“To be an ally is really about recognising that you’re doing something that’s greater than you. It’s not about you. You’re doing something that will provide the opportunity for transformation, for healing and for a better world, for a more integrated world, and a world where we can have these conversations with one another when, harm has been caused.” Nova Reid
E101 – Nova Reid on ANTI-RACISM, ALLYSHIP, AND CURIOSITY
ALLIES OF JOY IN A SYSTEMICALLY RACIST WORLD
Listen to the conversation:
If you love the show, you can subscribe through iTunes, Stitcher or Spotify and listen offline on your favourite device (podcasts are great for long drives and commuting!)
About this interview:
How can we form new patterns of behaviour to heal our racial bias?
“To be an ally is really about recognising that you’re doing something that’s greater than you. It’s not about you. You’re doing something that will provide the opportunity for transformation, for healing, and for a better world, for a more integrated world, and a world where we can have these conversations with one another when harm has been caused.”
In this episode, Amisha Ghadiali talks with Nova Reid, an anti-racism activist, TED speaker and author. Nova uses her professional background in mental wellbeing to encourage mindset change working with organisations and individuals to improve systems of discrimination from the inside out.
Amisha and Nova unpack how racial and unconscious biases are formed across generations and cultures. Sharing powerful examples, together they reveal the traumatic impacts of white privilege and daily microaggressions that take form in our systemically racist systems. Nova reminds us that allyship is the progress we need to seek and that we can unlearn racism and prejudice. She believes that by sharing our vulnerabilities and by showing up with our curiosity, joy, and solid boundaries, we have powerful tools to create true allyship, and the foundations for breaking, healing, and transforming our cycles of behavior necessary for building an anti-racist future.
In this episode, we learn about what makes systemic racism so insidious and what in our behaviour gives it power. Nova shares insights into how we can address racial bias with our children, and how we as adults can recognise and transform the subconscious messages and non-verbal cues of discrimination, fear, and racism that we unknowingly pass on to them. Amisha and Nova explore further how feeling shame, guilt, and fear are some of the biggest barriers to progress and showing our vulnerabilities will move us into curiosity and empathy for each other. Nova believes that understanding more about where we come from is vital in order for us to bring alive mutual and collective anti-racist transformation.
“The very nature of what makes systemic racism so powerful and insidious is because we don’t address it, because generally, you know, it’s not people who consciously want to cause harm to people because of the color of their skin. It’s everyday well-meaning people who are good and kind, who haven’t unlearned their racism because they don’t know that it’s there. That’s what makes it so dangerous.” ~Nova Reid
Nova Reid is a anti-racism activist, TED speaker and author of debut book The Good Ally, out in Autumn 2021. Often described as a force to be reckoned with, she uses her professional background in mental wellbeing to encourage mindset change working with organisations and individuals to improve systems of discrimination from the inside-out.
Nova has worked with leading social justice organisations including Change.org, is a popular keynote speaker, and regular mentor at the Southbank Centre’s Women of the World (WOW) Festival. In March 2019 Nova was invited to lead a panel at the UK’s first SHE Summit. In the same month she was honoured to be named one of the Top 100 Black British Women by the Black Magic Network, as part of International Women’s Day 2019 and was nominated for a National Diversity Award.
Nova regularly appears on leading media including BBC News, Sky News and BBC Radio as an expert on race and diversity matters and in 2018, Nova was invited to attend the Royal Wedding of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex to provide expert media commentary. Nova is a passionate advocate for equality and helping people be the change they want to see in the world.
To find out more about Nova‘s work visit novareid.com
To connect or work with Amisha, visit amisha.co.uk
Resources and links from this episode:
- Nova’s Instagram @novareidofficial
- Nova Reid Anti-Racism Course
- Nova Reid -TED Talk
- Pre-order Nova’s Book ‘The Good Ally’ on Waterstones
- Pre-Order Nova’s Book ‘The Good Ally’ on Amazon
- Adrienne Maree Brown – Pleasure Activism
Connect more with us:
- Beautiful Leadership mentoring
- Amisha’s One-to-One sessions
- Amisha’s book – INTUITION
- all that we are membership
←Previous Podcast Episode Next Podcast Episode →
You must be logged in to post a comment.