Grief, Love, Action: Transforming collective sorrow into collective power
We have been memorializing this long period of collective loss in many ways, telling a national story of family, grief and community that exposes major fault lines in our society. Grief has always been with us, but we have a chance now to acknowledge how sorrow lives in all our communities, and what we do with it together. These leaders will explore the possibilities of transforming collective grief into collective power and action through the quality of our storytelling.
Wednesday, February 24th at 7pm Eastern
Register now to save your spot and join this conversation about collective grief and power.
Here's who will be joining us:
Rinku Sen
Rinku is a writer and social justice strategist. She is formerly the Executive Director of Race Forward and was Publisher of their award-winning news site Colorlines. Under Sen’s leadership, Race Forward generated some of the most impactful racial justice successes of recent years, including Drop the I-Word, a campaign for media outlets to stop referring to immigrants as “illegal,” resulting in the Associated Press, USA Today, LA Times, and many more outlets changing their practice.
She serves on numerous boards, including the Women’s March, where she is Co-President and the Foundation for National Progress, publisher of Mother Jones magazine.
Pronouns: She/her
Soyinka Rahim
Soyinka Rahim, GSP, is a Grassroots Spiritual Practitioner, and the founder of BIBOLOVE, which stands for breathe in, breathe out love. She is a performing artist, a Conference Weaver, and an InterPlay Leader from Oakland, California. An energizing and engaging artist and facilitator, Soyinka guides multiracial, multi-gender, multigenerational groups to honor the self as well as our connection to our earth, our ancestors and each other. She helps participants and audiences tap into their authentic selves using breath, chants, movement, and storytelling. She is especially dedicated to youth seeking spiritual direction.
Malkia Devich-Cyril
Malkia Devich-Cyril is an award winning writer and public speaker on issues of digital rights, narrative power, Black liberation and collective grief; as well as the lead founder and former Executive Director of MediaJustice — a national hub boldly advancing racial justice, rights and dignity in a digital age. After more than 10 years of organizational leadership, Devich-Cyril now serves as a Senior Fellow at Media Justice.
Alex Goldstein
Alex Goldstein founded 90 West in 2016 with a commitment to help the highest impact and most innovative companies, organizations, and leaders make a greater impact on the world. Prior to founding 90 West, Alex served for eight years in numerous key leadership roles with former Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick, and also ran communications for Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley’s 2018 run. In March of 2020, Alex created FacesOfCOVID, a 145,000 follower Twitter account dedicated to remembering and honoring those lost to the COVID-19 pandemic by shedding light on the stories behind the statistics. He continues to curate this effort as the pandemic rages on.
Kristin Urquiza
Kristin Urquiza is a graduate of Yale University and UC Berkeley’s Goldman School of Public Policy where she earned a Master of Public Affairs. She is a climate crisis activist at Mighty Earth and co-founder of Marked By COVID. She grew up in the mostly Latinx neighborhood of Maryvale in Phoenix and is the granddaughter of migrant farmworkers.
Chioma Oruh
Chioma Oruh, Ph.D., lost her father, Felix Chidinma Oruh, to COVID-19 on May 9, 2020. Her family has shouldered much of the emotional and financial loss that comes from losing a key member of the family to COVID. Chioma is also a mother of two sons, ages 7 and 10 years old, who are both on the autism spectrum. She is the founder, principal consultant and parent coach of Chi Bornfree, Inc. She holds a Ph.D. in Political Science from Howard University and a Bachelor's degree in Sociology from The George Washington University. She is an active member of COVID Families Network with the Center for Popular Democracy (CPD) and is an active member of SPACE in Action, a DC region CPD affiliate organization.