This has been a labor of love.

I wanted to start a project that was subsanstive to others, but more importantly, that meant a lot to me. We’ve heard the stories of workplace culture and missteps that lead to BIPOC feeling uncomfortable and often harmed. Whatever I set out to do had to be deeply personal to me and not only something that benefited me but others as well. I charged myself with creating an organization that brought about radical inclusivity.

It's hard to figure out what is performative these days. We are in a time when employers are crafting emails to show solidarity, and pledging funds. I've been inundated with all of the messages and marketing. We are tired. All of those things are the backdrop to pain and violence, specifically state-sanctioned violence against Black bodies. The violence doesn’t just live there, it lives in the experiences of BIPOC in spaces; it lives in encounters and it lives in the culture of organizations.  Our world is broken, and it is not newly broken. It is severed due to the consistent tears at the seam of equity. Racism and anti-blackness are built in the soil of who we are. We live on colonized land. Yet, every day we make a choice, we have to navigate that premise and show up in spaces to decide if we will be racist or anti-racist. To choose the latter, you are choosing a life practice that is ongoing. Becoming Anti-racist is a practice that must be constantly evaluated, sustained, practiced, and evolving with discoveries. 

If you happen to be a person of color you may be navigating the endless loop of inequitable access to compensation, toxic workplace culture, microaggressions,and targeted unconscious bias.  

That’s why I wanted to start my work here. Inclusion is important to how we live, survive, and navigate life. 

On February 29th, leap day, I took a leap of faith for myself and the work that I have always stood on. I put pen to paper and started to conceptualize what I thought needed to happen. The first thing I penned was, “there has to be a pivotal paradigm shift in the way that we do things to reach inclusion.” I knew that this project would become my baby as I’ve poured time, energy, and financial resources behind it, but the thing about life-changing work is you have to feel so passionate about it you would do it for free. I’ve always said that I wanted to do work that made me feel energized when I woke up in the morning. This is it. 

I’ve done this my whole life. As a Black, Fat, woman from the south, you can imagine the spaces I have had to carve out for myself. There are times I have had to feel as though I needed to shrink myself, acclimate to the dominant culture, or subscribe to feeling like I would never be able to work in diverse, equitable, and inclusive environments. That’s why I’m here. With intention, I am hopeful that my vision of radically inclusive spaces will be actualized. I am hoping through leading with love, empathy, human-centered design, and transparency we can create a product that will get us there. 

-Jasmine Fluker Ansah 

Founder and Executive Director of The Pivotal Paradigm Project