SLO Equity Podcast

What does voting have to do with belonging?

In this episode of the SLO Equity Podcast, we sit down with City of San Luis Obispo staff to talk about representation, civic participation, and the move to Citywide Single Vote beginning with the November 2026 election.

We unpack what’s changing, why the change happened, what voters need to know, and how participation in local government extends beyond Election Day. And we wrap things up with a lightning round, a chance to have a little fun and get to know the people behind City Hall beyond their jo...

This episode of the SLO Equity Podcast recognizes Disability Pride Month through conversations about access, inclusion, employment, and belonging.

We begin with Jennifer Chassman Browne, disability advocate, writer, and speaker for Diversity Coalition's upcoming Disabilities 101: Access, Awareness, and Community event. Jennifer shares her own lived experience with disability, reflects on the meaning of Disability Pride, discusses recent federal disability policy changes, and introduces her upcoming book, See Us, Know Us, which highlights the diverse experiences of people with disabilities through personal stories.

We also hear from Andrea Wasko, local business owner whose company has intentionally...

Episode notes

This episode of the "SLO Equity Podcast — Making Space for Every Story", explores Pride beyond the month of June through a conversation with GALA Pride and Diversity Center, San Luis Obispo County's LGBTQIA+ community center.

As the first installment in our year-long Pride series, this episode reflects on the history of Pride as both a celebration and a protest, the evolution of LGBTQIA+ advocacy on the Central Coast, and the importance of creating spaces where people can experience belonging.

Guests Linnea Valdivia and Trevor Norcross discuss the history of GALA, why Pr...

This episode is part of The Ethics Edit: Applied Ethics in DEI in the San Luis Obispo Community, a special subseries of the SLO Equity Podcast created and developed by Mikayla Mariano as part of her senior project at California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo (Cal Poly), with support from the Diversity Coalition of San Luis Obispo County.

This episode of the SLO Equity Podcast features a conversation between host Mikayla Mariano and Father Ian Delinger, Rector of St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church in San Luis Obispo and host of Playing with Food on KCBX.

...

This episode of the SLO Equity Podcast — Making space for every story centers a conversation with men of color living in San Luis Obispo County on California’s Central Coast.

Recorded as an in-person roundtable, this discussion brings together four local voices to reflect on a simple but layered question: What is it like to be a man of color in San Luis Obispo County?

From navigating visibility and isolation to questioning how community is experienced across different spaces, the conversation surfaces both the progress in diversity and inclusion and the realities that continue to shap...

The SLO Equity Podcast is back! In this relaunch episode, we talk about housing in San Luis Obispo County, not just as policy, but as something we’ve experienced and had to navigate ourselves.

We break down redlining in a friendly conversation, and connect it to what people are still dealing with today. We also interview RACE Matters' Executive Director, Courtney Haile, about their documentary short "Restrictions Apply". Courtney was also featured in a past podcast episode, Why San Luis Obispo Lacks Diversity, where we discussed the then-upcoming documentary release. Now, we return to it, capturing new re...

In this second part episode, M’Lynn Martin shares about how her voice was systematically shut down in San Luis Obispo County for standing up for what she believed in. This is what racism looks like today.

This episode was first published on 09/24/21

In this special 2 part episode M’Lynn Martin, a youth pastor shares how she was raised in San Luis Obispo county and what it was like to be on of the only black girls in north county. In the second episode you’ll hear how her voice was systematically silenced by the church she worked for in 2020 for speaking out against racism.

This episode was first published on 09/24/21

Garrett Olson, CEO of the Food Bank and Dr. Nooristani Founder of the Noor Foundation and Noor Clinic share their missions for serving the underserved and why people of color are often a large percentage of that population.

This episode was first published on 9/30/21

CEO of RRM Design Group, Erik Justesen shares his personal journey learning about DEI and then taking the leap to make Diversity a strategic priority at his company. Regina Wallace Jones, Senior Vice President of Product and Engineering at MINDBODY shares her perspective as a woman of color and former Mayor of East Palo Alto on the opportunities San Luis Obispo businesses have to learn and grow by making diversity, equity and inclusion intentional and mentoring people of color to become leaders in our community.

This episode was first published on 09/30/21

Homeowner Jaime Lewis and Courtney Haile of Race Matters record the process of finding and removing racial covenants on Jaime’s San Luis Obispo home title, and informing neighbors that many neighborhoods in San Luis Obispo, and throughout the U.S. were systematically designed to keep people of color out. They share the process of making their film "Restrictions Apply".

This episode was first published on 09/30/21

Cheryl Vines of the San Luis Obispo County NAACP, Michael Boyer Founder of Diversity Coalition of San Luis Obispo County and CEO of the Boys and Girls Club of Mid Central Coast, and recent Cal Poly Engineering Graduate and the City of San Luis Obispo’s Diversity Equity and Inclusion Task Force Chairman Amman Asfaw share what motivates their activism and advocacy.

This episode was first published on 9/30/21.