In the beginning…

There’s always some amount of fear or trepidation when starting a new project in that you have no idea if it will sink or swim.

What I have discovered during the year and a half ramp up to debuting my baby, Equity In Motion, to the world is that you have to have community. A team. A squad. A knitting circle. Whatever, just some group of people who love and support you. And if you’re starting a new business, you should probably get yourself a business doula like Amber Faist from the Oregon Native American Chamber.

In the summer of 2019, I had just ended my contract with a fantastic organization. I felt ready to embark on my own business journey! And….I was also stuck. On a very warm sunny day in August, I met with Amber at Bison Coffeehouse. We sat outside on the patio where I began lamenting to Amber about just how stuck I was. All the progress I thought I had made to only get, well, stuck. A persistent grasshopper kept jumping on our table, on my laptop then on my arm. Surely, this grasshopper was bringing me a message, right? After a quick Google search, Amber informed me that “Grasshoppers are signs of persistence and moving forward because they can’t move backwards, bitch!” This surely was the sign I had been waiting for.

Currents rise, the moon has her phases, the land breathes and renews herself. We are all constantly moving. In the struggle for social and systemic equity it’s easy to get stuck. The work is overwhelming, you don’t want to hurt anyone, the language is constantly changing, what if you mess up….all of these are places were we allow ourselves to stay in rather than do the really hard work of moving forward.

It is with this in mind, the hard work in all the ways it shows up, can be used as a fuel to help us shift power structures that allow for injustice to continue it’s grasp on society. Let’s keep moving forward, bitches!

Thank you to Amber, Adam, Shilo, Brianna, Emma and the World Famous Fuentes Family for being part of my support team.