The Brightside Vol 21

WELCOME TO THE BRIGHTSIDE

June 5th, 2020

ON REPEAT:

Life on Mars - Seu Jorge 

(spotify linked above, but the video is live from KEXP; a little ode to my dear friend Kim who turns 26 today! KEXP is a radio station out of Seattle which I had the pleasure of visiting last year. It's a special place<3)

How's your mind today?

It's been an intense week, and I understand that the way it was intense for me doesn't hold a flame to the way it was intense for others. I recognize that it's a privilege to just now, at 25 years of age be reckoning with the reality of systemic racism in our country.

The intensity for me manifested in tough conversations and feeling the whole spectrum of emotions as I've read, watched, and listened. I've been doing a lot of reflecting on how I can evolve and grow, and what long term action looks like for me.

One thing I am committed to continue doing is involving myself even more with Product Inclusion at Google. Product Inclusion is something I grew to love late last year and have written about in bits in this newsletter, but for anyone who isn't familiar:

Product Inclusion is the practice of applying an inclusive lens throughout the entire product design and development process to create better products and accelerate business growth. Here's an article with some more information.

It's centered around building for everyone by bringing a truly equitable representation of our users to the table, which Google and many other tech companies are really just starting to figure out how to do well (and how to measure). Microsoft is an amazing example of a leader in this space.

You might be thinking: Erica, you're in sales, how can you be a champion of Product Inclusion? That's something that I asked myself the second I learned about this topic area in December. To me, it's all about bridging the gap between our sales & product teams. Sales has an incredibly personal connection to our client base, and I'm making it my mission to make their voices heard and represented equally by product. Understanding the diversity of our client base is the key to busting unconscious bias, and right now we really don't have any useful information on who we're selling to, and in turn who we're building for. This is a problem that can be fixed, and I'm determined to be a part of the solution.

So that's where I'm starting. I'm making a case for my leadership team, I'm aggregating resources, and committing myself to this as I strive to be a better ally.

It's a big mountain to climb, but we're climbing.

I'd also like to take this time to thank each and every one of you who contributed, shared, or supported in your own way the fundraising efforts I initiated this week. Together we raised $5,738, which, with the Google Match will be $11,476. WOW. These funds will go to causes that will support education initiatives, legal aid funds, bail out funds, and more. More information will be posted on my instagram page, and I'll be reaching out to all 95 people who Venmo'd me (yes, 95. I am incredibly moved by the outreach.)

And now, we have the lovely Carli Smith joining us to discuss her view on the movement and discuss her initiative to stop change.org from profiting on the efforts to bring George Floyd justice. Carli - thank you for your words and your honesty.

I consider myself an ally. But in terms of being a good ally, a meaningful ally - I'm not so sure that I'm there yet.

I've always cared about social issues. I've cared enough about them to post on social media. I've cared enough about them to show up to some protests. But have I been consistent about upholding that level of energy when it may not be convenient or popular to do so? It pains me to say so but probably not.

It's difficult to know where to start, or how you can put yourself to use when you genuinely do want to help. Within the past few days, I've learned that one of the first steps in being a productive ally is to take your blinders off. To listen to those who are struggling and acknowledge their pain. To internalize the issue at large instead of pretending it doesn't exist because you wouldn't like it to.

When you know better, you do better. And that knowledge bears with it the responsibility of speaking up. The commitment to calling out something you see as wrong. Which is why after signing the Justice for George Floyd petition on change.org, I could not hold back.

This petition itself has great intentions as do those who have signed the petition. But the website that hosts the petition itself? Not so much.

Though it might not be obvious, Change.org is a multi-million dollar private for profit company. The site is strategically designed to look like a non-profit organization and ploy users into thinking that their contributions are charitable donations when in reality this money goes straight into the pockets of change.org.

After signing a petition, change.org prompts the user to "be a hero" and donate a suggested donation amount of $20 to advance the cause by advertising the petition "extra times" within the site itself. They offer to “match” contributions over $25 but that’s only in the form of overpriced “ad impressions” that they could already give out for free. Basically their “match” has no monetary value and is just a way to lure people into giving them money and increasing their site's ad revenue.

For some context, as of right now (Wednesday Night) the Justice for George Floyd Petition has garnered over 14.5 million signatures, and (according to their site) over 8.5 Million donations to change.org. With a suggested donation of $20, the petition is proving to be not only the most popular, but the most profitable petition the site has ever seen.

I admire the fact that the petition was created and I admire the fact that 14.5 million people have signed it. I admire the fact that this volume of support likely influenced the decision to charge all 4 officers involved with George Floyd's murder. What I don't admire are companies referring to themselves as "the world's platform for change" while profiting off of the vey systemic racism & social injustices they claim to challenge.

With that, I created a petition of my own on (you guessed it) change.org. The petition aims to call the company out for its deceitful tactics & urge them to disclose & donate the total amount made off of the Justice for George Floyd Petition. So far, my petition only has 394 signatures. But hey, the odds are always against you when you're sticking it to the man.

Please consider signing & sharing this petition pressuring the organization- nay, for profit company to donate all profits to the family of George Floyd as well as other reputable non-profits that advance the Black Lives Matter movement.

Follow Carli on Instagram or reach out to her via email: [email protected]

I have fallen in love with many new-to-me brands and Black-owned businesses through the power of social media this week. Some of my favorites were:

Estelle Colored Glass (I've actually been following this brand for a long time. LOVE!)

Golde - Beauty/Wellness

BLK+GRN - All natural marketplace

Dorcas Creates - Beautiful, fun prints

Bolé Road Textiles - textiles & homewares

(Many of these brands I discovered through this great IG post!)

happy brightsiding,

Always here for an email pen-palship, even if (especially if!) we haven't caught up in a while. <3

[email protected]