limit the time devoted to doing it "perfectly."
Perfection is a farce; language is always evolving.
We will mess up.
You will mess up.
We accept messiness as a part of being human.
We choose to call-in when learning, and making mistakes.
We strive to heal cycles of violence by not perpetuating harm, even when responding to it.
Not to excuse or avoid responsibility for messes or harm, however, if we torment ourselves or each other, we simply aren't moving forward.
Let's take these steps together👣...😉eyes on the prize!!!
P.S. (As we are able and once we figure out how to code "hover tips" we'll offer our version of a glossary/reference, as well as definitions or explanations where helpful, so stay tuned!)
