To My Community,
We can no longer ignore the violence directed at Black and brown people. The recent killings of Breonna Taylor, George Floyd, Riah Melton, Oluwatoyin Salau, Dominique “Rem’Mie” Fells, Ahmaud Arbery, and many others show that racism, white supremacy, and police violence remain deeply embedded in our society. Like many white Americans, I once believed racism was a problem of the past. I was wrong, and I am sorry.
As we gather in health and nutrition spaces, even virtually, we must confront the effects of racism on health outcomes and quality of life for Black, Indigenous, and People of Color. We can no longer push systemic racism to the margins of the wellness conversation.
Justice matters. Equity matters.
Black Lives Matter.
As a nutritional therapist and certified Intuitive Eating counselor, my work has been to help people find peace around food and to leave diet culture behind. But if we do not direct the energy we once spent on diet rules and body hatred outward to fight for something greater than ourselves, what is the point?
Part of healing our relationship with food and bodies must include acknowledging and addressing systems of oppression—racism, classism, ableism, and more—that underpin diet culture.
There are powerful teachers, leaders, and organizations from marginalized and oppressed communities who are guiding this work. We must listen to and learn from them.
To be clear: I am not an anti-racism educator. I am learning, making mistakes, reflecting, changing, and committing to do better through concrete action.
I began examining my own white privilege and dismantling white supremacy in my thinking a few years ago after Charlottesville. I recognize I was late to this work. It is ongoing, and my efforts to make my business and my life anti-racist will continue.
Here are the steps I am taking. None of this is worthy of praise—this is necessary work.
1) Taking the Anti-Racist Small Business Pledge.
By taking the pledge, I’m committing publicly so I can be held accountable for the changes I promise to make.
2) Engaging in anti-racism education.
I will invest in anti-racism education led by Black, Indigenous, and People of Color organizations and educators. I do not yet have a formal diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) plan for my business, so I am working to engage guidance—originally through hiring a DEI consultant and later by joining a six-month DEI mastermind with Trudi Lebrón.
I commit to formally participating in anti-racism and DEI education for business at least twice a year. I have taken workshops and am currently enrolled in a longer course. Locally in San Diego, I am getting involved with groups focused on racial equity and calls to defund the police.
For the remainder of the year, I plan to read exclusively works by Black, Indigenous, and People of Color—sourcing books from Black-owned bookstores when possible—and I commit to continuing to prioritize BIPOC authors going forward.
3) Investing more of my business budget into the Black community.
My long-term goal is to direct 20–30% of my monthly business budget into the Black community. At present I fall far short of that target.
Though I currently have no employees beyond myself, when I hire contractors I will make diversity a top priority. I will look for software and tech solutions from Black-owned businesses, and where that is not possible I will choose partners who demonstrate a genuine commitment to anti-racism work.
I will also establish a recurring monthly donation to a Black nonprofit aligned with my values of growth, compassion, and equity. I am researching organizations now and plan to select one shortly. I have already begun making recurring donations to organizations such as UltraViolet and Black Women For Wellness.
4) Making my podcast more diverse and inclusive.
My goal is for at least half of my podcast guests to be Black, Indigenous, and People of Color. Whenever possible I will highlight voices from marginalized communities. I also plan to explore offering donated ad space to BIPOC-owned businesses in the health space. If you represent a BIPOC-owned company that might be interested, please contact me.
I will review and update this plan regularly to track progress.
Thank you for allowing me to share my commitments and the direction I’m taking from here.
If you would like to share feedback or ask questions, please reach out. I am listening and ready to learn.