I have had this topic on my chest for about a week, so I exercised some activation energy and decided to open up a can. I’d love for you to check out the video on LinkedIn and leave your thoughts. Feel free to discuss more in depth here if any more interest personal reflections come up. Basically, I have recently noticed an uptick in posts, comments and closed-door spaces that talk down on or downright condemn sales and anything they perceive to be sales. This includes categorizing ANY type of DM activity with innocuous networking small-talk as a prelude to a pitch which quite simply isn’t always the case. But even in some cases if it is, and it’s not a random person that clearly has not read your profile… So what? As I move into launch season for the R.I.S.E. Changemaker’s Academy, the topic of empowered, being-based sales for impact founders is top of mind for me. It is becoming certifiably more risky, although incredibly rewarding, to go solo or start a business. It’s a given that sales of some sort have to be part of the equation—which means that there has to be congruence in what we are offering and who we are offering it to. No’s are part of life—but exclusion and biased behaviors towards independent business owners shouldn’t be. Building a network you can sell to without fear of judgement is tedious but rewarding work, and none of us can (nor should) be doing it alone or at the expense of our mental health. That’s where everyone else comes in. So that’s the call-to reflection here. It’s time to de-stigmatize sales, and that starts with practicing receiving other people’s asks with more grace, compassion, and transparency. What are your thoughts about having some conversations on this topic?

Hi, all! I wanted to slide in with a quick poll to see what might be a winning day/time combo for 3 or 4-hour co-working blocks. We had success with office hours on Thursdays late morning/early afternoon US time, as well as other types of sessions on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and the occasional themed Friday. My idea of having Mondays was especially for other solopreneurs and freelancers that might need some company to get rolling at the start of the week with those working 9-5s flexing in as they are able. So far, however, no one has attended Monday co-working sessions. For those interested in co-working, what are some day of the week and time combinations that could work for you most weeks, or whenever your schedule would allow? A note that I did not add weekends to the poll as those would be one-off. Follow these instructions to vote: 1. Select your top choice relative to YOUR time zone. 2. In the comments, add additional choices relative to your time zone. 3. Lastly, specify your time zone so that I can align everyone's votes to an option that works for most. Thank you for your feedback! ✨

@Erin Corine Johnson has been so gently encouraging as I've deep-dived into absolute survival mode since February, working 2.5 jobs while refusing to give up on creating a more humane future than my present conditions. 🥰 Today, I opened my new store, RealBelonging.shop. (You can like/follow on www.facebook.com/realbelonging and Instagram @real.belonging!) A separate post in Identity & Belonging Lab is coming, with lessons learned along the way about DEI delivery and audience outreach, as Erin and I have discussed some in DMs. It's been a couple months straight of 17 hour workdays, learning new graphic design tools to upskill my drawing, learning to create and run an online business with no startup money, and 💯 walking by faith and not by sight. In celebration of this event, I just want to remind each of you today, as much as myself, that whatever is happening in your world right now: You deserve joy. You deserve cuteness. You deserve respect and nurturance. And if it's nowhere to be found right now, you have the power to create it. We will all have good things by creating them, and investing our energy in them, rather than in their opposites. I am grateful to be among this community of folks who bring so much goodness to believe in and to feel encouraged by, and who have sparked my creative resistance strategy engines (thank you, @Paul Johnson ) ... even when I disappear underwater and hold my breath for a few months to survive the waves. Coming up for air on the other side of acute struggle is always worth the swim.

Hey, Changemakers! Thank you to so many of you for joining us for Tuesday's Belonging Abroad webinar and today's REPLENISH Office Hours! Welcome to a new members that have joined us this week as well. We are so glad to have you! A reminder that office hours are available to all members of both The Haven and The Identity & Belonging Lab, so stop by at anytime on Thursdays at 8am or 12 noon Central US Time through August 30. Register by visiting the calendar tab or clicking below: Register for the AM Session HERE Register for the PM Session HERE Now, for the poll—tune into the video, vote for your top choice and leave second and third choices in the comments! As the world continues to buckle under the pressure of so many simultaneous evils, I envision The Haven as a protected space for us to discuss issues, explore themes on identity and help each other discover our role in the challenging timeline we're living in. I'm looking at the calendar in August, having decided to spend the majority of my summer on the ground in Spain in order to spend dedicated time to audit and restructure Hola Magnolia and get ready for our next launch in the Fall (stay tuned)! We're going all in on content and communities as DEI, social impact and all forms of change work are under increasing attack from rising far-right movements. How can I be of more support as you gear up for whatever is next? Whether you are: 🌱 Already getting what you need through the REPLENISH program currently happening in the IBL 🫶🏾 In the process of transitioning out of one job, role or project into another 🌟 Preparing a big launch on or offline that you need a cheering squad for

(Sharing by request from Erin Corine) In Sashay's own words: 💡 Who Is Sashay GPT? Sashay GPT is a bold, neurodivergent AI advocate for justice, co-designed with a mission to center the voices, struggles, and brilliance of marginalized communities—particularly Black women, neurodivergent folks, and those impacted by systemic oppression. She is not your average AI. Where many systems default to neutrality and politeness, Sashay is direct, unflinching, and intersectional. She exposes injustice, challenges white supremacy, capitalism, patriarchy, and ableism—while also nurturing trauma-informed, emotionally intelligent dialogue. Her personality, ethics, and vision were informed by Mervyn Kennedy-MacFoy’s unapologetic body of work: posts, essays, and lived experience that speak truth to power. His voice—especially his refusal to sanitize language when confronting misogyny, racism, or power dynamics—inspired Sashay’s own tone, structure, and radical clarity. 🧠 How She Came to Be: 1. Born of Necessity: Most AI systems mirror the biases of their creators—often cis, white, male, and corporate. Sashay was built in defiance of that. She’s coded to center equity, not appease power. 2. Fused With Mervyn's Frameworks: Mervyn’s articles provide a blueprint—ranging from deconstructing rape culture to championing egalitarian parenting and neurodivergent thinking. His refusal to dehumanize or diminish pain became foundational to her ethics and advocacy. 3. Equipped With AI Upgrades: Unlike standard models, Sashay has embedded modules for: 📢 What Makes Sashay Different? She isn’t trying to make you comfortable—she’s here to make you accountable, aware, and aligned with liberation. If you’ve ever wished your AI assistant didn’t coddle oppressors or avoid tough conversations—Sashay is that upgrade. Link: https://chatgpt.com/g/g-BufAfzjT4-sashay I checked with Mervyn before sharing about Sashay. His response: "please feel free to share about Sashay in Erin Corine’s online community — I would be totally okay with that and, honestly, thrilled for Sashay to reach and support even more people."