Roberto Germán 00:00
Welcome to Our Classroom. In this space, we talk about education, which is inclusive of but not limited to what happens in schools. Education is taking place whenever and wherever we are willing to learn. I am your host Roberto Germán, and Our Classroom is officially in session. Today's episode features Aiko Bethea, the founder of RARE Coaching & Consulting. Aiko is an award-winning and highly sought-after equity consultant, executive coach, and speaker known for her leadership, writing. Aiko's work is featured in a range publications including Harvard Business Review and Forbes. Aiko is also contributed to an anthology edited by Tarana Burke and Dr. Brené Brown, New York Times best-seller "You Are Your Best Thing". Aiko's newest ambition takes form in a cozy comfort series titled "Magnolia Murder Mysteries." The first of which will be published in 2023. Her goal is to create work that features stories about people of color without those stories always being steep in trauma and despair. With us today, Aiko Bethea. So let's dig in. Let's dig in. Yeah. So I love hearing from authors before they publish a book. I love being one of the individuals who are able to connect with folks as they're going through their process and, you know, really getting in early before everybody else starts chasing you down I want the opportunity to hear from you. For you to talk about the "Magnolia Murder Series" for you to tell our audience what we can expect with the "Magnolia Murder Series." Who are the main characters and how do you think that the readers will connect with the main characters? Let's start there.
Aiko Bethea 02:09
Yeah, so a lot to-- really excited about the book project period. When people think about fiction book or mystery books or books that just aren't about the black person as a character, you don't really think about all these other issues and how they hit. So I'll say that the series itself, "Magnolia Murder Series", the first book is called, "Gardner's Plot." The genre, first of all, we can start there. It's a cozy mystery book. And that genre is very much dominated by white women in terms of who the authors are, as well as who the readers are. And just probably in the last three years have been-- maybe two or three years have been more women of color or people of color writing in that genre. Over COVID, those books really kept me more-- a little bit sane because a really easy formula and mystery, nothing really grotesque, nothing really serious happening in that way. So you could still have a degree of escapism. And of course, as a black woman reading the books, my issue was, but gosh, I just wish they had characters who looked like me.
Roberto Germán 03:10
Hmmm, representation.
Aiko Bethea 03:12
You know, not in terms of us being accessory or just side supporting character, which usually was laced with a lot of stereotypes. So I was like—
Roberto Germán 03:21
Or we die. Or we die like in the movies.
Aiko Bethea 03:23
Yeah. Okay. So there you are. So I was like, well, why don't you write it? So for me, I thought about what is the power of writing fiction books? And I went back to, what did books mean to me coming up and books were a way of not only escaping but envisioning what can my world be and what is it? So the power of black people world-building it can't be overstated. So some of the authors, I love reading included, you know, Octavia Butler included when I was really young thinking about Major Taylor, and then there are other ones that everybody read, right? We all read Beverly Clearly. Or if you're a girl, you probably read Judith Blume, Judy Blume, if you're, you know—
Roberto Germán 04:09
I sat that one out. I sat that one out.
Aiko Bethea 04:11
Yeah. Right, right. 'Cause it could be a little-- but she did write things like "Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing" super fudge those books. So, and those didn't center, a lot of things that we were grappling with. And to your earlier point, this idea of when books are written about us or even when we write them they're laced in trauma. Or just like in the movies, we die first, the black character is gonna die first. So I thought we need-- and there are a lot more black authors, but we still write in these genres where we are experiencing the pain or PTS. Or we're writing lovely books about Afro-futurism, which is great. But that's like later in some other foreign world, I was like, we need books that are about world building for us today. That doesn't include always us seeing Trayvon Martin.
Roberto Germán 04:59
Yes.
Aiko Bethea 05:01
George Floyd.
Roberto Germán 05:01
Yes.
Aiko Bethea 05:02
And I was like, I wanna write an easy-going book that is about us, that centers us, but's not centered and steeped in the trauma we know we have experienced and we do continue to experience. We need a beach read. We need a book about, you know, characters who are building community and defining success on their own terms. And I was like, well, I wanna build that book. I wanna write that. And I wanna build that world. So that is what compelled me to write "Magnolia Murder Series" because it's not a nonfiction book on leadership and on DEI, which the market's flooded on. But it is a book we can pick up. We can go read it at the beach. We can actually talk to each other about and enjoy it. We can fall in love with the characters. And that's why I ended up writing this book partly for us and us being able to participate in world-building that includes us as people of color, mainly centering to main characters who are two black women who are best friends.
Roberto Germán 05:55
I appreciate that. I appreciate you taking that initiative. That's much of our approach. You know, when we see a gap, if we believe that we could fill it, we're attacking. And so I appreciate the fact that you identified an area of need, you identify an area in which you could lift up our voices, right? That you keep saying world-building. I love that. I love that phrase, world-building. Thinking about black folk’s world-building and just going out there and doing that thing. And so I salute you, I appreciate you. I'm looking forward to reading this and being able to see myself reflected in a positive light as opposed to being knocked off. Like, as it happens in many movies and many books where characters like us are either knocked off or they're playing roles such as butlers, maids, drug dealers, killers, so on and so forth.
Aiko Bethea 06:53
Right. Absolutely.
Roberto Germán 06:56
And so talk to me about your hopes with "Magnolia Murder Series." Give us a glimpse into what it looks like when systemically marginalized communities define success on their own terms and as a way to inspire our listeners, can you alter a few recent examples that come to mind?
Aiko Bethea 07:24
Yeah. In terms of real-life examples?
Roberto Germán 07:27
Yes.
Aiko Bethea 07:28
Yes. So I think a lot of us are living it, but you don't necessarily see these headlines unless they feel so excessively out of reach like that's seeing what Beyonce's doing, right? Or something where it's that people love to have those posts about the person who was homeless and then somebody who usually we know how that person looks came and scooped them up. And now all of a sudden you're a graduate, a graduate of Harvard. So they're usually these big gaps between what's possible for us, even though they may be in a positive light. But most of us, or many of us do know somebody who was either in the community and doing well and supporting people in the community. We also know that many of us even have these circles around us. So I am so impressed by just the numbers that came out in the pandemic of the number of black-owned businesses that were started during this time which is a hardship time. Many of us know people who we never thought about as entrepreneurs, but they're right in our neighborhood, right? So who is a person who did hair? Who is a person who did nails? And because of the way that society or the world that's built already that we're inhabiting not the world built by us people think about those as low grade jobs. But cosmetologists and hairdressers make $250 a year and not leaving not the ones who were necessarily doing hair on Hollywood set. When I was an undergrad who was actually always had wealth and money, the person who was doing hair or cutting hair in their room. So we don't think about those things and they've never been portrayed that way, but those are ways that not only are we getting what we need in society, but we're building what's possible for us. But no one's really taking it to the next level of, this is a way for you not to have to do the expected, which usually means what, working in corporate America, working at a job instead of a career. Tolerating what's expected of us, which usually means that we need to shift. Shapeshift really, but we can call it assimilating, covering our code-switching.
So when we define success for our own on our own terms, we're thinking about what drives me in terms of wanting to be what I'm passionate about, how do I get to define who I'm surrounded by? How do I get to show up and speak the way that I naturally speak? So a lot of this has to do with, we see these people every day, but the world would have us think that these were people who were unsuccessful or who we're not good enough because they're not in corporate America. So I think that when we define success in our own terms, it looks a lot like people who have opted out of the rat race. And then there are people who are defining and building something new. So you think about a lot of the VC firms like Harlem Hamilton's VC firm. And you think about Harlem Venture Capitals. These are black folks who are building VCs and creating wealth within our community. 'Cause there weren't people who looked like us who controlled the money and had the ability to give it out. So these are just several ways of how we define success on our own terms and do something differently than what was expected of us.
Roberto Germán 10:37
Thank you. Thank you. That's great. And you gave some-- I think there's a lot of truth in what you said in terms of some of those examples in which our society will have us looking at it as low-grade jobs, but you know. And as you said that there's a number of individuals that came to mind for me in particular barbers that I could think of. That, you know, started from scratch. Maybe even started-- I have one guy in mind, we used to call him Bow Wow. He started just sweeping hair. That was his job in the barbershop. Just sweeping up. You know, cleaning up the mess. Went from that to actually, all right, now he's renting out a chair. Went from renting out that chair to ultimately becoming one of the go-to barbers at the shop. And then he ended up buying the shop from the vendor which was William. He bought it from William and he owned his own shop. Went from sweeping the hair to owning the shop.
Aiko Bethea 11:50
And he was able to stay in community. Many people will have us think that in order to be successful, we have to leave community. We have to abandon community. And worse maybe we have to look down on community. And that's why that example that you give is just so powerful in terms of starting in the community, being of the community, and building within it. And it doesn't mean that you're always staying at the same tier or ladder financially. It doesn't mean that we have to abandon or leave or we come back as the savior. Right? Many people like that. That stereotype too that's portrayed. So, that's just a really powerful example that you shared there.
Roberto Germán 12:32
So one thing that I'm curious about, I hadn't considered it before, but now I'm wondering "Magnolia Murder Series", is there a specific location that's tied to the title?
Aiko Bethea 12:45
Of course, there is. Of course, there is. It is the south. So I am a southerner. I am from Spartanburg, South Carolina. I live in Atlanta right now. And the first book actually takes place in-- it's a fictional area, but it's actually Tybee Island right outside of Savannah in Georgia. And there's a-- I actually just got back to Atlanta right in the pandemic and I've been in Seattle the last 10 or 11 years. So it's really just great to come back and be home. So the book does take place there. There actually a-- the next book actually takes place on a different coastal location in South Carolina. So yes, very much in community and places that resonate for me.
Roberto Germán 13:31
So after I read your book, I might have to put that on my place of locations to visit and get familiar with.
Aiko Bethea 13:39
Yeah. Yeah. For sure. For sure. There was another question that you asked earlier was about the characters.
Roberto Germán 13:48
Yes.
Aiko Bethea 13:48
And learning about the characters. So the main characters are Tamika and her best friend Amina. And both of these are from two-parent households. So that already tells you something different about--
Roberto Germán 14:01
No, no, not just that though, but like off the rip, the names, Tamika and Amina, those are not common characters in a lot of the books that we come across.
Aiko Bethea 14:11
Absolutely true.
Roberto Germán 14:12
Right. And definitely not main characters.
Aiko Bethea 14:16
Absolutely. Absolutely.
Roberto Germán 14:18
And then you add the layer of the two-parent household.
Aiko Bethea 14:20
Yes, absolutely.
Roberto Germán 14:22
Love it. Love it
Aiko Bethea 14:24
From two really different backgrounds, both of the characters and the one Amina is like fourth-generation college educated. Went to Spelman. Her father's been-- what's her father's job? He's been a CFO at several companies. And her mom is like the pillar in the community and a professor and has her own consulting firm too.
Roberto Germán 14:46
This is not a stretch.
Aiko Bethea 14:47
No. So we know this but people who don't look like us don't know this and many people who do look like us think that you remember back in the day people, well, yeah, I know I'm probably-- I'm sure I'm much older than you, but back in the day, The Cosby Show, people thought that was so fake or far-fetched.
Roberto Germán 15:07
Yes.
Aiko Bethea 15:08
But people were living that life all the time. Where do people think Jack and Jill came from? Right. So the other part in terms of, when you think that about--
Roberto Germán 15:14
You know, some folks don't know what you're talking about right now but go ahead.
Aiko Bethea 15:18
People-- I was just thinking I was much older when I was watching Cosby Show than a lot of people probably were.
Roberto Germán 15:23
No, but Jack and Jill, I'm saying.
Aiko Bethea 15:25
Oh, oh right.
Roberto Germán 15:26
Even if the Jack and Jill reference just went over some people heads.
Aiko Bethea 15:29
Absolutely. So I'm gonna talk-- So Jack and Jill has been around for many years and it was founded by black mothers. It's a membership organization for black mothers and it's invitation only. And it was created so that this community of black folks who usually had higher income than most black people, wanted their kids to have experiences they couldn't have because of segregation. So learning things, everything from tennis to what have you or whatever. So Jack and Jill has been around forever. It comes under a lot of scrutiny in terms of being elitist. Okay. But those types of organizations have been around forever. Which lets us know that one, there has been that type of community within the black population for a long time.
Roberto Germán 16:14
My cousin and her kids are involved with Jack and Jill in Connecticut.
Aiko Bethea 16:17
Whose kids?
Roberto Germán 16:19
My cousin and her kids.
Aiko Bethea 16:20
Oh, yeah. Yep, yep. Yep. So the-- so definitely a US based or born out and from the US. So these communities have been around forever. The other part is when we think about Tamika's background, who is really the main character. Tamika, you know, did her parents save money, try to help her to go to college, but she had to take out loans. And the whole thing about get-- being able to make it was what? You need to go to college. And what does make it look like still for many of us is get a good job. What does get a good job look like? Doctor, lawyer, engineer, whatever. So she goes to law school, she works at a big firm. And what is she learning? I don't belong here. I'm not supposed to be here. If I make partner, it's gonna be like winning a pie-eating competition and I'm gonna win more pie.
Roberto Germán 17:11
And there's gonna be a whole lot of shifting as you mentioned earlier.
Aiko Bethea 17:16
Assimilation, all of that, knowing that you can't wear your hair the way it grows outta your head. Knowing that you have to dress a certain way in your decorum, knowing that maybe some of your family members would not be welcome within your offices if they came in. All of those things that come up, but it may-- it is a good job. And so when she decides I keep doing this, do I wanna keep doing this? Which many of us never get to off-ramp to ask ourselves, do I even wanna be doing this? We just know this is what you're supposed to do. My family is proud. I can help, you know, financially support people, members of my family. I'm in rare air where other people aren't, that's what we know. So what happens when Tamika tells her mom and dad, I wanna leave this. I'm gonna open my own business. What's the first thing? Tell me what her dad says.
Roberto Germán 18:08
You can't leave that job. That's a good job.
Aiko Bethea 18:11
There you're. That good job, you're gonna leave that good job?
Roberto Germán 18:14
Tamika's dad hasn't had RARE Coaching.
Aiko Bethea 18:18
Yeah. So I will tell you that our consulting firm RARE Coaching & Consulting we may be one of the only or the only leadership firm that has all facilitators and coaches of color. So it is a different experience when you're being coached by these highly qualified folks who look like you and can relate to experiences that you've shared. And they're not gonna question you and retraumatize you by saying, are you sure that was racist? Maybe you should just try harder. Well, did you wear that when you showed up? Instead of thinking, let's think about the system you're navigating and what do you really want for your life, and why are you doing this? So for Tamika, she gets the opportunity to off-ramp and think, why am I doing this? And because she has a best friend Amina, to be able to say, why don't you think about opening your own business? You've been talking about this forever. You're so happy when you're on the water, you love doing this stuff. Why would you give that up? Instead of being, you know, at this firm all the time. And I want you to understand how we posture that. Why would you give that up? So I want you to know that Tamika doesn't have that yet. Right? She doesn't have those water shops 'cause Tamika endeavors that she owns all of these water shops that actually teaches CPR, how to swim, how to kayak, rent out charter boats, scuba diving certifications. Stuff we are not supposed to know how to do. 'Cause usually black people are on the water not for leisure or recreation but for work. So when Amina tells her, why would you give that up? She's asking her, why would you give up that dream? So she's-- Amina's already thinking about the opportunity cost. You can stay at this and her parents are saying exactly what you said. Why would you give up that good job? So right there, this idea of having these off-ramp moments where we can define success in our own terms. And for Amina, who was supposed to be a doctor and was a chemist, she left and she'd opened her own shop where she makes all of her own natural products. So she has like apothecary. So now Tamika has seen somebody who's been able to do it while Amina has her dad and people who are able to back her. And so they're gonna help Tamika be able to realize her dream. So this idea, even of community.
Roberto Germán 20:34
That's awesome.
Aiko Bethea 20:35
Yes.
Roberto Germán 20:36
That's awesome. And I'm encouraged by that because that's something that we need to continue to talk about. We need to continue to push that narrative that we can achieve these dreams through our community, right? We have folks that will empower us. We can do this. Even as we're talking I know there's a couple folks who are listening right now who join-- who are out there pursuing their dreams to be independent, to run and maintain their businesses so that they have the freedom to do some of the other things that our traditional situation wouldn't permit them to do. Quai’Neisha Lee and Quincy Lee, who owns a salon in Texas, in Lockhart, Texas. And Quai’Neisha does amazing things with hair. And I think she's the best. And I love the fact that they're committed to not just maintaining their salon but also branching out, which is why she's also coupling that with the modeling.
Aiko Bethea 21:38
Yes. Scaling. Like she's scaling, she's doing her thing, right? And if she listens to the noise of the world, oh she a hairdresser. Versus thinking I am building, I am scaling. And possibly I don't know her business, but I'm employing people. I'm creating a space for people to get their needs met, where they can do in a space where people who look like them. So they know they're gonna feel like they belong and they're welcomed. People don't understand what that experience like in terms of giving us even life longevity and being more self-sustain. When I go to my dentist and the whole practice is a family-owned practice and the people who work there look like me I feel already like, wow, they actually care about me. And I don't have to worry about something weird happening or them I've had terrible experiences before. Like she's not really-- the anesthesia wore off and the doctor didn't care. Doctor didn't look like me kept working on me anyway. The same that I can tell about, you know, maternal healthcare, black maternal healthcare, I've got two sons. Really different experience birthing my first one in Atlanta and my second one in Seattle. And the doctors looked really different. So I mean, what are we providing to people when I know that I can come and I know that the person cares about how their-- the barber knows how to do my kid, my boy's hair. They know what the language is in the community, and what's going on. They're not expecting them to come in and code switch and shapeshift. Like that has so much to do with resting our nervous systems, staying in community. So I'm just gonna tell you, like, that's what I want people to do is if you had to pick up an easy beach read book that's not about trauma, but talks about us in an encouraging way. Like, there's these two lines in the book that I was talking to somebody about it's all throughout the book. So when you and me read it, we'll get it. And probably some of the other people listening to us. So one, when Tamika is driving up and parking her car, she has this moment where she's looking the rear-view mirror. And she says she has a sigh of no more wigs, weaves, or perms. And 'cause she's got her natural hair and all of us know exactly what that means. But the power of the book is not just in the book itself, but it's also because of what we know about empathy. So me having this world and these characters who are living lives that me and you are familiar with. Like, it's not like the shy everybody's getting shot every minute. Because many people that's how they relate to the only way we can be or exist. And that's real, but that's not the only way, right?
Roberto Germán 24:09
That's right. That's right.
Aiko Bethea 24:09
And so when they pick up the beach read they're relating to Tamika, they're relating to Amina. Not because of a side part is that, oh, now you're-- Oh, and they happen to be black. You know, sometimes people write books and you're like, oh yeah, I gotta remember she's black 'cause it's so not in our community. This is like, yes they are. You're not going to forget it. And this is how we show up. And this is why Ms. Luella is over here. And this is where she cooks. And this is when she's bringing a plate. Like we know these people. But it builds empathy when you read fiction literature, it builds that empathy muscle. So if Beth goes and picks up our book, a white woman comes and picks up our book and reads it as a beach read, she's gonna get some education, become closer to these characters, and understand things with proximity. So she doesn't have to come up to us and say, "Aiko, can I touch your hair?" Or can I blow-- She's gonna read about this. And the book of course comes with a reader's guide, but there's also a whole online curriculum. So somebody can actually click on and real read about not only the crown act, but you know, years before that there was a shinon act. And then having to answer a question of, had you ever-- have you ever worried that your employment rested on how you came to work with your hair growing outta your head the way it grows out? That you could not get a job or you cannot be hired or because of what your name is. And having people have that conversation in group dialogue. So everybody else doesn't have to be educating them, but they can do their own work. And it doesn't have to be this rigor of, you know, where those DEI and other trainings are like at the workplace and people are, ugh. If they're really doing it in a way that folks are trying to learn something. So you can read a book, do the curriculum and learn something about a community that you say that you wanna aid. You say you wanna be an ally of. But you're not-- actually, you don't know what to do next. So I want you to build this empathy muscle too.
Roberto Germán 26:01
Gotta do the work
Aiko Bethea 26:02
That's right. And it doesn't always have to be of some wild way where now I gotta have folks yelling at me about different stuff. You know, sometimes I think that there's a place for that's needed too, but that's not what it has to be every time, right?
Roberto Germán 26:17
No, no. We need different strategies. We need a diversity of strategies. And you mentioned the term proximity. I posted in our stories today, a clip from Brian Stevenson, talking about the justice system and just perspectives on the notion of freedom here or lack thereof. But proximity is one of his key things, his key focuses. And definitely, in the book, "Just Mercy", he unpacks that. So I appreciate you talking about your approach and the need for proximity and also building empathy. Now one of your aims, and you've talked about this a bit here, is to shift POC stories, right? People of color stories from being steeped and suffering. What inspired this aim and who are the authors who are also talking about taking this approach?
Aiko Bethea 27:20
So I have-- I don't know if I've heard authors talking about this approach is about their characters and the reason why they writing book is about this idea of closing prox-- creating proximity and also building empathy. So I don't know if I've heard people doing that. I know that many other writers, especially in cozy comfort genre and other places, they're like, we need to have more characters of people who have a diversity of racial diversity. And not always, you know, so certainly that, and even with the evolution of the cozy comfort genre, you definitely have way more voices of people of color. You know, Nina Foxx just now dropped her book and she's in the NAACP Image Award winner. And she just rock chopped her book, "Queens of the Kiawah Islands." And just her writing that she's written a lot of other books that are real to our experiences, but also have trauma and things in them. But she built this beau-- wrote this beautiful book that just came out. And is people who look like us and in a beautiful location and believable characters. So people are doing it. I don't know if it's their cause or reason for doing it, but people are doing it.
Roberto Germán 28:32
I think folks are tired of seeing characters that look like them have all this trauma only be steep and suffering or get killed. People are tired.
Aiko Bethea 28:49
And I refuse to watch these movies. I'm like, I already know that story. I already know that-- now that's for some other people who need to watch it, cause they don't know it. But that's not the beginning of our story and it's not the end either. And it's not even current state for many of us. And we have to show people some different things and people who are doing it. And even Tamika and Amina are both black women, African American women. But they have these other, you know, community members, Amir is a black attorney who's in the book, right? Who's the romance interest. There's also Gabe, whose name is really Gabrielle and Gabe identifies as non-binary. So now when you think about this and how even the black community is portrayed as being homophobic. And I think many of us who are from in the community would say, wow, is it black community is homophobic, or is it that people don't talk about what also happens in these other communities? Because I know how people are treated in my community and it was that everybody is welcome, but also everybody gets equal opportunity to be dragged in all kinds of contexts, but it's equal opportunity. And so some of these stories that are retold about us, because that's what people have truly yes, truly have experienced, but that's not the only experience. Like we're not a monolith. So when I think about Gabe, who's like a black MacGyver, and them having this conversation with their grandparents, grandparents who raised them about pronouns. And the grandmother is like, I don't know, they, them, she, I don't know. All I know is that I love you and I want you to be okay and I need you to be okay. That's what-- How many of us know that grandmother?
Roberto Germán 30:30
Absolutely many, many, many.
Aiko Bethea 30:31
Right, right. So it's important to show how our community is evolving, has evolved. We are not still over here on some plantation and we're not all, you know, incarcerated, even though we know the lens over why that happens to many of us, but we also don't have to wait all the way till the Afro-futurism part happens or the Wakanda. We can build it now. And we need to start envisioning this for us now.
Roberto Germán 30:57
Thank you. Thank you for sharing that. So if you had an opportunity to have lunch with any author, better alive, who would it be and why?
Aiko Bethea 31:07
Oh, that's easy. Octavia Butler and Audrey Lorde. I would've said Bell Hooks, but I've already met Bell Hooks before she passed and loved her, but I probably would've wanted to break bread with her again. Yeah.
Roberto Germán 31:21
And why those two authors that you mentioned? Is there-- I don't wanna make assumptions here, but so go ahead.
Aiko Bethea 31:29
They are before their time. They were way-- They were genius brilliant before their time. Their work from back then is so relevant now. And you think about how did they even have the language and the vocabulary to use about something so far? And we can say the same about James Baldwin, too. Every one of those clips, everything about its relevant now. And he was way back then. And they were steeped in stuff that we are not steeped in. And they found these pathways to be able to find language, 'cause I can go back and read their stuff and get framing. They didn't have that. So that to me is really just, it blows my mind to think about really building those concepts, having language about what you're feeling, what you see people in your community experiencing and doing it in not only in an eloquent way but in such an advanced way. And you know, somebody's really brilliant when they're able to make complex ideas into short sentences with precision. You know, they are. And so yeah, just that brilliance I can't get enough of it.
Roberto Germán 32:38
So as we wrap up here for our listeners, what's the message of encouragement that you want to offer them?
Aiko Bethea 32:46
It is to define success on your own terms and not being afraid to do it, but also making sure that success on your own terms looks like joy. It looks like rest. It looks like healing. And realizing that these aren't just destinations these are moments. You don't have to wait until when I-- one day when I, or when I get a chance to, or when you have that beautiful moment and that gets over that was it. You know, that was the destination. They're not destinations or moments but moments and we can create them and we can create spaces for ourselves, even if it's just in our minds where we can be freer.
Roberto Germán 33:24
As always your engagement in Our Classroom is greatly appreciated. Be sure to subscribe, rate the show, and write a review. Finally, for resources to help you understand the intersection of race bias, education, and society go to multiculturalclassroom.com. Peace, and love from your host, Roberto Germán.