Real Talk & Brave Spaces will help your organization along your diversity, equity & inclusion journey by leveraging the power of vulnerable and candid facilitated discussions, lectures, interactive workshops, and coaching.
Let’s get comfortable with being uncomfortable.
Real Talk & Brave Spaces provides trauma-informed group facilitation, interactive workshops, lectures, and one-on-one coaching about a variety of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) topics. I cultivate spaces where individuals and groups can fearlessly confront the most uncomfortable elements of DEI. Avoidance of those uncomfortable elements stifles progress at any sort of large or small business, non-profit organization, school, place of worship, etc. towards having a more diverse, equitable, and inclusive environment.
Camille Leak (she/her): a DEI educator, somatic practitioner, and trauma-healing facilitator.
I'm not doing my job if I don't do two things: 1) tell you how DEI impacts your bottom line, e.g., how it makes you money, drives growth, or increases relevancy and 2) make you really uncomfortable; being uncomfortable is the only way you know you are doing DEI right.
Podcast Features:
Real Talk goes past industry words like “bias,” “privilege,” and “microaggressions,” and digs into how those concepts tangibly manifest in your life and organization.
Real Talk fearlessly tackles the elephants in the room like, the concern straight, White men may be feeling; how we use coded language like “executive presence” and “cultural fit” to mask bias; when organizations support equity externally but not internally e.g. when Black or Latinx people make up the majority of hourly employees but aren’t represented in leadership, how non-Christian holidays are rarely if ever taken into consideration when planning, what it really means when we refer to someone’s sexual orientation or gender identity as a “lifestyle,” etc.
Brave Spaces allow us to be open, vulnerable, and candid with one another.
A space where we know the difference between a conversation and a debate.
A space where we use “I” statements so as not to speak for others.
A space where we actively listen rather than construct a rebuttal.
A space where we seek to understand by asking clarifying questions.
A space where we gain a better understanding of others’ experiences and perspectives rather than trying to change others’ opinions.
A space where we explore ourselves and others from a place of curiosity, not judgement.
My Approach
With tweens, teenagers or adults, there is no need to beat around the bush. I encourage participants to share in an open space what we all already know and discuss in our little niches. Sharing these thoughts, feelings and questions in “mixed company” finally allows for an exchange of ideas — not a debate — which lays the foundation for an authentically inclusive environment.
— Camille Leak