Image Credit: Photo by Wout Vanacker on Unsplash

September 2022

Dear friends,

As we send this, we are once again sitting in the both/and. We are celebrating that one year ago today Illuminate Collective was born. And we are sitting with the heavy news of the destruction caused by hurricanes Fiona and now Ian over the past week. Our hearts go out to all who have been impacted, and to those preparing for Ian’s continued path.

This experience of simultaneously sitting with what is joyful and what is difficult is central to the human experience. At Illuminate Collective, we believe that we have to do both in order to live fully and authentically. We have been grateful to be able to hold the space to do that for ourselves and for our clients in our first year together.

As most of you know, our name was chosen with intention. We are Illuminate because we believe in shining a light on our strengths and successes, while also acknowledging the shadows and opportunities for growth. We are a Collective because we know that we are better together. It is in community and partnership that we lean into new challenges, expand each other’s thinking, and deepen both our learning and our impact. We’ve reflected many times over the past few months about how much we’ve accomplished this year that we could not have done alone. We look forward to continued collaboration with our partners and clients in the year ahead!

Join us!

Collective Conversation: The Power of Working Together

Tuesday, October 18th from 11 AM – 12 PM EST – As we kick off our one year anniversary celebration, we will be reflecting on how the power of partnership has deepened our work experience and our impact. We invite you to join us in this conversation along with one of our favorite Collective partners, Natalie Basham, in our next Collective Conversation on Tuesday, October 18th.

Please grab a cup of coffee, bring a friend or work partner, and join us for this informal conversation about the power of partnership.

White Leaders Working on Antiracism

Registration is now open for the fall and winter cohorts of White Leaders Working on Antiracism.

In the summer of 2020, we partnered with our colleagues at Leading Elephants, with advisory support from Lesley Brown Rawlings of Beloved Community, to create a learning and accountability space for white leaders. Over the past two years, more than 200 people have participated in this series, engaging in the inner work that is foundational to taking informed, antiracist action. If you are a white leader seeking a space to reflect, process, and practice, please consider joining us.

Pennsylvania Conference for Women 2022

You don’t have to be in Pennsylvania to attend the PA Women’s Conference on October 6th and 7th, as there is a virtual option on the 7th! Join amazing speakers such as Jane Fonda, Yara Shahidi, D-Nice, Austin Channing Brown, and more. Marion is excited to serve as a leadership coach at the conference!

Partner Spotlight

Loa Cover & coLeague

Earlier this month, our good friend and brilliant talent leader Lora Cover launched coLeague. We’re excited to celebrate Lora’s work, which is rooted in a commitment to building and developing teams where everyone can thrive.

In Lora’s own words, “At coLeague, we believe that at the heart of successful organizations are people who can, and want to, bring their full humanity to work. To us, HR is more than compliance. It’s a people-centered approach that unlocks your organization’s potential to meet your mission.

coLeague places on-demand Chief People Officers, people strategists and implementation experts inside organizations—exactly where and how organizations need them. Our work is done in deep collaboration with the organizations we support, co-designing, co-creating and co-partnering with them every step of the way.”

To learn more about coLeague, check out this coLeague panel discussion featuring Marion and other talent leaders discussing current trends in talent work and how the coLeague model can make an impact.

What We’re Reading

We are excited to share we have begun a certification program in the Enneagram, a transformational tool that helps us shine a light on our motivations and behavior patterns so that we are able to grow. We first learned of the Enneagram from our friend and colleague Kelly Harris Perin at Little Bites Coaching who introduced it to us at a retreat with our coaching colleagues.

Among the many books Kelly shared at that retreat, one that we have especially loved is The Road Back to You: An Enneagram Journey to Self-Discovery by Ian Morgan Cron and Suzanne Stabile. Through our certification program, we are now reading Discovering Your Personality Type: The Essential Introduction to the Enneagram by Don Richard Riso and Russ Hudson. We look forward to bringing deeper applications of the Enneagram into our coaching spaces to support our clients’ learning and growth.

Gratitude

We are grateful to the incredible clients we’ve had the great pleasure to work with over the past year! Individually and as a collective, we’ve:

• Provided executive coaching engagements to over 30 leaders and created a an executive coaching program to be part of a company’s year of service rewards

• Designed and facilitated diversity, equity, and inclusion sessions with a wide range of organizations, including some who were engaging deeply in this work for the first time

• Designed a performance management system and provided ongoing, embedded HR support for a start up

• Designed and facilitated team culture building sessions anchored in core values

• Provided mediation and conflict resolution for teams that were feeling stuck

• Launched the fifth cohort of White Leaders Working on Antiracism

• Hosted five Collective Conversations to create space for connection

Our clients bring commitment, creativity, and humor to their work every day. We are honored to walk alongside them. And we’re excited about what’s next.

Keep shining,

Marion and Miwa

Image Credit:Lisa Congdon/Lisa Congdon Instagram

July 2022

Dear friends,

Every newsletter message we’ve written since we launched Illuminate Collective last fall has been grounded in embracing growth, beauty, and grace as we walk through a world that is challenging, painful, and imperfect. You may be feeling that the world has never felt as challenging, painful, and imperfect as it does in this moment. As a country, we’re experiencing wave upon wave of mass shootings, racial violence, and erosion of women’s rights as we continue to move through a pandemic. It’s not possible for us to write a newsletter that doesn’t name the fear and pain and heaviness that many of us are feeling this summer.

And. There is always an “and.”

We name the fear and pain and heaviness and . . .

• we take one step forward.
• we rest if we need to.
• we keep learning so we can show up in productive ways.
• we hold our loved ones close.
• we march.
• we watch for fireflies when it gets dark.
• we take a walk.
• we take action.
• we take care of our colleagues and our neighbors.
• we take care of ourselves.

At the mid point of the year, as we name and acknowledge so much that is hard, what is the “and” for you? What is helping you to lean into the second half of this year and keep growing?

We’ll be talking about this – and just checking in with each other! – in our Collective Conversation next Tuesday, July 19th. Please join us for this moment of connection and reflection. And let’s keep taking care of ourselves and each other.

Join us!

Collective Conversation: Embracing the Both/And

Tuesday, July 19th from 11 AM – 12 PM EST – We invite you to pause, grab a cup of coffee (or a glass of iced tea!), and join us for this informal conversation about embracing a “both/and” mindset as we step into a new season.

Fall Coaching Opportunities

We’d love to add you to one of our remaining executive coaching spots for the second half of 2022! If you’re interested in learning more about how we can support you and your work through coaching, use the link below to schedule a 30 minute consult with us.

White Leaders Working on Antiracism Fall Cohort

White Leaders Working on Antiracism (WLWA) is a dedicated space for reflection, learning, and practice for white leaders who aspire to lead with equity. Through this four part series, white leaders engage in the internal work of rigorously reflecting on their impact as well as the external work of engaging responsibly and thoughtfully on issues of race and equity. Learning, reflecting, and practicing in community with other leaders can be transformative.

We invite you to join our WLWA email list to stay up-to-date on WLWA cohorts for Fall 2022 using the link below.

Partner Spotlight

Kelly Harris Perin, Little Bites Coaching

Our friend and colleague Kelly Harris Perin of Little Bites Coaching is dedicated to helping people and organizations work better and feel better. Little Bites has just launched Navigating Parental Leave, a course and coaching package for parents and a partnership for organizations committed to supporting a positive parental leave for everyone. As a mom of 3, transition coach for working parents, and advisor to human resources leaders on policies and practices, Kelly has seen it all – bright spots where parents and managers felt supported and productive, horror stories of bungled leave policy, team conflict, and long-term career harm – and everything in between. She believes that parental leave can be better for EVERYONE, including all kinds of parents, their managers, and their team members.

Find out more about Navigating Parental Leave here, and get the free resource “5 Ways You Can Support a Positive Parental Leave… for EVERYONE” here.

What We’re Reading & Listening To

We’re excited to dive into these books and resources this summer as we navigate transitions and move through change.

Marion’s Podcast Queue

Weekly listens:

• Ten Percent Happier with Dan Harris

• We Can Do Hard Things with Glennon Doyle & Abby Wombach

• Code Switch by NPR

• The Integrated Schools Podcast with Andrew Lefkowits, Val Brown, Courtney Mykytyn

• Everything Iconic with Danny Pelligrino

Can’t wait to dig in…

• History is Us with Dr. Eddie Gaude

Gratitude

We are grateful for long summer days, time with our families, and meaningful work in this season. And we’re thankful that there is always an “and.”

Keep shining,

Marion and Miwa

Image Credit: Poets & Writers

May 2022

Dear friends,

At Illuminate Collective, the concept of “both/and” is central to our work with our clients and to our partnership as friends and colleagues. Exploring the “both/and” enables us to acknowledge complexity, think more expansively, and open up new possibilities. But embracing this approach – and holding ourselves back from rushing to find only one seemingly perfect answer – hasn’t always felt this central to us. This is something that we’ve learned over time and that we often have to remind ourselves to do.

We’re conditioned to view our world through a binary lens even though being a human in the world is messy and nuanced and layered. Reflecting on “Either/Or & the Binary,” Tema Okun shares that we “reduce the complexity of life and the nuances of our relationships with each other and all living things into either/or, yes or no, right or wrong in ways that reinforce toxic power.” Giving ourselves the space to hold two feelings or ideas at once, to get creative about alternatives, to take a step back from feelings of urgency and scarcity – this moves us from an “or” to an “and.” It shifts our conversations, transforms our thinking about what is possible, and leads to new ways of showing up and taking action.

With a commitment to shifting conversations and transforming what is possible, we’re continuing to collaborate with our collective partners to offer coaching and training on diversity, equity, and inclusion to leaders and organizations in every stage of the work. Maybe you’re feeling daunted about starting this work with a team that hasn’t centered it before. Maybe you’ve just begun to get below the surface of equity issues within your organization and it’s been painful. Maybe you’re ready to reimagine systems and structures and the way things have always been. We’re here to partner with you in this work and make space to consider where an “or” can become an “and.”

Join us!

Collective Conversation: Embracing the Both/And of a New Season

May 24th from 11 AM – 12 PM EST – Our Collective Conversations are a monthly opportunity to learn and reflect in community with others. This month we’ll be discussing how we’re leaning into the “both/and” of a new season. As summer begins, what are we welcoming and what are we releasing? How are we both acknowledging painful realities and staying open to beauty and joy? Where can we be thinking more expansively and creating more possibilities for ourselves?

We invite you to pause, grab a cup of coffee (or a glass of iced tea!), and join us for this informal conversation about embracing a “both/and” mindset as we step into a new season.

Fall Coaching Opportunities

We’d love to add you to one of our remaining executive coaching spots for the second half of 2022! If you’re interested in learning more about how we can support you and your work through coaching, use the link below to schedule a 30 minute consult with us.

White Leaders Working on Antiracism Fall Cohort

White Leaders Working on Antiracism (WLWA) is a dedicated space for reflection, learning, and practice for white leaders who aspire to lead with equity. Through this four part series, white leaders engage in the internal work of rigorously reflecting on their impact as well as the external work of engaging responsibly and thoughtfully on issues of race and equity. Learning, reflecting, and practicing in community with other leaders can be transformative.

We invite you to join our WLWA email list to stay up-to-date on upcoming WLWA cohorts using the link below.

Partner Spotlight

Keva White, VIP Community Services & John Kepner, Fenway Management Advisors

We’re excited to shout out featured partners in our Illuminate Collective community in every newsletter. This month we’re highlighting two of our colleagues, Keva White, Founder of VIP Community Services, and John Kepner, Founder of Fenway Management Advisors. John and Keva recently launched a podcast called The Race to Social Justice. Marion was honored to be one of their first guests, talking about her story and journey in DEI as a white woman. Marion is also thrilled to be joining Keva as a guest facilitator in his Power & Privilege course, part of a multi-year DEI initiative with Redeemer Healthcare System in the Philadelphia region. Learn more about the DEI Training Institutes VIP offers here.

What We’re Reading and Listening To

Here are some compelling reads to celebrate Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month. JR Thorpe writes, “One 2005 analysis found that of 100 Americans recommended as worthy figures for history curricula, only 4% were Native American, 1% were Latino, and none were Asian American.” This month, and every month, let’s commit to more deeply understanding our shared history.

Gratitude

Huge appreciation to the amazing Chelsea Kasen-Kells for her friendship and her marketing genius. And many thanks to our incredible colleagues and clients who inspire us to continue to live into the “both/and” and embrace the complexity and potential of people work every day.

Keep shining,

Marion and Miwa

Artist Credit: Danielle Coke | Wall Art | Instagram

“I know that the way to create the world we want, and the one we owe those who come after us, is only something that can be achieved in community.”

Mia Birdsong, How We Show Up: Reclaiming Family, Friendship, and Community

February 2022

Dear friends,

As we celebrate Black history – this month and always – and make plans for the spring, we’ve been thinking a lot about the power of community. As the two of us look back on our most impactful work and our seasons of greatest growth, the common denominator is community. Whether we’re making difficult decisions, designing learning experiences, or building our own capacity for change, we know we’re at our best when we do that in community with others.

This month we’re inviting you to reflect on what you’ve built – and are in the process of building – in community with others. In what ways have you called on community to take a risk or learn something new or make a dream a reality?

One way that we’ve experienced the power of community over the past year and a half is through the design and facilitation of the White Leaders Working on Antiracism (WLWA) series. In the summer of 2020, we were deep in conversation with our friends and colleagues Michelle Hernandez and Amber Mackay at Leading Elephants about how we could hold space for white leaders to do necessary internal work around antiracism. With advisory support and thought partnership from Lesley Brown Rawlings at Beloved Community, we worked together to create the WLWA series, a white affinity space for leaders who want to take more meaningful action to disrupt oppressive systems in their workplaces and beyond.

The sense of community we experienced in designing this program deepened and multiplied as we built community within each of our five WLWA cohorts. If you are a white leader or you know a white leader who is seeking to deepen their lived commitment to antiracism in community with others, please read more about the program below and consider registering for our March 2022 cohort.

Join us!

Collective Conversation: What does building community mean to you in this season?

February 22nd 11 AM EST – Our Collective Conversations are a monthly opportunity to learn and reflect in community with others. This month we’ll be discussing how we’re building – or seeking to build – community in our lives. We invite you to pause, grab a mug of coffee or tea, and join us for this informal conversation about the power of community. The registration link is below.

White Leaders Working on Antiracism March Cohort

White Leaders Working on Antiracism is a dedicated space for reflection, learning, and practice for white leaders who aspire to lead with equity. Through this four part series, white leaders engage in the internal work of rigorously reflecting on their impact as well as the external work of engaging responsibly and thoughtfully on issues of race and equity. Learning, reflecting, and practicing in community with other leaders can be transformative.

You can register for our March 2022 cohort below, and reach out to us with any questions.

Tide Risers Spring Cohort

There’s still time to join the spring cohort of Tide Risers, where Marion will be a facilitator. Learn more about this intentional community for women in our partner spotlight below!

Partner Spotlight

A community we love to be part of and to partner with is Tide Risers, an international community of women who come together to learn and grow while supporting each other. Marion had a blast doing her first Instagram Live chat with Lara Holliday, founder of Tide Risers, last week. In this chat they talk about the power of community to help you get unstuck and be your best self. Check out their reflections about coaching, abundance, authenticity and more here!

To learn more and get a taste of the Tide Risers community, you’re invited to a free, virtual recruitment salon, Welcoming Abundance as You Embrace Your Strengths, with Tide Risers Heather McDanel and Olympia Trumbower on Tuesday, February 15th at 1 pm EST. In this session you’ll reflect on how you can embrace your strengths while also learning how joining the Tide Risers Flagship Program this spring can help you live more fully into them. You can register here.

What We’re Reading and Listening To

The Body Is Not An Apology: The Power of Radical Self-Love

We love listening to and learning from Sonya Renee Taylor about the power of radical self-love to transform us as individuals and to dismantle the unjust systems that hold us back.

Gratitude

We’re deeply grateful for community in all its forms this month – including the community of colleagues and friends who are reading this newsletter right now!

Keep shining,

Marion and Miwa

Morgan Harper Nichols, Artist and Writer | Website | Instagram

December 2021

Dear friends,

As we write this, we’re knocking on the door of a new calendar year. It’s a season of “Best of 2021” lists, and invitations to reflect on the past twelve months. Doing that kind of reflection may feel difficult right now. How do we put together a highlight reel when a year and half of pandemic life feels like a giant blur? How do we resist the urge to focus on what hasn’t been able to happen – what’s been canceled, what’s been limited, what we haven’t had the energy to do?

We invite you to take one small step before the new year begins. Take a moment to think about what has happened and what you have had the energy to do over the past year. If it’s helpful, scroll through the pictures on your phone or glance over a few months in your calendar and remind yourself of moments of growth, perseverance, and joy. In a world of constraints and exhaustion and uncertainty, you still made things happen.

We paused to think about ways we’ve grown and joys we’ve experienced this year. Here’s a peek at some of the things on our list:

• Miwa walked more miles and met more amazing neighbors than ever before after her family adopted their wonder dog, Jax

• Marion celebrated her big milestone birthday with three amazing trips – each with a different group of family or life friends, reminding her of what’s most important in life

• With the encouragement of her sons, Miwa managed her fear of heights and made it through an intermediate ropes course

• Marion, in partnership with women in her amazing community, revived the multi-racial women’s group she co-founded that had been on hiatus during the pandemic

• Together, we made the leap to start our joint venture as we leaned into an intentional, joyful work partnership

It’s nourishing to recognize the light we’ve created in our own small ways. We hope you can take some time this winter break to do the same!

Join us!

Collective Conversation: Find Your 3-Word Mantra in 2022

Leadership Coaching

We’ve built space to take on new coaching clients into our winter and spring planning. Email us at [email protected] if you’d like to explore a coaching engagement in the new year.

Tide Risers Spring 2022 Cohort

Partner Spotlight

We’re excited to shout out a featured partner in our Illuminate Collective community in every newsletter. This month we’re highlighting Alli Myatt and Courtney Tungate, co-founders of The Equity Practice and experienced non-profit leaders. Alli and Courtney work with organizations to create new ways of operating to make equity work. They offer a range of coaching and consulting services as well as courses and fellowships, including Anti-Bias in Hiring and #The PracticeofEquity Manager Series.

What We’re Reading and Listening To

We’re excited to dive into these books and resources this summer as we navigate transitions and move through change.

Your Body is Your Brain by Amanda Blake

Many of our coaching clients have heard us talk about tapping into ALL of our body’s intelligences through somatic practices. We learned this from Amanda Blake as students in the Neuroscience of Change class by Coaches Rising. Learn more about this science and practices in this book.

Gratitude

This month we’re grateful for the promise of rest and time with family in the coming weeks. And, as always, we’re grateful to all of you for being part of this community. We’re wishing you much light, peace and rest over the holidays and winter break. See you in 2022!

Keep shining,

Marion and Miwa