Social Justice Origin Stories
Social Justice Origin Stories is a storytelling project that highlights personal stories and defining moments that have inspired individuals and organizations to labor for equity and social justice. Through truth-telling: the honest sharing of their experiences, storytellers teach us about themselves, enabling us to learn about ourselves and our world through their stories. By reconnecting with pivotal moments of activation in their lives, they invite us to do the same. At Social Justice Origin Stories, we believe that there's power in storytelling and that lived experience is experience. There's room enough for all of us to do this work. There...
Rejecting The Path Of Least Resistance and Refusing To Be A Passenger With Tyler Adams
Tyler Adams of the GoodPain Podcast opens up about how a life-altering event involving his youngest daughter cracked his heart open and expanded his understanding of privilege, complicity with oppressive systems, and what it really means to live in alignment with his values, including using storytelling to make heart-to-heart connections that create lasting change.
He shares his experiences with the complexities of navigating loss, confronting privilege, subverting the status quo, and the power of staying connected to our humanity.
Tyler encourages listeners to resist the "path of least resistance," refuse to be passive participants, and...
Using My Oar, My Voice, to Design Equitable Futures: Ubuntu and Social Justice with monique liston
dr. monique liston, founder of Ubuntu Research and Evaluation, tells the story of how her dissertation research on human dignity for Black people led her to root her organization in the concept of ubuntu: “I am because we are” as a rejection of individualistic, capitalist thinking and a response to anti-Blackness and data violence.
She shares how navigating academic and professional spaces as a Black woman moved her to create an environment where smart Black girls are affirmed and where teams can interrupt harmful narratives, misinterpretations, and visual depictions about Black communities.
dr. liston connects Ubun...
Stop Believing In Things That Don’t Believe In You: On Asymmetrical Vulnerability with Kwesi A. Robertson
Kwesi A. Robertson shares about his journey through corporate America, pop culture, and the experiences that shaped his awareness of social justice. He describes the patterns that led him to recognize why access to vulnerability isn't a level playing field, noting how popular self-help and success narratives often hide an "underbelly" that ignores systemic barriers while blaming individuals for the negative outcomes they experience.
Kwesi defines social justice as a form of love and a foundational lens for understanding reality, urging listeners to seek connection, shared language that actually acknowledges the complexity of our experiences, and shared...
A Guide To Everything On The Social Justice Origin Stories YouTube Channel (So Far) | Design Decisions
Social Justice Origin Stories started off as a podcast, but is growing into something more. This is your guided tour of everything available on Social Justice Origin Stories' YouTube channel (so far).
In this episode of Design Decisions, you'll learn about the categories, special series, and the playlists that are available, so you'll know where to explore and what you'll find when you get here.
🔔 If you haven't already...SUBSCRIBE to Social Justice Origin Stories on YouTube! https://www.youtube.com/@socialjusticeoriginstories?sub_confirmation=1
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For Those Who'll Come After Vol. 3 | Social Justice Origin Stories
This is Volume 3 of “For Those Who'll Come After“, a special series from Social Justice Origin Stories. In this series, storytellers reach across time, sharing messages and reflections for future generations, sharing what they want them to know, remember, and carry forward in the ongoing pursuit of social justice.
🔔 If you haven't already...SUBSCRIBE to Social Justice Origin Stories on YouTube! https://www.youtube.com/@socialjusticeoriginstories?sub_confirmation=1
❤️ SUPPORT THE PROJECT Support this work by becoming a patron: https://www.patreon.com/SocialJusticeOriginStories
💬 SHARE YOUR STORY OR FEEDBACK Your voice helps shape this community and...
Wherever You Are In The Hard Things, These Stories Are For You, Too | Design Decisions
Realizing social justice is not a simple or linear process, and the weight of the work can wear us down. Whether you are actively engaged on the front lines of your work, taking time to rest, or simply trying to survive the everyday realities of living within oppressive systems, we need you.
Social Justice Origin Stories is here to remind you that wherever you are in the struggle, these stories are for you.
🔔 If you haven't already...SUBSCRIBE to Social Justice Origin Stories on YouTube! https://www.youtube.com/@socialjusticeoriginstories?sub_confirmation=1
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The Justice We Imagine Vol. 4 | Social Justice Origin Stories
This is Volume 4 of The Justice We Imagine, a special series from Social Justice Origin Stories. This series focuses on storytellers' responses to three essential questions:
When is true social justice possible? What shapes our approach to the work? And why does understanding and sharing our social justice origin stories matter?
As you listen to their responses, reflect on what your answers might be.
🔔 If you haven't already...SUBSCRIBE to Social Justice Origin Stories on YouTube! https://www.youtube.com/@socialjusticeoriginstories?sub_confirmation=1
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The Power of Relationships and Lived Experiences with Sharman Spieser
After witnessing the racism her Black students experienced up close on a bus trip to Kentucky, Sharman Spieser’s awareness shifted from understanding how racism operates on an intellectual level to a deeper understanding gained from lived-experience. She reflects on how segregation, isolation, and scarcity thinking operate within a white supremacist capitalist system to keep us apart, and emphasizes the power of building authentic, trusting relationships that create the conditions for honest dialogue to happen as a way of unlearning white supremacy and advancing antiracist social change.
🔔 If you haven't already...SUBSCRIBE to Social Justice Origin Stories on Yo...
Introducing Design Decisions | Social Justice Origin Stories
This is Design Decisions: a space where I share news and updates about Social Justice Origin Stories as it continues to grow and evolve. More than updates and announcements, though, it’s a space for meaning-making, where I expand on the ideas, values, and design decisions that shape this work. It’s a space to think out loud, and a place where I talk through what it's like to build social justice origin stories in this time we’re living in, and the things I learn and experience along the way.
🔔 If you haven't already...SUBSCRIBE to Social Ju...
Thinking Beyond Direct Practice And The Clinical Office: Macro Pathways with Patrick Taylor
Patrick Taylor, LCSW, US Air Force veteran and doctoral student in Social Work at USC, tells the story of how learning about the Grand Challenges for Social Work in his program and being surprised by how few Social Workers knew about them led him to recognize the experience as a systemic issue. Taylor's research led him to coin the phrase the Micro Pipeline in Social Work (MPISW), the systemic funneling of social workers into clinical roles at the expense of macro exposure, development, and support.
Taylor describes how social work’s identity became tied to a medical mo...
Boundless Awareness With Pooja Kothari
Pooja Kothari, Esq. begins her social justice origin story with memories of her father, who helped cultivate her abilities to think critically as a child, her early awareness of sexism in gender-segregated cultural spaces, and her later experiences with racism and internalizing shame as a cis, queer, first-generation Indian-American woman of color. Recalling her experiences as a former public defender with the Legal Aid Society Criminal Defense Practice in Brooklyn, NY, Pooja reflects on how she became more courageous and a better advocate thanks to her mentors Michael Letwin and Azalia Torres, and explains how systemic racism shapes courtroom...
Scholarship as Resistance: Elevating The Stories Of Black Employees Under Authoritarian Leadership with Darryl B. Rice
In this educational segment of Social Justice Origin Stories, Dr. Darryl B. Rice, Associate Professor of Management and Richard T. Farmer Associate Professor at Miami University, returns to discuss a recent article he and his team published on how authoritarian leadership harms Black employees in the workplace. Rice argues that, in the context of workplaces in the United States, authoritarianism is an extension of racial oppression rooted in slavery and Jim Crow, and their research shows it reduces Black employees’ perceptions of a psychologically safe environment, making it harder to thrive.
He talks about the leadership implications of...
Look For Hope Everywhere With William "Bill" Vanderwill
Reflecting on his 50-year career as a Social Worker, William "Bill" Vanderwill speaks on the importance of strengths-based practice, intergenerational communication, community organizing, and the grassroots power of everyday people taking actions for social justice.
Listen in to hear insights from the man Relando affectionately calls "the Fred Rogers of Social Work."
This episode includes:
How mistakes can become valuable learning opportunities in social work and advocacy
The importance of intergenerational collaboration and recognizing elders as wisdom keepers
Practical examples of grassroots community organizing and everyday social justice actions<...
Recreating Home: Justice Over Everything with Byron Green-Calisch
Dr. Byron Green-Calisch shares how he turned 14 years of higher education and leadership research into consulting, public media work, and activism in Florida. He shares how racialized campus crime alerts and gaps in leadership education shaped his scholarship and pushed him to claim roles as educator, activist, and healer, grounded in collective liberation and a desire to help the helpers.
Byron also tells the origin story of the cookout moment that led him to co-found Justice Over Everything with State Rep. Michele Rayner, Esq., a coalition-based social justice center that leads with an intersectional approach dedicated to...
Sankofa Bird: Affirming Blackness From The Start of Early Childhood Education with Anissa L. Eddie
Drawing on her expertise in social work and education policy and her lived experience as a Black Biracial woman, Dr. Anissa L. Eddie shares how intentional racial socialization in the earliest years can disrupt anti-Blackness, foster radical self-love in Black children, counter the formation of harmful biases, and promote racial equity.
Dr. Eddie also shares her personal “Sankofa Bird” journey: reclaiming what was missing in her own racial identity formation to empower future generations.
Her storytelling reminds us why it’s never too early to engage children in racial equity work in developmentally relevant ways.
...
Take This With You Vol. 3 | Social Justice Origin Stories
This is Volume 3 of “Take This With You“, a special series from Social Justice Origin Stories. Storytelling is a gift, and in this series, storytellers reflect on what they hope stays with you after their episode ends. As you listen to their sharing, consider this moment as an invitation to reflect on your own journey.
🔔 If you haven't already...SUBSCRIBE to Social Justice Origin Stories on YouTube! https://www.youtube.com/@socialjusticeoriginstories?sub_confirmation=1
❤️ SUPPORT THE PROJECT Support this work by becoming a patron: https://www.patreon.com/SocialJusticeOriginStories
💬 SHARE YOUR STORY OR FEEDBACK Your...
Black In The Stacks: Sharing Stories of Black Librarians, Authors, and Advocates with Marquita Gooch
Marquita D. Gooch, MLIS, reflects on the pitfalls and power dynamics of representing a library system publicly, while being limited in her ability to speak freely without fear of retaliation. She talks about the freedom she’s found to be more vocal since leaving traditional library work, and shares how her experiences became catalysts for creating Life After Libraries, her podcast and web series chronicling her journey beyond traditional libraries, and Black in the Stacks, her podcast highlighting the inspiring stories of librarians, authors, advocates, and others from the African American and African Diaspora.
Black in the St...
In Community Vol. 1: The Voices of Social Justice Origin Stories | 2024 + 2025
No one gets to where they are by themselves, and this project would not exist without the collective wisdom of the storytellers who’ve shared their stories with us.
This is Volume 1 of “In Community”, a special series from Social Justice Origin Stories. This annual series brings together the voices of storytellers whose stories were published in a given year.
To everyone who has listened, watched, shared the stories, reflected on your own, and returned for more storytelling, thank you.
Many thanks to the storytellers who have contributed to this project and have truste...
Kujo's Kid Zone: Connecting Roots, Bridging Histories, and Empowering Futures with Randy Quansah
Randy Quansah, creator of Kujo's Kid Zone, shares a memory of an early experience with racism at school that sparked his journey of self-discovery and awareness of African history and identity. What began as sharing the lessons he learned with his daughter expanded into considering other kids and their families, which then became the inspiration behind his educational show for children. Randy talks about his dedication to educating children about African history, challenging Eurocentric narratives, the importance of cultural representation, and the necessary cycle of growth that comes from leaning and unlearning about ourselves and the world. His message...
The Justice We Imagine Vol. 3 | Social Justice Origin Stories
This is Volume 3 of The Justice We Imagine, a special series from Social Justice Origin Stories. This series focuses on storytellers' responses to three essential questions:
When is true social justice possible? What shapes our approach to the work? And why does understanding and sharing our social justice origin stories matter?
As you listen to their responses, reflect on what your answers might be.
🔔 If you haven't already...SUBSCRIBE to Social Justice Origin Stories on YouTube! https://www.youtube.com/@socialjusticeoriginstories?sub_confirmation=1
❤️ SUPPORT THE PROJECT Support this work by becoming a patron...
For Those Who'll Come After Vol. 2 | Social Justice Origin Stories
This is Volume 2 of “For Those Who’ll Come After“, a special series from Social Justice Origin Stories. In this series, storytellers reach across time, sharing messages and reflections for future generations, sharing what they want them to know, remember, and carry forward in the ongoing pursuit of social justice.
🔔 If you haven't already...SUBSCRIBE to Social Justice Origin Stories on YouTube! https://www.youtube.com/@socialjusticeoriginstories?sub_confirmation=1
❤️ SUPPORT THE PROJECT Support this work by becoming a patron: https://www.patreon.com/SocialJusticeOriginStories
💬 SHARE YOUR STORY OR FEEDBACK Your voice helps shape this community a...
Humanizing Our Neurodivergence: Lessons of Love From The People's Platypus with Sheldon Gay
Sheldon Gay shares his journey of late identification as gifted and neurodivergent, which fostered his commitment to humanizing Black, gifted, and otherwise neurodivergent experiences to promote acceptance and self-love. Through his podcast 'I Must Be Bug'N,' Sheldon aims to dismantle the pathology associated with labels and celebrate the strengths and challenges, what he terms “the 'cape and the kryptonite” of neurodivergent people.
Sheldon advocates for narrative change and more compassionate storytelling about neurodivergence, reminding listeners that labels don’t have to feel like pathology.
00:00 Introduction to Humanizing Neurodivergent Experiences
00:26 The Impact of Late I...
A More HUMAN Approach to Truth-Telling & Building Community: Becoming The Quiet Rebel with Tracie Jae
Tracie Jae, human culture strategist and educator describes how her family both shielded her from, and prepared her to engage with racial injustice, and shares about the breadcrumbs that helped her to learn that racism shouldn’t be normal. She tells the story of the birth of her identity as The Quiet Rebel, and breaks down her more HUMAN (Honest, Urgent, Meaningful, Accountable, Nuanced) approach to equity conversations and explains why real social change starts with addressing harm, embracing difference, and staying curious about the stories missing from the narratives we’re told about ourselves and the world around us...
Jim Crow 2.0: How Anti-DEI Laws Are Rooted In Systemic Anti-Black Racism with Darryl B. Rice
In this educational segment of Social Justice Origin Stories, Dr. Darryl B. Rice, Associate Professor of Management and Richard T. Farmer Associate Professor at Miami University, shares the research findings he and co-authors Dr. Tsedale Melaku and Dr. Jennifer R. Bishop write about in their forthcoming article: Jim Crow 2.0: Understanding Present-Day Anti-DEI Laws as A Function of Cross Generation Transmission of Systemic Anti-Black Racism in the special issue of Equality, Diversity and Inclusion: on “The Backlash Against DEI Programs.
Dr. Rice connects Jim Crow era anti-Black violence and modern anti-DEI legislation, and how social conservatism as a po...
For Those Who'll Come After Vol. 1 | Social Justice Origin Stories
This is Volume 1 of “For Those Who'll Come After“, a special series from Social Justice Origin Stories. In this series, storytellers reach across time, sharing messages and reflections for future generations, sharing what they want them to know, remember, and carry forward in the ongoing pursuit of social justice.
🔔 If you haven't already...SUBSCRIBE to Social Justice Origin Stories on YouTube! https://www.youtube.com/@socialjusticeoriginstories?sub_confirmation=1
❤️ SUPPORT THE PROJECT Support this work by becoming a patron: https://www.patreon.com/SocialJusticeOriginStories
💬 SHARE YOUR STORY OR FEEDBACK Your voice helps shape this community and...
Reimagining Leadership and Finding Our Role in The Movement with Beca Velázquez-Publes
Beca Velázquez-Publes, Founder, Coach & Consultant at The Liberated Leader, opens up about the lessons she learned early on from her parents that made working for social justice a part of her DNA. She talks about the evolving nature of purpose and how her work with the Urban Core Collective solidified her social justice journey, allowing her to build a space that resisted norms in the nonprofit space and push collective growth edges to test new ways of being for work and in community.
Beca also talks about the significance of operationalizing equity and creating inclusive and h...
Exploring Identity and Mental Health Through Comics, Anime, and Culture with Quincy M. Simmons
Quincy M. Simmons, a rising senior at SUNY New Paltz in Journalism, Film, Video, and Black Studies, shares what motivated him to use his love for comic books, manga, and anime to address social justice issues through his podcast, 'The Masks We Wear. He talks about mental health, neurodiversity, and toxic masculinity, and how exploring comics as modern mythology can offer powerful reflections on today’s social and political climate. Quincy also talks about his journey with journalism, how he uses storytelling to inspire and educate, his guiding influences, and the impact he hopes to make with his work.
...Take This With You Vol. 2 | Social Justice Origin Stories
This is Volume 2 of “Take This With You“, a special series from Social Justice Origin Stories. Storytelling is a gift, and in this series, storytellers reflect on what they hope stays with you after their episode ends. As you listen to their sharing, consider this moment as an invitation to reflect on your own journey.
🔔 If you haven't already...SUBSCRIBE to Social Justice Origin Stories on YouTube! https://www.youtube.com/@socialjusticeoriginstories?sub_confirmation=1
❤️ SUPPORT THE PROJECT Support this work by becoming a patron: https://www.patreon.com/SocialJusticeOriginStories
💬 SHARE YOUR STORY OR FEEDBACK Your...
Marching to the Beat of Your Own Drum: Finding Your Rhythm with Chinyere Neale
Chinyere Neale reflects on a time in her life when the frustration she often felt toward well-meaning but uninformed white people who considered themselves allies in racial justice work became a mirror for her own growth. After attending an LGBTQIA+ ally training at work one day, she came to a humbling realization that she also had the capacity to be well-meaning but uninformed in a different way. The experience expanded her understanding of privilege and oppression, and influenced her approach to life as a “never-ending classroom”.
As a retired global public health educator from Detroit with a mult...
Take This With You Vol. 1 | Social Justice Origin Stories
This is Volume 1 of “Take This With You“, a special series from Social Justice Origin Stories. Storytelling is a gift, and in this series, storytellers reflect on what they hope stays with you after their episode ends. As you listen to their sharing, consider this moment as an invitation to reflect on your own journey.
🔔 If you haven't already...SUBSCRIBE to Social Justice Origin Stories on YouTube! https://www.youtube.com/@socialjusticeoriginstories?sub_confirmation=1
❤️ SUPPORT THE PROJECT Support this work by becoming a patron: https://www.patreon.com/SocialJusticeOriginStories
💬 SHARE YOUR STORY OR FEEDBACK Your...
Using Intergroup Dialogue as a Catalyst for Social Justice with Kelly Maxwell
Kelly Maxwell reflects on how coming out as a lesbian in the 1990s sparked a deeper examination of her whiteness and a lifelong commitment to understanding her relationship to privilege and oppression. She traces her journey from growing up in an almost exclusively white small town in Ohio to dedicating 17 years to social justice education through intergroup dialogue at The Program on Intergroup Relations at the University of Michigan.
Kelly also shares stories from her family life as part of a multiracial, interracial, two-mom household, and how those dynamics shape her personal and professional values on justice...
Do The Hard Thing: Confronting Our Privilege as a Path to Justice with Angie Freeman
After narrowly avoiding a car accident in a parking lot one day, Angie Freeman (they/them) reflects on how that experience, and their initial reaction in the moments before and after learning the other driver was Deaf, expanded their awareness of their unexamined privilege. The experience set them on a path to learn American Sign Language (ASL), learn more about the lived experiences of Deaf people, and sparked a journey of self-work to more deeply understand how privilege operates. This journey continues to inform their life and work today as a speaker and educator.
Angie also shares an...
The Justice We Imagine Vol. 2 | Social Justice Origin Stories
This is Volume 2 of The Justice We Imagine, a special series from Social Justice Origin Stories. This series focuses on storytellers' responses to three essential questions:
When is true social justice possible? What shapes our approach to the work? And why does understanding and sharing our social justice origin stories matter?
As you listen to their responses, reflect on what your answers might be.
🔔 If you haven't already...SUBSCRIBE to Social Justice Origin Stories on YouTube! https://www.youtube.com/@socialjusticeoriginstories?sub_confirmation=1
❤️ SUPPORT THE PROJECT Support this work by becoming a patron...
Fighting Anti-Blackness: Loving Ourselves with Daily Practices of Self-Reflection with Nadia Brigham
As an intellectual activist, Dr. Nadia Brigham has possessed the ability to recognize the patterns of injustice from an early age. She tells stories from her early life, highlighting pivotal moments that sparked her passion for social justice.
She reflects on her journey of completing her dissertation research exploring the ways power is wielded through language and narratives that dehumanize Black people, and how the emotionally difficult process of making meaning of the ways anti-Blackness is transmitted to individuals and throughout our social systems led to the surprising yet purposeful emergence of “Radiant & Rising”, a collection of inte...
The Justice We Imagine Vol. 1 | Social Justice Origin Stories
This is Volume 1 of The Justice We Imagine, a special series from Social Justice Origin Stories. This series focuses on storytellers' responses to three essential questions:
When is true social justice possible? What shapes our approach to the work? And why does understanding and sharing our social justice origin stories matter?
As you listen to their responses, reflect on what your answers might be.
00:00 Introduction and Purpose of Social Justice Origin Stories
00:24 The Power of Storytelling and Community
01:43 Expanding Connections and Future Plans
04:21 Introducing 'The Justice We Im...
Follow Your Innate Sense of Justice with Emely Medina-Rodríguez
Dr. Emely Medina-Rodríguez, a social researcher and program evaluator committed to equity and culturally responsive practices, shares the story of her journey from Puerto Rico to Chicago and the events that inform her practice and activism as a researcher. Her storytelling teaches listeners about the need to challenge extractive traditional research practices that don’t prioritize the needs of communities, and to have a power analysis be “part of the equation” in research and evaluation.
🔔 If you haven't already...SUBSCRIBE to Social Justice Origin Stories on YouTube! https://www.youtube.com/@socialjusticeoriginstories?sub_confirmation=1
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Education as an Act of Faith with Keith Edwards
Reflecting on significant learning experiences that have shaped his approach to social justice, speaker, author, and coach Dr. Keith Edwards describes education as an act of faith; investing time in cultivating the necessary relationships required to do the work with the belief that we’re making an impact even if we are not around to witness the outcomes.
Speaking from the perspectives of someone who has been invested in and someone who invests that time in others, his storytelling speaks to the importance of unlearning dominant messages of superiority, cultivating critical hope, and understanding the collective damage ca...
Bloom Where You're Planted with Claire Downing
Claire Downing, Founder and Principal at The Moonlight Collaborative, shares a story of how witnessing her parents’ activism and the ways they navigated differences as an interfaith family shaped her own commitment to activism; paving the way for her to be able to develop a commitment to continually understand and embrace the complexities of her identities and relationship to privilege and oppression later in life as a white Muslim woman who converted to Islam. Claire also recalls how experiences in toxic workplaces ultimately led her to establish The Moonlight Collaborative, where she partners with organizations that are invested in “crea...
Phoenix Rising: "You're a Part of Public Health, You Just Don't Know it Yet" with Bryan O. Buckley
Dr. Bryan O. Buckley tells the story of how his Caribbean background and the lessons he learned from watching his grandparents' activism shaped his approach to leading for equity in public health. He reflects on pivotal moments in his life and career, the game-changing impact of mentoring and sponsorship, and how his superpower as a connector enables him to build relationships with people closest to the problems to facilitate change in communities and systems. Dr. Buckley affirms that we are all a part of public health, and share a collective responsibility in making the world a better place. He...
Build What You Dream: The Rockstar Woman Movement with Shannon Cohen
In sharing the Social Justice Origin Story of the global Rockstar Woman™ Movement, founder Shannon Cohen recalls how manifesting her dream of establishing truly inclusive professional networks and affinity spaces for women was born from a mix of inspiration, observation, and agitation, with a particular desire to create spaces that were markedly different from the exclusionary, predominantly white spaces she experienced as a Black Woman in her early days as a professional. Drawing on the legacy of resilience and entrepreneurship passed down from her grandparents, Shannon’s storytelling speaks to the power of betting on yourself, incubating your ideas inst...
