Thoughts On Unstoppable Forces, Immovable Objects, & Capitalist Greed.

This thought won’t leave me alone. Money isn’t hard to find or make, it’s all around us, but MEANING and JOY are harder to come by.?

For years people have been trying to move me into corporate spaces to facilitate sessions helping them develop a social-cultural conscience. I am so grateful for the opportunities I've had and the people who invested in me. I wouldn't trade the experiences for anything, and I'm excited to take what I've learned moving forward. As I’m reconciling my career path, I’ve come to a few conclusions.?

1. Greed: If corporations wanted to change their ways to be more community-minded and stop destroying the planet they would do it. The PhD grads in social sustainability already exist. They have the resources, if they’re aren’t already trying to change they don’t actually care beyond the ability to pat themselves on the back for having an educational workshop that will yield few, if any, lasting results. I’d rather have my time focused on rewarding efforts than waste your time or money. Ever since covid everyone except those at the top are having an even harder time justifying record corporate profits with growing economic inequality & disenfranchisement of the working class. Now is prime time for corporations to put their money where their DEI & Sustainability Initiative mouth is, and instead we see mass layoffs, record profits and executive bonuses lining their pockets, and a value system of profit over literally everything else. The most woke thing about corporate America are the creative teams crafting the cultural narrative that sells the product, because proving you are inclusive isn't just cool, it's essential to appeal to younger audiences these days.

2. Equity: People still don’t seem to understand positive economic impact for underserved individuals comes from economic systems rooted in generosity, and actually providing these identities opportunities to be educated, employed, and grow. I will not place values on my services that make them unattainable to the people who most benefit from them, which is everyone in the margins. We really need to collectively consider how we place value on life because all of our economic models leave some people out completely, and have always planned for the bubble to burst—just so the people who can profit off of the failure still have the chance to do so, and everyone caught in the burst will just have to suffer. There are other models that allow for profit and a soul, and with all that we collectively know about this moment in time and how the system is designed to work, it becomes obvious that lasting positive change is obstructed by existing profit interests.

3. My Value: I’ve come to learn that I don’t place my value in money, I place my value in myself, other people and my time. I don’t seek money for personal gain, I seek money for personal sustainability and socially responsible entrepreneurial investments. I’m not trying to climb ladders or break glass ceilings, because I want to BE IN LOOOOVE WITH MY LIFE, and that’s not something I see people on the hustle bus doing. I’d rather live on less and keep my time and sanity than be as miserable as the people I’m watching live out the supposed American Dream. I’m dreaming of a day people are sincerely valued for their efforts, communicated to with consideration, respected for their individual identity, and given equal access to education & economic development, which is apparently a fairly unAmerican dream because a lot of people have been fighting for their right to this for a very long time, and still are every single day.

Recently, I was discussing the idea of what happens when an unstoppable force (me) meets an immovable object (western capitalism), and I concluded, it goes through the object if it's traveling at high enough speed, or it hits the object and bounces off around the object. I'm gonna just bounce and go around. Personally, after I release all of my strategy frameworks, I'm taking the next two years to design and build a community-centered urban farm and maker space in Atlanta.

Until the day comes where corporations have even something that looks like a moral compass, I’ll be valuing people over profit as I always have, and designing pathways for humans to leave that whole mess behind for lives they actually love, doing work that actually matters and creates positive change, and genuinely helps people grow a life of personal fulfilment.?

If anyone is secretly wishing they could get some culture change going and want a little disruption in their corporate madhouse, or wants to completely set their life on fire and live a life of meaning, dm me, I'm certainly available for consulting.