Strong Feelings

Latest Episodes:

Linguistic Distortion with Suzanne Wertheim May 20, 2021

Show notes

Last year, we saw the media regularly call Black Lives Matter protesters “rioters,” “violent,” or “thugs.” Yet on January 6, those who attacked the U.S. Capitol were often described as “passionate protestors” and “Trump supporters.” Linguistic anthropologist Suzanne Wertheim explains why these language disparities matter—and how biases like these show up in our workplaces, too.

Dr. Suzanne Wertheim is an anti-bias consultant, researcher, and educator. She is also the founder of Worthwhile Research & Consulting, a firm that optimizes workplace culture through anti-bias and communication training. She is an expert in how cultural biases are expressed and perpetuated through language, and trains tech companies to spot and dismantle these biases in their workplaces.

It's not your fault that you were born with a human brain. It's not your fault that your entire lifetime you've been fed garbage distorted data. And it's not your fault you were born into the body you were born into… But it is your responsibility, once you learn things, to make sure that you are looking for problems and then using your power to address them.
—Dr. Suzanne Wertheim, founder, Worthwhile Research & Consulting

We talk about:

The role of a linguistic anthropologist
The dangers of softening language and other linguistic distortions
How bias impacts workers in the tech industry
Which populations are most at risk for workplace bias and how to effectively fight against it
What we can learn from research on trans workers who transitioned gender presentation in the workplace

Plus: in this week’s You’ve Got This, Sara talks self-care, self-confidence, and how to better understand our inner critic. When does that inner critic rear its ugly head? What does it say? Who does it sound like? If you can learn about where that critic comes from, you can start to recognize when it’s not serving you. For all this and more, check out https://www.activevoicehq.com/podcast.

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Studying Harm with McKensie Mack, Caroline Sinders, and Yang Hong May 06, 2021

Show notes

It’s no secret that the shift to remote work during COVID-19 has been stressful and isolating. But for many, the online workplace has also led to increased harassment, hostility, and harm.

McKensie Mack, Caroline Sinders, and Yang Hong are co-authors of a new report from Project Include all about harassment, harm, and hostility in the remote workplace during the COVID-19 pandemic. The study included data from almost 3,000 survey respondents as well several first-person accounts of how remote workplaces can exacerbate harm. The report aims to provide not only a comprehensive picture of the trauma faced by various groups of tech professionals but also tools for companies to correct harm and become more trauma-informed.

There are a lot of ways in which, for example, trans women and non-binary people experience transphobia in the workplace, and it's not considered to be harassment. And I think it has a lot to do with the ways in which we define what harm is. And so in our work, especially, the fact that trans people are nearly twice as likely to have experienced gender-based harm than their peers, the fact that Black non-binary people, Black women are nearly three times as likely to experience race-based harm in the workplace as their peers, it tells us a lot about the ways in which gender impacts how people are experiencing harm in a workplace and how it amplifies that experience.
—McKensie Mack, CEO of MMG and co-author, Project Include report

We talk about:

Which groups have been disproportionately affected by remote work
What we mean by “harm” and “harassment”
What harmful workplace practices look like, and how workplaces can become more trauma-informed
Strategies for how to handle or intervene in a harmful workplace

Plus: in this week’s You’ve Got This, Sara talks steps for using your privilege to speak up against a toxic work environment. Ask yourself: what are the harmful behaviors that you've been tolerating in your team or in your company? What's stopping you from speaking up about those? Is it that you are afraid of doing or saying the wrong thing? For all this and more, head over to https://www.activevoicehq.com/podcast.

Links:

Courage over Comfort with Vivianne Castillo Apr 22, 2021

Show notes

Vivianne Castillo left counseling to become a UX researcher. What she found was an industry that talked a lot about empathy—but wasn’t very good at practicing it. Now she’s building a company dedicated to changing that.

Vivianne Castillo is a UX researcher, humanity in tech advocate, and founder of HmntyCntrd, a masterclass for people in UX and tech that was just named one of Fast Company’s most innovative companies of 2021. Vivianne uses her background in counseling and trauma to educate on and advocate for the trauma-informed workplace, empathy in the face of capitalism, and justice for all. At HmntyCntrd, she helps people from companies like Apple, Slack, and Spotify become advocates for equity and change in the tech industry.

I think a lot of UX and design professionals can have this tendency of, "Well, if I don't do it, who will? If I don't advocate for this user, who will? If I don't care about this person who will?" And you know, I have just learned that it's not all on me, and that I can't save everyone or everything. And that is such a freeing gift to realize, and just step into the reality that it's not all on you.
—Vivianne Castillo, founder of HmntyCntrd

We talk about:

What it really means to be humanity-centered, and why that’s often missing in UX
How and why Vivianne developed the HmntyCntrd program
The various forms of trauma caused by work and how a workplace can become more trauma--informed
What it means to choose courage over comfort
Vivianne’s viral resignation letter from Salesforces, and how to identify when it’s time to leave a toxic work environment

Plus: in this week’s You’ve Got This, Sara talks steps for assessing when it might be time to leave a toxic work situation. Ask yourself: what are the costs of leaving? The costs of staying? What am I risking? If I stay, how can I set boundaries at work? For all this and more, head over to https://www.activevoicehq.com/podcast.

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Being Vulnerable with Margot Bloomstein Apr 08, 2021

Show notes

Margot Bloomstein wanted to find out how companies can beat cynicism and build trust in this moment. Years of research and a new book later, she has the formula: voice, volume, and—the scariest for all of us—vulnerability.

Margot Bloomstein is a brand and content strategy consultant, speaker, and the author of “Trustworthy: How the Smartest Brands Beat Cynicism and Bridge the Trust Gap, just out this spring. As the principal of Appropriate, Inc., she has helped organizations ranging from Harvard to Timberland engage their audiences with transparency, consistency, and clarity. Now, in Trustworthy, Margot opens up about how brands, and consumers, can use vulnerability and transparency as powerful tools to affect change.

Being able to look at ourselves in the mirror and say, “What is uniquely me? What makes me distinct,” that's hard. And I think it goes back to that point of vulnerability. We have so much discomfort about confronting not our strengths and flaws, but our humanity—what makes us unique—that the idea then of sharing that with other people, that's scary. But it turns out that is the most rewarding thing for both us and for those other people.
—Margot Bloomstein, author of Trustworthy

We talk about:

How “voice, volume, and vulnerability” can combat cynicism
What it means for a company to be vulnerable and why that’s a positive thing
How to handle criticism
How to start writing, speaking, and idea-sharing

Plus: in this week’s You’ve Got This, Sara challenges us to confront perfectionism and discover our perfectionist origin story. Who taught you to be a perfectionist? What else were they teaching you? And what's all this perfectionism costing you? If you want to take that challenge on, head over to https://www.activevoicehq.com/podcast.

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Going Rogue with Nandini Jammi Mar 25, 2021

Show notes

What if you built a movement powerful enough to defund hate groups online, won one of the most prestigious awards in advertising, and then had your co-founder tell you to stop taking credit? If you’re Nandini Jammi, you’d get even louder.

Nandini Jammi is a brand safety advocate and co-founder of Sleeping Giants, where her campaigns got major advertisers to stop funding sites like Breitbart. Now she’s co-founded a new company called Check My Ads, where she works with Fortune 500 companies to ensure that their ads aren’t showing up on extremist sites. She is also a writer, speaker, and activist full of practical advice for how to stand up for yourself in the workplace.

"I think that when you take a stand on something that is important, you will always have people who disagree with you. And that's fine. And you should let them disagree with you...if you're out there creating change and fighting for what you believe in, you're doing something right if people disagree with you. It can feel a kick in the gut sometimes when people that you respect don't agree with you. It's always important, I think, to understand their perspective, understand why you disagree with it, understand why they disagree with you, and use that to push your work forward."
—Nandini Jammi, co-founder of Check My Ads

We talk about:

How Nandini helped strip funding from some of America’s most powerful far-right news outlets
What is a brand safety advocate?
Why “being difficult” in the workplace is not necessarily a bad thing
How to find the courage to claim your achievements and stand up for yourself in an unsupportive work environment. And when it’s okay to leave.
What makes a successful business partnership

Plus: A new segment called “You got this!” This season, Sara leaves each episode with a challenge to our listeners. This week’s is: “What is your boldest, most in-your-face thing that you honestly wish you could say out loud? What is one small risk that you could take this week to make that happen?” If you want to take that challenge on, head over to https://www.activevoicehq.com/podcast!

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Strong Feelings is Back Mar 18, 2021

Show notes

Welcome back to Strong Feelings—a feminist look at the messy world of being human at work. Grab your coffee and join host Sara Wachter-Boettcher this spring as she goes deep on what real leadership in tech and design looks like. You'll hear from authors, activists, entrepreneurs, and troublemakers of all types who are changing the status quo: fighting online harassment, dismantling white supremacy in design, and so much more.

Introducing: Thread the Needle with Donna Cleveland Mar 12, 2020

Show notes

Strong Feelings is still on hiatus, but we’ve got a show we think you’ll love: Thread The Needle, a new podcast all about the place where feminist ideals and the realities of life meet.

In this episode, called “Why Won’t He Do the Dishes,” journalist Donna Cleveland looks at the sorry state of gender equality on the home front. She also uncovers a surprising research finding—splitting chores fairly does not create happier couples.

If you like what you hear, subscribe to Thread the Needle wherever you listen to podcasts, or head to theneedle.co.

Time to Do Nothing Feb 20, 2020

Show notes

Welcome back, friends! Today’s episode isn’t the glorious season opener we thought we’d have. And that’s actually ok.

Tuning into your gut can tell you a lot, even when the answer is hard to hear. Listen in for all the details on Katel’s sabbatical, Sara’s new company, and what happens next.

Links:

Collective Strength, our monthly event series in Philly
Active Voice, Sara’s new leadership development and coaching company
A Book Apart, Katel’s publishing house
Our newsletter, coming out the first Friday of the month

We Are Indivisible with Leah Greenberg Dec 12, 2019

Show notes

What would you do if a Google doc you made went viral, and suddenly groups across the country were implementing your ideas to plan political action in their communities? If you’re Leah Greenberg, you’d found Indivisible—the national nonprofit she started with her husband Ezra Levin after the 2016 election.

Now Leah and Ezra have co-authored a new book about what they learned creating Indivisible and supporting thousands of local Indivisible groups around the country, and how all of us can join the fight for more inclusive democracy. It’s called We are Indivisible, A Blueprint for Democracy After Trump, and it’s just in time to kick you into gear for the 2020 election.

We started off resisting Trump, but we know that Trump's not the problem. We know that Trump is a symptom, and that if we had a healthy democratic society that valued the lives and equality of all of its people, Donald Trump would never have gotten remotely close to the White House. And so fundamentally we felt like what was crucial for us, and what was crucial for the movement, was that we were moving from resisting Trump to resisting Trumpism, and tackling the kind of fundamental flaws at the heart of democracy that were making our country vulnerable to Trumpism.
—Leah Greenberg, co-founder and co-executive director of Indivisible

We talk about:

What made Leah and Ezra create the Indivisible guide—even though peers warned them it could ruin their careers
How to put pressure on elected officials, and why working with a community group makes political engagement more successful and more sustainable
Why it’s crucial to get out of campaign mode and avoid burning staff and volunteers out
What it’s like to run an organization and write a book with your partner

Plus: It’s our last show of the year! Sara and Katel talk about what they’ll be bringing with them into 2020, what they’ll be leaving behind, and what all of you should listen to while Strong Feelings is off the air this winter.

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The Fifth Trimester with Lauren Smith Brody Dec 05, 2019

Show notes

What if moms were granted the kind of parental leave they really needed to heal from childbirth, care for baby, and return to work? Lauren Smith Brody thinks it would completely change the lives of new parents—and everyone around them.

Most parents have to go back to work months before they’re emotionally and physically ready, missing out on an important developmental phase. When Lauren had her first child, she realized that phase needed a name, and a movement—so she launched The Fifth Trimester to help parents and businesses transform workplace culture together.

It shouldn’t be on women necessarily, and it shouldn’t be on moms necessarily, to have to make these big cultural corrections just because they’re the ones who need it in this moment. It's really on all of us.
—Lauren Smith Brody, author and founder of The Fifth Trimester

We talk about:

Why openly talking about being a parent at work is so critical. “Coming back to work as a new mother was my first day on the job all over again in many, many ways...I didn't know how to do my job and be a mom at the same time. I felt like a newbie and I just decided to expose that all over the place as much as I could and make it ok.”
How asking for what you need as a new parent can actually help everyone in your workplace. “Try to remember that this is not something that you are asking for for you, your family, in this moment. This is a plan for how you will get your job done. But also, any flexibility that you're able to win is really a win for everybody around you.”
Why reckoning with our racist and capitalist past is the only way we can fundamentally change the system. “Racism so clearly impacts the access to support and even just obviously simple good health and the right to good health that American workers have. ...So very often you'll see that a company has gotten headlines for providing, you know, so-and-so is going to now have, you know, 12 paid weeks of family leave. Great. Who actually has access to that?”

Plus: committing to becoming better advocates for people who have kids and digging a little deeper into the very real impact slavery’s history still has on our country today.