Happy Monday, Changemakers! I am delighted to announce that the re-aligning of our community to support the (re)launch of the R.I.S.E. Changemaker's Academy is now underway: Welcome to the makings of the R.I.S.E. and Shine Collective, a collaborative global community for people doing work that makes a difference. This will continue to be a FREE community with periodic opportunities to participate in discounted events and prep workshops for those with aspirations to invest in the R.I.S.E. Changemaker's Academy. ➡️ SPEAKING OF WHICH!! If you have not yet seen our new landing page, take a spin at holamagnolia.com/rise—and if you're ready to launch or grow your impact business in 2026, click here to apply and book a call! 🌟 We began as The Accomplice Accelerator, a meeting place to continue the conversations from our monthly webinars featuring professional changemakers of all walks, industries and demographics. From there, we evolved into The Changemaker's Haven, a softer more intimate space gathering rising change leaders learning to pour first into their own cups before putting on their capes to show up for others. And now, just over one month until doors open at the academy, one year since the formation of this community, I am so excited for this new iteration of our space. Starting in the new year, we will be adding an ongoing monthly offering called the R.I.S.E. Forum: a weekly space for changemakers of all levels to come together in fellowship to share collective learnings, wins, and support for the work each of us is striving to do in this world. In addition, there will be periodic special sessions with guest mentors from our growing network as well, so it's going to be a special place to be part of. Stay tuned for more info with R.I.S.E. launch events being announced throughout this week. In the meantime... Have you booked a R.I.S.E. Academy discovery call yet? Help me pass the word!! Just 22 spots in our first class remain!

@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.

She keeps me wa a arm. My love, my love, my love I have no idea why, and I thought this place is the place to share. https://youtu.be/hlVBg7_08n0?si=dbA0Cx3dVUKC2YOY

I really loved this post by Jennifer Velez on LinkedIn talking to her young son about socio-economic privilege. Be sure to click through, engage and give her a follow if you don’t know her work already! It drives home the importance of having age-appropriate conversations starting as early as possible about inequity, exclusion, and our role in bridging the gap by being aware of any privilege we have to leverage against them. What’s the earliest you’ve had an uncomfortable conversation with your children or other young person in your care? White parents and caregivers + any others or economic privilege especially, how would you respond this question for your children?

The prompt goes without saying, but let's check in. Without the obligation to make specific references to the news, politics or a specific current event unless you wish to, what is a word or statement that describes how this week has been for you? My word: Present. In a world where it is so easy to catastrophize beyond the confines of the date of the calendar, I find the the most effective way for me to slow down time is to take opportunities each day to be as still and present as possible. I did NOT watch that nauseating Jubilee cage match. I did NOT watch Meet the Press, which is my favorite US politics TV segment. I did NOT binge motivational content to dream, scheme and project. Instead, I showed up every day here in the Haven starting the week with our new Jobseeker Support Group, in the Identity & Belonging Lab for our R.I.S.E. Leader's Circle and REPLENISH coaching calls, as well as for many of the other communities I am part of—and my mood improved thanks to the positive human interaction with other people just trying to make a difference with the work they do. And I spent a LOT more time with my partner and daughter than in recent weeks. 💛 My mood and my outlook is so much better because of it, and I don't feel guilt about it as I know that my ability to compartmentalize and dosify my consumption of the terror all around us is the only reason I'm even able to get out of bed in the morning, much less function like half of a human being. All this is to say, whatever you are feeling is NORMAL. So if you're seeing this, take a moment to tap in and let us know how you're doing. Let's hold space for all the big and little things—and get ready for an amazing August as I work to fill out our calendar with fun ideas thanks to last week's poll. Remember: if ever you need personalized support during these weird times as you work to build in light of the chaos, we'll be waiting for you in the IBL. Can't wait for you to join us.