Gibrán's Podcast

How do you make art for the temple? How do you make art for a temple that is itself a work of art, in a city that is defined by the awe that is its art? A temple that will hold hope and will hold grief. A temple at the heart of a place where people seek to wake up and get free. A place of pilgrimage. That you know is doomed to burn. I met JWo about 5 years ago. We worked together during my long partnership with BALLE (the Business Alliance for Local Living Economies), now Common Future. Our relationship has only deepened over the years. And this year we saw each other at Burning Man. But JWo was not just another participant in the impossible experiment that is life in Black Rock City. She was there as part of the Temple Crew. And the art that she had made was the very centerpiece of this year’s temple. I jumped at the opportunity to interview her, and give you a chance to get to know her. Take a listen! Find out more about J-Wo and our other podcasts on the website www.gibranrivera.com

I am coming into contact with people who hold light, wisdom and hope. Powerful humans who embody the possibility of something new. Jamila Reddy is one such human. She is a Brooklyn-based, North-Carolina raised, Black queer, Buddhist writer, healer, thinker, doer, and dreamer. I am quite intentional about having conversations across generations. And I am learning so much from this millennial person who is obsessed with teaching others how to get out of their own way so they can see a path forward towards the life of their dreams. In this wide ranging conversation we talk about being black and young when Michael Brown was murdered by police. We talk about the transformative medicine of grief. About what it takes to let go of your limiting beliefs. Getting out of your own way. Burning Man. And radical self expression. I have no doubt that you will be moved by this podcast. Take the time and listen closely.

Lawrence and Austin high-jacked the podcast this month! They wanted you to hear more about my vision. And how I think about my work. We talked about my life-shaping moments. About what it means to be an Alchemist (and NOT a Guru). Along with everything that’s been on my mind these days, from Tony Robbins to the evolution of consciousness to burning man and movement fundamentalism. Take a listen. Let me know what you think.

Sage Crump is the New Chief Architect of Emergent Strategy at the Emergent Strategy Ideation Institute. The adoption of the Emergent Strategy Framework articulated by adrienne maree brown, the rapid spread of Emergent Strategy Trainings and the birth of the Ideation Institute are among the most exciting things happening in movement space right now. It is the adoption of a whole new way of thinking about how we do the work of changing everything. We are lucky to have her in this role. Sage is a wisdom holder, she is a facilitator, an artists with the Complex Movements Artist Collective and a brilliant theory head. Our conversation was as stimulating as it was healing. There is something for you here. Enjoy!

Meet Keya Chatterjee, executive director of US Climate Action Network. I met Keya when I facilitated the Young Climate Leaders Network. A beautiful fellowship program. Here we talk about the power of networks and the importance of taking time to cultivate relationship in our movement spaces. Keya knows that we must relinquish the idea of powerlessness. It is our only hope to end the climate crisis. This is no easy task, but her work with USCAN seeks to do just that.

I have been blessed to work with Deepa at Solidarity Summit for the past five years. She is a gifted facilitator, writer, activist and lawyer. In this podcast she speaks of the building blocks for real solidarity work. And how important it is to be grounded in your truth while understanding that there are many different perspectives. This is not an easy task. It takes a lot of self-reflection that we fail to build into our organizations or movements.

Everyone wants to feel like they belong. We can’t “other” people and then ask them to join us. We need spaces of belonging. Meet my friend Anasa Troutman. CEO of Culture Shift Creative. A strategist and storyteller who is wise beyond her years. She radiates a deeply cultivated love. And she wields creativity as a path of transformation. For more information, check out her website: http://www.anasatroutman.com/

Meet Quanita Robertson, master facilitator, circle holder, author and all around wise woman.  She brings a refreshing perspective on race, reconciliation and stages of human development. Quanita looks at the world with an eye to initiation. She concerns herself with the archetypal realms. Quanita and Tenneson Woolf are about to launch the Fire & Water Leadership Rites of Passage Cohort. Additional Links: Coaching and Organizational Development (www.nzuzu.com) Fire & Water Leadership/Rites of Passage Cohort(www.fireandwaterleadership.weebly.com) Fire & Water Podcast(www.fireandwater.podbean.com) Quanita’s Books:Soul Growing: Wisdom for 13 year old boys from men around the world Soul Growing: Wisdom for 13 year old girls from men around the world

Meet Isoke Femi. Imaginal practitioner, master facilitator and founder of Soul Matters. An elder of the movement with more than 30 years of experience in the work of transformation. She is co-founder of the Todos Alliance Building Institute and co-author of No Boundaries: A Manual for Unlearning Oppression and Building Multicultural Alliances. Isoke is a fountain of wisdom. She has devoted her life to the work of unlearning oppression. Illuminating power at the intersection of spirit and culture. https://www.soulmatters.center/intro

Meet Jay-Marie Hill. Evolutionary Leadership Cohort of 2018. Activist, musician, and educator who lives a life designed to help our world ascend beyond gendered and racialized norms. Tune in. Experience the way Jay-Marie brings us into the fullness of their heart while moving us with their piercing intellect. Listen, learn and feel. And please support the Black Trans & GNC Bike Ride. Let’s honor the truth held in these bodies. Jay-Marie Hill is a musician and Founder of Music Freedom Dreams. They are currently organizing and fundraising for The Black Trans Bike Experience, which is a 5 day 160 mile bike ride for black trans and gender non-conforming riders. The ride will conclude in DC on September 28, just in time for the first Trans March on DC. This bike ride aims to deepen rider’s connection to body, mind, and spirit. Trans and GNC folks deserve more than just the ability to survive, they deserve joy and freedom. DONATE HERE: https://www.blacktrans.bike/support

Meet Colette Pichon-Battle, culture holder, bayou woman, community healer, fierce advocate. Listen to this voice of moral clarity coming from the front lines of climate change. Colette’s sense of urgency is matched by a deep wisdom of the heart. By her trust in the power of community, and by her belief that we can heal and rise together. Colette Pichon Battle is the Executive Director of the Gulf Coast Center for Law & Policy (GCCLP), working on issues of global migration, community economic development, climate justice and equitable disaster recovery. She has prioritized working with local communities, national funders and elected officials around equity in the post-Katrina/post-BP disaster Gulf Coast. She was a lead coordinator for Gulf South Rising 2015, a regional initiative around climate justice and just transition in the South, and in 2014 Colette was selected for the Young Climate Justice National Fellowship based on her work with coastal communities of color.

Next on the Evolutionary Leadership Podcast is this interview with Malia Lazu. Principal at the UrbanLabs, culture creator and brilliant strategist. She is also one of my best friends. Here you get a peep into 20 years of co-evolution through friendship. Friendship between people who have devoted our lives to the work of liberation. I find it amazing that we have evolved along such similar trajectories. You’ll learn about activating the power of cultural competency. We talk about how the work of diversity, equity and inclusion should be joyful. Not painful. Because it should feel great to be different together. You’ll learn about experimentation. About the work of spirit and how it is expressed through audience participation. Next on the Evolutionary Leadership Podcast is this interview with Malia Lazu. Principal at the UrbanLabs, culture creator and brilliant strategist. She is also one of my best friends. Here you get a peep into 20 years of co-evolution through friendship. Friendship between people who

In this next episode of the Evolutionary Leadership Podcast we take a deep dive into facilitation. We talk about big change, about trauma, about embodiment, radical responsibility and the need for brave spaces. It is an interview with my friend and colleague, Tuesday Ryan-Hart of Find the Outside. This episode comes with an invitation. I’m curious to see who will take us up. It is not always easy to talk about the work that I do. There is so much of it that just needs to be experienced. I cherish the opportunity to talk with a woman that holds space with me. Because together we can shed more light into why and how we do this thing we do. Enjoy! And please tell us what you think.

In our third episode I interview Nashira Baril. Nashira attended the Evolutionary Leadership Workshop in 2015. She came to work on her dream of building Boston’s first birth center. Nearly four years later that dream is seeded and well on it’s way to bloom. Check out the birth center’s website at https://neighborhoodbirthcenter.org/ and listen in to learn more about this project, the meaningful implications of this work and how you can get involved.

In our second episode Kendra Hicks teaches us about The Estuary Projects and how the future is birthed by the apocalypse. Remembering is the first part, the second part is experimentation. How can we be as deeply connected to an unseen future?

We are thrilled to introduce the first ever Evolutionary Leadership Podcast! I invite you into conversation with remarkable people who have devoted their lives to the evolution of consciousness and culture. (This is our first, your feedback will be helpful!) In this episode I interview author Cyndi Suarez, who has just released The Power Manual, a book on how to master complex power dynamics. Cyndi is one of my dearest friends. And she has written a book for our time. The social movements of our day have a conflicted relationship with power, endlessly deconstructing its evils while actively yearning for it. We forget that in any conflict the tendency is to become the mirror image of your opponent. There is great confusion between the struggle for power and the quest of liberation. Cyndi has written a comprehensive operations manual for living into the tension of these distinctions and quite literally enacting our way to freedom. I had a blast talking to her, teasing out her ideas and learning more about h