Global Majority ? What is in a name ?

Yesterday was an important day.

Yesterday was the day I switched over from my old work email address [email protected] to [email protected].

It took me a lot to reflect on my brand, my identity, and potentially "whitewashing" my name on the one hand, and also dealing with the sheer complexity of a very long name and spelling it while on customer service calls, on the other.

This led me to ponder - are we living in an era where everything that is personal is also political, and if so, how does that contribute to the lives we live and our ability to stay connected?

Most importantly, how does it have an impact on whom you choose for your therapy/mentoring journey?

I work with business coaches for my business, and one day, I was talking to this coach of mine, and we were discussing high-level containers. You know those six-figure masterminds that help you "fast track".

I paused her excitement and asked, " Hey D, have you ever seen a brown woman in these containers ?"

Shocked silence.

"Hey D, Have you ever seen a brown woman from the global south at these containers ?"

And I remember her response - she said, well, I had never thought about this until you asked me the question. I have seen some black american/british men at these events and some women too, but never a brown woman, and never anyone who lives outside specific countries.

Akilah Riley-Richardson (she/her) and I talk about being therapists and building a unique body of work - hers on relational privilege and mine on Rerooted Somatics, while living in the "Global South" - who in post-colonial spaces have come to be known as net consumers of knowledge, not creators.

Which is sad, because my culture, literally is the net creator of embodiment, and yoga, as we all know it today. The Yoga industry in the US alone is worth $9 million and has no brown woman coach/thought leader in the multi-million dollar bracket in any of these coaching containers.

What I am creating today sits at the intersection of neuroscience, embodiment, and culturally-specific somatic therapy, focusing on all of these aspects of rootedness, and how it affects identity and belonging.

In parallel, I have heard the word "Global Majority" be used in leadership, diversity, and inclusion and in therapy circles too.

What's in a name?

Wikipedia says -

"Global majority" is a collective term for ethnic groups which constitute approximately 85 percent of the global population. It has been used as an alternative to terms which are seen as?racialized?like "ethnic minority" and "person of color" (POC), or more regional terms like "visible minority" in Canada and "Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic" (BAME) in the United Kingdom."

Words are powerful.

Words are impactful.

What changed for me when I started using the term "global majority" is I started believing in the power of the work, and what we are creating, and finding allies and fellow-travellers like Akilah Riley-Richardson (she/her) has been very powerful for me.

It has strengthened my belief that we can be net creators of knowledge, rather than passive consumers of certifications and licenses to practices that aren't rooted in the experiences of 85% of the world.

Have you heard this episode on our podcast yet?

If not, here are the links to this two-part episode.

Episode 1(Apple Podcast)

Episode2 Apple Podcast)

Episode 1 (YouTube Video)

Episode 2 ( YouTubeVideo)

Episode1 (Spotify)

Episode2 (Spotify)

Who should listen to this?

• Anyone who is remotely interested in inclusion and diversity
• Anyone interested in mental health, has had cultural experiences of being re-rooted
• Anyone who has an interest in "model minority" trauma and how it affects nervous systems
• Leaders, coaches, therapists, change-makers
• Anyone who wants to engage in and invest in therapists and coaches who are not just "trauma" informed but are actually culturally competent to deal with collective stories and how we carry them in our nervous systems across generations.

What did you think of this conversation? If you want to hire a therapist for yourself who can help you negotiate with your own power and early attachment or a coach for your organization - to help build spaces with autonomic safety, not just psychological safety, ping me and let's talk.