For those that didn't know, the power grid went dark and mainland Spain (minus the Balearic and Canary Island systems), Portugal and parts of France lost power for 8-18 hours depending on where you were in the country. If you tried to get in touch yesterday and couldn't reach me, this is why. The wildest thing is that it also included our phone service, which is clearly enough to send even the most resilient into an instant panic. What got me, though, is two things, which I dove a bit deeper into on LinkedIn earlier today. 1. As a survivor of borderline poverty (I say borderline because I rarely truly went hungry and have always if nothing else had a roof over my head) as a child and teenager, the way my nervous system immediately went into "power save" mode to calculate the best route to pick up my child, grab a few supplies and (literally) camp out on the patio and cook over an open fire until the sun went down was really surprising. I didn't know quite how far my chill-in-the-face-of-utter-chaos has come until yesterday. 2. The amount of people that were as physically unprepared as they were psychologically unprepared for having absolutely no long-distance communication in addition to no power supply got me thinking a lot about privilege: social, geographical and situational. I say situational because many of the people panicking were not the ones stuck on trains, planes, cars and elevators with absolutely no way out for hours before rescuers and civilians showed up to help. I don't say any of this to diminish anyone's panic yesterday, but I am increasingly aware that what happened to us here yesterday can happen anywhere, at anytime. The worst here was a total collapse of our transport systems with delays at train stations, airports and on highways that will take days or more to re-regulate.

Liberation education should not be a luxury—especially in these times. After weeks of following the traffic to the website and crunching the numbers, I made the decision to let go and let YOU all decide what you can contribute in order to attend (and support) The Future of DEI Virtual Summit. Click here to pay what you can from $5 USD for general access to the summit, which includes live and replay access to all 30+ hours of sessions. As a business owner, this is a scary and risky move to make. There's no denying that. But as an impact founder—and your coach—it is imperative to me that no one miss out on this important set of conversations due to financial limitations, job insecurity, or economic uncertainty. These guests, many of whom are in this community, deserve a full room of devoted change makers just as much as you all deserve the opportunity to share space with them on this occasion. So if you or someone you know has been hesitating due to the cost, please accept this gift. All I ask in return is that you show up. And REALLY show up. That means: 1. Please don't hesitate. Early sales are critical to the success of this summit. Click here to purchase your Pay-What-You-Can Pass. If you have additional support to send our way, visit TheFutureOfDEI.com/donate. 2. Share TheFutureOfDEI.com with your contacts, networks and loved ones. Your word is the best way to get the right type of folks in the room. 3. Sign up as a Future of DEI Affiliate to receive a personalized 10% discount code to share and receive 30% of each referral you send our way. The discount code is NOT valid for the Pay-What-You-Can Pass option, but you will still receive your commission on these referrals. 4. Share my posts on LinkedIn to help us spread the word. I have a feeling this is going to be an organic effort—all hands on deck in every way. Thank you for helping us lift this boat!