The Emergent Strategy Podcast

Omisade Burney-Scott of The Black Girl's Guide to Surviving Menopause comes through to talk with ESII host, Sage Crump, about the difference between being older versus being an elder. Burney-Scott and Crump jokingly question the term "yelder," and reflect on the oftentimes rough edges of the liminal space. Burney-Scott's words encourage a gentle pause and (maybe) a soft example of being more truthful with ourselves.    Transcript found here. 

"Understanding our trauma is really important, but so is understanding -- not just our resilience -- but actually, I think, also understanding the places that we were loved, wanted, cherished, lifted up..." says Spenta Kandawalla, L.A.c. Kandawalla talks to ESII this week about material well-being, reorienting around the idea of impact, and the magic and wisdom of Chinese medicine.    Transcript found here. 

Daria Garina, an artist, somatic coach, and medium, explores the transformative nature of accountability, especially when dealing with shame and guilt. She shares insights on embodying accountability to align actions with core values, emphasizing personal and collective healing. The conversation highlights the interplay between emotional awareness and justice, utilizing practices like Qigong to promote healing. Daria discusses how vulnerability and ancestral wisdom can guide relationships, offering a path towards authenticity and responsibility.

Thelma Golden, Director and Chief Curator of The Studio Museum in Harlem, shares her fascinating journey in the arts. She discusses the museum's vital role in community engagement and how cultural legacies influence personal identity. Golden emphasizes the need for adaptability in cultural institutions and the power of emergent strategies within Black-led organizations. The conversation also touches on the transformative potential of art in fostering community growth and innovation for future generations.

Michaela Harrison is a transmitter of music through song. Ya'll, Michaela also has a special relationship with our whale relatives. Harrison sits down with ESII host, adrienne, to talk about catching songs, singing with whales, and expanding our relationship with water.   Transcript can be found here.

This week on The Emergent Strategy Podcast, Lin Yee Yuan, founder of Mold Magazine joins ESII host, Mia Herndon, to talk about industrial design as a place of experimentation and problem solving when it comes to facing our food crisis. Lin Yee and her team take an expansive and community-oriented approach to design and, and, and --well, you'll just have to listen.  Transcript to this interview can be found here. 

What does it mean to make art outside of market politics? To use art not as an accompaniment to activism movements but an integral tool in constructing a new order? Quetzal Flores, musician, community member, and artivist works through this question with ESII host Sage Crump.  "...oftentimes when we're talking about artists I feel like we're actually talking about culture bearers, holders of tradition, holders of culture, holders of information, holders of systems within information or systems within practices that offer us so much as to how to get ourselves out of this mess," says Flores.  The full transcript for this episode lives here. 

Season 2 is here holding hands with Spring! Also, Happy Bookday to Emergent Strategy! Five years ago today, the book dropped and has been moving between hands, circles, and spurring conversation. Sage, Mia, and adrienne reflect on what has happened over the past five years and what they are looking forward to for the upcoming season.   Transcript to this interview can be found here.

The Emergent Strategy Podcast hosts, adrienne, Mia, and Sage debrief about and reflect on season one. We'll be back in March 2022 with season two, amazing guests, and continued emergence in conversation.  Transcript found here. 

Witches and queer Muslim femmes, Aesha Rasheed and Selma Alamin of Southerners on New Ground (SONG) join host, Mia Herndon, for a conversation about spirit protection, teachers, and movement work as spiritual work.  "One of the mistakes that people make is to think that spiritual care is about silencing the hard stuff, it's actually about opening space for it," says Rasheed.