Find Your Voice
In this class, we unpack racial trauma, explore our identities, and find our voices in a world that often wants to silence us. We retrace history to understand how modern society upholds white supremacy and causes extensive harm to BIPOC communities. Using that knowledge, we consciously move away from white models of success, learn how to become more comfortable with our identities, and re-design our life based on the values that matter most to us. We will also learn how to leverage our power, and organize in community to usher in the systemic change we need.
We start the course with understanding the history of systems of oppression in our world and how they affect us today, including how western imperialism rewrote the history of the world. Moving from this as a foundation we then talk about how systems of oppression affect our self-esteem and how we inadvertently absorb white models of success and fall prey to the white supremacy playbook. With this knowledge we figure out how to redefine success according to our own values, find our voice, and act as advocates to our communities.
Most courses on leadership development and building confidence don’t have the decolonization lens. But we’re making the argument in our course that you can’t separate the impacts of colonization from BIPOC leadership development. We unpack all that history and the effects of oppression first, before delving into leadership development and community building through a decolonized mindset.
Saamiya Seraj, Ph.D. is a fierce BIPOC coach and consultant, creating anti-oppressive workplaces and communities, through her role as the co-founder and Chief Executive Officer of A Better Force (ABF), a leadership development organization. With a background in engineering, organizational development, and equity advocacy, Saamiya brings a systems-thinking approach to building more inclusive and empowering workspaces. She leverages both her technical expertise and lived experience as a South Asian Muslim immigrant, and cancer survivor to challenge the status quo in leadership development and help organizations foster lasting change.
Sarah Seraj, Ph.D. is an outspoken psychologist, data-driven DEI Advisor, and the co-founder & Chief Technology Officer of A Better Force (ABF), a professional training and coaching organization that empowers individuals and companies to transform themselves through customized programs. Combining her expertise in psychology and data science with her lived experience as a woman of color and an immigrant, she aims to create more inclusive spaces for women, BIPOC, and other underrepresented groups by addressing systemic inequalities within organizations. Sarah got her PhD in Psychology from the University of Texas at Austin in 2021.
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A better idea of how systems of oppression affect their life and well-being
More understanding of their racial trauma and ways to heal from it
More clarity and comfort around their identity and values
More confidence in themselves and their advocacy voice
An deeper understanding of leadership and community through a decolonized mindset
Strategies on how to use their voice and advocate for themselves and their communities
Techniques on how to organize and create a network of allies to push for systemic change
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The course is best for folks with marginalized identities who are questioning the role of systems of oppression in their lives and are looking for ways to feel more comfortable with their identities and advocacy voice. While the course is most suitable for BIPOC, white allies can also benefit from the class if they are looking to decolonize their mindset.
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An essay about their personal life philosophy and how they want to live and lead. The idea is that the essay will serve as a guiding compass that they can always refer back to for clarity about where they are headed in life when they are feeling lost. It represents who they are and their core values.
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8 Weeks
Class is limited to 25 students. Sign up to be notified when registration opens.