What do you mean by “equity professionals”?

An equity professional is someone whose official job function is to build and support equity in organizations, either internally or externally.

Why is there a membership fee?

People pay for the things that are important to them, with some combination of their time, attention, and money. If you’ve already invested one or more of those things in your equity (un)learning journey, then of course you would do so for the Collaborative, right?

Other reasons include the fact that the Mighty Networks platform on which the Collaborative is built isn’t free to run. So all members - including myself, the Host - have a contribution to make.

Finally, as a feminist who runs a feminist business, I, the owner, and any employees, contractors, etc. must be able to earn a living, thriving wage.

I’m already part of a Facebook / WhatsApp / TikTok group. How is the Collaborative different?

In short, the Collaborative isn’t an algorithm-based, content-generating, ad-serving, attention-stealing machine. 😛

The biggest difference with this community, though, is two-fold: 

First, social media platforms make it almost impossible to create nuanced mechanisms for handling and managing conflict within the group. Most options serve as a very blunt instrument, which was not designed to take nuance, context, or complexity into account.

Second, any intimacy that is built through participation in the Collaborative is earned: the community is structured to allow us to be in deep community and right relationship with each other. There is no expectation or encouragement to share ALL the details of your life, just for the sake of likes.

I’ve been in practice / praxis groups like this before, and they always fall apart. How is the Collaborative different?

As mentioned above, the Collaborative is carefully and thoughtfully structured to drive meaningful, thoughtful engagement: yearly plan, monthly themes (some of which recur), and daily prompts and actions.

As the Host, I am ultimately accountable for keeping the community together; and as Members, you are accountable for sharing your ideas for how we can all do this.

Also, the nature of the Mighty Networks platform means that there are virtually limitless opportunities for learning, convening, and sharing our experiences.

Is the Collaborative confidential and anonymous?

The Terms & Conditions do set the expectation for all members to respect the privacy of others, this is not something I can guarantee. It’s not possible to do so, not least because screenshots are a thing. 

The Collaborative is not anonymous, for reasons of transparency and safety. If we want to build trust within the community, we have to say who we are. While you are required to use your legal name for registering, you may use only first names, or first name + first initial in your member profile.