Listen to SEASON 2 of gen/activist! ✨
The co-founders of Rosa Rebellion, Virginia Cumberbatch and Meagan Harding, serve as co-hosts along with Dr. Sylvia Rousseau to bring a dynamic, inter-generational conversation about creative activism to life, fueled by stories of lived experiences from women we admire.
Thank you for inviting us back into your virtual living room, we can't wait to show you what we've been up to.
Listen to gen/activist Season 1 here.
(illustration by Edith Valle)
Episode 1: humor + healing // evelyn ngugi For our premiere episode of Season 2, we are in conversation with everyone's favorite internet cousin, Evelyn Ngugi or EvelynFromTheInternets. She is a comedian, creative activist, and content creator. She has created some truly prolific and hilarious videos about Black culture, life as a creative, and much more. Evelyn has a unique and amazing way of acknowledging our struggles while still making space for our joy through her humor. For more information about Evelyn, you can find her on the web at @evelynfromtheinternets on all social media, including her YouTube channel.
Episode 2: making room + owning spaces // maya watson We took the show on the virtual road and recorded a super fun episode on Clubhouse with their head of global marketing, Maya Watson. Prior to Clubhouse, Maya served as an executive at Netflix, OWN Network and HARPO productions. We chat about her upbringing and the importance of family, what she has experienced as a Black woman in tech and the need for disruption while helping to bring others into rooms that have traditionally been closed. We also chop it up about Justice Ketanji Jackson and watching her confirmation hearings. Maya is a dynamic voice who invited us into her virtual living room and we had the best time!
Episode 3: architecting + amplifying latinx voices // grace parra Pull up a chair, pull up a chair! We’re back again this time with writer and producer Grace Janney Parra to talk about storytelling as a device of disruption and amplification, Latinx representation in the entertainment industry, and the need for more than one story to be told. Grace is the creator, writer, and co-host of The Really Late Morning Show, a live comedy talk show in Hollywood featuring celebrity interviews, sketches, and musical guests. Parra is the writer and host of Grace Parra 360, a web series focused on political satire, and Parra of Your World, in which she humorously covers expos, conventions, and other events across the country. She is also a writer and producer of Hulu’s Solar Opposite. She is currently working on a comedy series about the Mexican-American family experience. We also take a look back on the #Oscars, the dangers of perpetuating a single story, and cinema as a reflection of who and what stories we value.
Paola Mathe is the mind and creative force behind Fanm Djanm, meaning "strong woman" in Haitian Kreyol. It's a lifestyle brand that creates sustainably, focuses on community, and serves to both empower and inspire women to live boldly. The combination of carefully selected fabrics, hand-sewn pieces, and cultural musings inspire women everywhere to wear a bold print, take command of a room, laugh a little too loud, and pursue their greatest aspirations. She dropped in to talk to us about her entrepreneurship, reclaiming narratives around identity, culture, beauty, and of course, the neverending cycles of becoming as a mother, a Black woman, and a creative. Enjoy 15% off across the site as a gen/activist listener by using the code ROSA15. Shop online at Fanm Djanm.com and get inspired by following the brand story on Instagram @fanmdjanm.
Author, activist, and all-around badass, Prisca Dorcas Mojica Rodríguez, founder of @latinarebels, joins us to talk about the power of righteous anger and her commitment to combining theology, intersectional feminism, and storytelling. The bulk of her work is around making accessible, through storytelling and curating content, the theories and heavy material that is oftentimes only taught in the racist/classist institutions known as academia. To date, she has participated in the Young Adult anthology "Nevertheless, We Persisted." Recently Prisca also participated in an anthology edited by Lynda Lopez titled, "The Fearless Rise and Powerful Resonance of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez." She started the platform Latina Rebels in 2013, and currently, it boasts over 300k organic followers online. She has been featured in Telemundo, Univision, Mitú, Huffington Post Latino Voices, Guerrilla Feminism, Latina Mag, Cosmopolitan, Everyday Feminism, and was invited to the White House in the Fall of 2016. She is unapologetic, angry and uncompromising about protecting and upholding the stories of Latinx communities. Que viva la gente! Currently, her first full-length book with Seal Press a subsidiary of Hachette Book Group, is out everywhere books are sold! Buy your copy here!
Have you ever wondered how design and architecture can uphold racial inequality? According to a 2020 report, only 0.4% of licensed architects in the United States are Black women. So, what does it mean to occupy this space of a Black woman? What does it mean to use architecture as a form of life-affirming storytelling for marginalized communities? Donna Carter, architect and civic leader, based in Austin joins us to talk about designing our way to a more equitable future through our understanding of physical spaces as places of community building, storytelling, and healing. Donna D. Carter, FAIA is President of Carter Design Associates, an architectural, planning, and restoration firm in Austin, Texas. Her practice is focused on projects combining revitalization, historic preservation, and new construction within a complete community context. As a civic leader, she has held volunteer and board positions for non-profit health care providers and social service advocates since 1986, serving in board and board-appointed positions for Austin’s Seton Family of Hospitals from 1996 until 2016 and Austin ECHO. She has recently finished 2 terms on the board of Huston Tillotson University and currently serves on the board of AIA Austin. We left this conversation thinking more deeply about the physical structures that permeate our everyday life and how we can be agents of disruptions and co-agitation through design. ✨