Addressing Systemic Inequities with Sheliza Jamal

For this week’s Inspirational Leadership Podcast I spoke with Sheliza Jamal, who is the founder of Curated Leadership, a coaching firm that fosters partnerships with leadership teams, nonprofits, and corporations to develop their knowledge in the areas of equity and diversity to build inclusive communities. As an Equity and Inclusion facilitator and Ontario certified educator, Sheliza brings over a decade of experience in designing and implementing training and development programs aimed at addressing inequitable outcomes for underserved communities. She has a background in arts education and often uses theatre-based techniques to develop embodied empathy to engage participants in dialogue about oppression. Sheliza uses a calling in approach to bring people together to listen and learn with empathy.

Sheliza is a graduate of the Harvard Graduate School of Education and is currently completing her PhD at OISE, University of Toronto in the Department of Social Justice Education with a research focus on anti-Black and anti-Indigenous racism in Teacher Education Programs.

Here are some of the topics we discussed:

  • How theater can be used to help understand oppression and power dynamics
  • Why leadership can be about being unapologetic when it comes to your vision, mission and what you’re committed to creating
  • The value of collectivist leadership and collectivist brainstorming for diverse thinking
  • Understanding the gender stereotypes that often plague women in leadership
  • How to build inclusive workplaces where everyone feels like they belong without being tokenistic
  • Creating brave spaces where people feel held and supported where they won’t be dismissed or reprimanded for speaking up
  • How implicit micro-aggressions can be very harmful in creating stereotypes and “othering” people
  • How an inspirational leader lets go of ego, self and personal gain to include everyone at all levels of the organization in conversations and is open to criticism

Listen to the podcast here:

Watch the video here:

Show Notes

Connect with Sheliza on LinkedIn, Instagram and Twitter

Book Recommendation: Immunity to Change

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