Jaz Ampaw-Farr on Reversing Toxic Trajectories

Converge: The Business of Creativity Podcast with Dane Sanders

We live in a world full of conflict. A friendly conversation takes an unexpected turn into an "Us v. Them” situation. And when it does, how exactly do we find a way to turn a potentially toxic trajectory around?
Growing up, Jaz Ampaw-Farr endured enormous mental, physical, and sexual abuse, in addition to neglect. When she was young, she decided the best strategy as a person of color in those circumstances was to become as small as possible in the hopes of going unnoticed. As a British Citizen, Jaz sees this trend in persons of color in America in which shrinking becomes a survival technique… or to go in the opposite direction and be driven exclusively by anger and vitriol.
The legacy and story she wants to tell is one of doing everything she can with the resources she has to shift from shrinking in fear to standing in hope and grace.
Jaz holds that sometimes the hard work is simply having a curious conversation. It is looking for and being with people who are different than you. Her advice: Resist the craving to get closure in these moments, but instead keep engaging.
Jaz brings a much needed light to this conversation. She gifts us her vulnerability and uses it not only to inspire but to teach.

Resources:

To learn more about Jaz Ampaw-Farr visit:

https://jazampawfarr.com/

Outline

[2:02] - Jaz, tell us your story.

[6:39] Jaz says that she is often called inspirational, and her response always is, “Great, what have I inspired you to do?

[09:05] Leadership isn’t what you do, but it’s what happens when you aren’t even in the room and this is shown through Jaz’s elementary school teacher Mrs. Cook

[9:33] With people, kids in particular, what you things you do matters. You can do things to people, for people, and with people.

[10:59] Labeled 3 Categories of Adults: 3 - Dangerous - 2 - Benign - 1 - Heroic/Guiding

[12:24] - What is your perspective on shifting from the “small as possible” mindset that people of color are often advised to assume to confronting racial conflict and standing differently?

[14:18] Playing small works as it can provide some protection, but the cost of it is giving up who you are and who you could potentially be.

[16:27] Wanting change more than wanting to be right is how you start overcoming the fear of saying or doing the wrong thing. It is where you can start addressing unconscious bias.

"For understandable and good reasons, people are protesting.”

[18:49] Entice people with empathy, engage them in a conversation, and enroll them to your way of thinking. The idea of going straight to enrolling is wrong

[22:16] Knowing what it is to have nothing can influence who you stand with and how you stand with them

[26:11] - How do you manage to cross this chasm; on one side you are surviving and standing up against racial tension, and then on the other side you thrive in a hope for a better future? - what is the next step beyond where we are now?

[27:14] The stages are suffer, survive, thrive, be alive and drive change. We tend to want to jump from a place of suffering to driving change, but the work must be put in to advance from each step.

[31:49] When you move past suffering, surviving, and thriving, you see existence coinciding with real peace. It’s being alive

[32:49] Driving change: Do, Engage, Be

[33:14] If you are not ready to drive change, it is okay, but you must own. Don’t blame external locus of controls.

[40:56] - 2 Perspectives on racial discourse: How to navigate semantics respectfully as a white person, and how to resist closure/cancelling someone when they are not as careful as they could be.

[42:18] When we engage, do we engage out of inspiration or out of desperation?