Strands of Genius: Search Hacks Boost BIPOC Talent for Greater Visibility, Let's Not Talk About Race, The Urgency of Intersectionality

Guest Curated by Darien LaBeach

Jul 23, 2020

:: A BIT MORE ABOUT GUEST CURATOR, DARIEN LABEACH ::

LOCATION: Brooklyn, USA
PLACE OF EMPLOYMENT: Huge

I'm a multi-hyphenated creative doing it for the culture. Most of my time is spent calling people in, as opposed to calling them out. I put together strategies for more inclusive companies and personally work on healing a culture of toxic masculinity. Follow me @dlabeach for education & resources on being anti-racist, unpacking privilege, and being a better ally (spoiler: it’s an ongoing process).

Conversations are part of the larger equation. The world needs people ready to "pull up" not just "show up" for the movement. The first means constant and consistent actions for people in ways that say "I'm here" with more than words. The latter suggests it is ok to just be around with positive intentions. Still curious? Try these three things:

Pair statements with actions. Keep doing that till it becomes a habit rather than lip service.
Pay Black people for additional emotional labor. People should remember we are being disproportionately affected by dual pandemics.
Interrogate the impact of actions and design decisions — not just the the intent.

Editor’s Note (Rosie): Conversations with Darien involves loops and twists and lots of laughter, and are always incredibly satisfying, whether in hidden spaces over sushi, or accidental house parties, or even over text. More recently, these conversations have often ended up involving Hamilton, or evolving to our attempts to perform key numbers, and so I can’t say I’m surprised that made it in — though I love the added context to consider. You should know that when Darien *isn’t* kicking ass as the Director of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Strategy over at Huge, he also helps to curate events as a part of strtgst.co — If you’re based in NY/NJ, trust us when we say you’ll want to check ‘em out. Thanks for some excellent links, Darien!

Editor’s Note (Ashley): Darien and I actually met back in college while attending UGA and being Grady kids. The actual point of meeting is still unclear, but we’ve shared many memories of attending college football games together and more recently when I saw Darien perform stand up comedy in NYC. Darien is someone I’ve always admired and continuously am inspired by. I can’t wait to see what my fellow bulldawg does next and look forward to the day we can see each other again!

We’re looking for a design intern to help support us in our continued development of the School of Stolen Genius. If you or someone you know might be interested, head on over to the application for more deets.

:: THE LINKS ::

SEARCH HACKS BOOST BIPOC TALENT FOR GREATER VISIBILITY

The answer to why companies don't have diverse workforces is often "we don't know where to find them" or "they don't exist." Enter c0ffe3. By encouraging BIPOC talent to add the fake company to their LinkedIn profiles, it became a free, platform-specific hack to spotlight a visibly diverse candidate pool. It was incredible watching the internet rally around the brilliant, yet super simple idea to spotlight BIPOC talent. (AdWeek)

YEAH, LET’S NOT TALK ABOUT RACE

Damon Young pens an entertaining and insightful reminder to White readers in "Yeah let's not talk about race." White privilege may have made issues of racism "invisible" to them until the current moment but that doesn't mean it's ok to force conversations with random strangers just because of the color of their skin. Conversations about race and racism do need to happen, but it's important for intent to match impact. (New York Times)

THE URGENCY OF INTERSECTIONALITY

Civil rights advocate Kimberlé Crenshaw gave this Ted Talk about intersectionality back in 2016 and it's resonating with me in a new way. As we look around at the injustices facing various communities, we need to look at those suffering most. Black, Indigenous, and other Women of Color need to be more visible and more supported in the systems we design going forward precisely because they have been historically omitted from them. (TED)

Looking for more from Darien LaBeach? Those enrolled in The School of Stolen Genius will receive a deep dive from him in their inbox shortly! You can access all our expert interviews for SOSG here.

:: AND NOW… SOME FAST FAVORITES ::

:: Game :: Bananagrams

:: City :: hello Brooklyn

:: Book :: Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi is the best book I've read in the past decade. Bar none. Intergenerational storytelling and healing narratives are like medicine. (Rosie’s note: YES! Totally agree. Absolutely loved that book.)

:: Podcast :: Risk! The podcast is so revealing of humanity in the raw. The vulnerability and intimacy that comes through each story makes me feel more connected and compassionate of others.

:: Album :: Hamilton (Original Broadway Cast Recording). Also, a friend recently put me on to VWETTO II by Georgia Anne Muldrow and I've been vibing ever since.

:: OH, AND… HAMILTON ::

Hamilton on Disney+

Excited for nuanced conversations and displays of BIPOC communities in the mainsteam. Whether you have seen it live or not, I highly recommend finding a way to watch it yourself. Not only is it a revolutionary piece of theatre, but it also forces us to embrace dualities rather than binaries. There’s a tweet that captured this perfectly, "alexander hamilton was complicit in american slavery" and "hamilton the musical is a once in a lifetime piece of art very worthy of praise that gave tremendous opportunity to artists of color, specifically black artists". These two statements can and should coexist. (Source)

Love & Lysol,

Darien LaBeach

email: darien.labeach@gmail.com
instagram | linkedin | darien labeach

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