Anti-Racism Commitment
MY PROMISE TO YOU
As a Brown woman entrepreneur I stand against the racist systems that continue to plague and fester in our workplaces.
How I’m fighting racism in the workplace
I use my land acknowledgement as my personal commitment to, and appreciation for, the land and humans I am in relationship with. Land acknowledgements are a way to respect the Ancestors who cared for the land that is now caring for us.
It is also a reminder of discriminatory, racist, and colonial practices that continue to create barriers for Indigenous peoples and communities.
I’m joining Coaching for Everyone to provide pro-bono coaching to BIPOC humans.
I collaborate with contractors and employ intersectional humans providing them with above living-wage.
I provide solidarity pricing for my coaching and learning labs.
I bring a Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion lens to all of the People & Culture + HR work I do.
I reserve the right to decline projects with businesses or individuals that do not uphold the same values or commitments.
I commit to speaking on panels that are reflective of the diversity in our society.
I am committed to featuring more intersectional guests on my podcast, Intentifiers.
I am committed to remembering and fighting against systemic racism that has led to the countless Black and Indigenous lives lost due to social injustice and colonization.
I am HERE
A poem by Jodi Rai
This poem captures my experience being an intersectional human—I identify as being Punjabi, Sikh, Brown, a woman, a mother, a wife, someone with an anxiety condition and middle-class socioeconomic status.
It alludes to the systemic barriers that exist in our workplaces as well as our definitions of success. What I do not share in the poem are the steps I’ve taken to live my purpose. These steps include taking a permanent downgrade from my management position so I could work from home. Where I lost in financial health, I gained in family and spiritual health—time with my children and time to replenish my soul (autma).
A sigh of relief as I get on the bus.
My feet and head are tired but I can’t even recall from what.
My heart yearns to get home and be with my precious ones.
Our live-in nanny awaits with green-tea and peanut butter toast.
I refuel with two big gulps and five chomps.
Kisses and hugs for my first born and off with my second, music and dance await.
The constant hustle and bustle make my experiences blur.
I am a puppet with strings being pulled here and there.
No sense of control just subservient doing, saying, and being.
In the early morning I am mom, wife, and frantic ‘woman of the house’.
By mid-morning I am career woman.
As early evening approaches all four depleted roles appear.
Jodi is nowhere to be seen.
Our nanny has retired for the night.
Dinner done, a bubble bath soak, followed by bedtime stories.
My mom ‘to-do’ list is almost finished for the day.
My daughter smiles at me as I read to her.
Slowly her eyes close as she drifts to sleep.
My heart is warm and beating as I dash down the hall for round two.
I’m reading to my son.
My heart wants to be there, but my mind is willing him to go to bed.
“Fall asleep, fall asleep”, I plead silently in my brain.
I’m so tired and I’m so lost.
A stranger in a life that I have built.
A life that I wanted but yet incomplete.
My son is now asleep.
I am on our soft custom grey couch, crying.
My husband comes home and I share my day.
“A trick has been played on me”, I explain.
"I believed being a ‘good’ Punjabi girl would ensure a ‘happy’ soul."
Naïve, I realize, after today’s experience.
I have been living with intentions that were given, no, forced upon me.
Feeling internally disconnected is no way to live.
This way of living, of being, for me ends today.
I am cultivating and discovering new connections from within.
I am naming my autma dimmers and introducing them to my higher-self.
“Hello, you’ve been with me a long time.
Allow me to introduce you to Jodi, Joti, Harjot, Divine Light."
I grow into myself from the inside out.
Reclaiming and aligning is taking place.
Although petrified at times, this liberty feels and is good.
The nourishing my soul journey continues.
There are up, down, backward, forward and spiral movements.
Divine Lights’ intentions have been set.
I cocoon into the wisdom of my body and ancestry to guide my life.
I show up as my full-self, beautifully imperfect.
I honour and speak my truth to others.
I welcome learning from infinite systems.
I am SHAKTI and I am SHANTI.
I am an iridescent phoenix elevating people in their humanity on their own terms and in their own way.
With empathy, compassion, and authenticity, I. AM. HERE.
