Advertise on podcast: State of Inclusion

Sometimes I share an episode from another podcast. My last guest, Margaret Seidler, got me thinking about how we can all move beyond either-or thinking.  I'll admit, after listening to Margaret, I wanted to know more. And I figured you guys might want to know more too. So today's episode is an interview from the wonderful podcast We Made This Political, hosted by Lura Forcrum and Lauren Hall. In this episode, they interview Cliff Kayser, an expert on polarity thinking. Enjoy.  Find a full transcript and show notes HERE. Sign up for our newsletter and join us at The Inclusive Community to discover conversations, insights, and practices to encourage and support each of us working to build a more inclusive and equitable community. If you would like to help continue and grow our work, please visit our Support Us page.

By sharing her personal story and painful family history, today's guest, Margaret Seidler, takes us along on a journey with her, a journey of discovery, of reckoning, and ultimately, of liberation. Along the way, we are reminded of the ability for story and art to connect us, to open our hearts and minds, and to help us find a different way into difficult discussions.  Find a full transcript and show notes HERE. Sign up for our newsletter and join us at The Inclusive Community to discover conversations, insights, and practices to encourage and support each of us working to build a more inclusive and equitable community. If you would like to help continue and grow our work, please visit our Support Us page.

A lot of us are watching our economy fall short — for us, for our neighbors, for our communities. Our communities need us to step up. They need our time, our energy — and, yes, our money. After all, we are the economy. Our choices, individually and together, shape it. The good news is that change can start right here, with each of us. I’m going to take you along on a journey I’ve been on over the last couple of years that completely changed how I think about giving, investing, and spending. Fair warning: this is probably the most personal episode I’ve ever done.  Find a full transcript and show notes HERE. Sign up for our newsletter and join us at The Inclusive Community to discover conversations, insights, and practices to encourage and support each of us working to build a more inclusive and equitable community. If you would like to help continue and grow our work, please visit our Support Us page.

While most of our podcast episodes are about looking out at other communities to learn and find inspiration, this episode is all about encouraging you to really notice what is happening right in your own backyard. We encourage you to take a Power Walk through your community and also to follow the money. As an example, I share a local project where, along with some good friends, we took our own Power Walk through our county's budget. Much of this episode is also a repost of an interview originally aired on the Simple Civics Greenville podcast. Find a full transcript and show notes HERE. Sign up for our newsletter and join us at The Inclusive Community to discover conversations, insights, and practices to encourage and support each of us working to build a more inclusive and equitable community. If you would like to help continue and grow our work, please visit our Support Us page.

Whether or not you follow State of Inclusion, you know that 2025 was a difficult year for equity and inclusion, and 2026 is already shaping up to be even more difficult in so many ways. In this episode, we’ll take a moment to reflect on our 2025 discussions and look ahead to our podcast in 2026. Now is the time to lean in, not back. Find a full transcript and show notes HERE. Sign up for our newsletter and join us at The Inclusive Community to discover conversations, insights, and practices to encourage and support each of us working to build a more inclusive and equitable community. If you would like to help continue and grow our work, please visit our Support Us page.

In this episode, we pause to express gratitude and reflect on the lessons learned through nearly a year of intentional engagement on immigration justice, in partnership with Village Engage and the Greenville Immigration and Faith Coalition. Listen in as our team explains how this journey has changed us and check out some of the photos from moments of community engagement. Welcome to this very special series, New Roots, New Voices: Listening to Our Immigrant Neighbors. where we will listen to and lift up the voices and stories of local immigrants here in Greenville South Carolina.  Find a full transcript and show notes HERE. This immigration series is done in partnership and collaboration with Village Engage and Greenville Immigration and Faith Coalition. Sign up for our newsletter and join us at The Inclusive Community to discover conversations, insights, and practices to encourage and support each of us working to build a more inclusive and equitable community. If you would like to help continue and grow our work, please visit our Support Us page.

If you care about making the world a better place, this episode is for you. My guest, Omkari Williams, asks us each to consider, "What if an activist looked like you?" In our discussion, she will share the ways that we can make activism and microactivism part of our daily lives. Along the way, she shares the main archetypes of activists. Spoiler alert: All activists are not headliners. Sometimes we're simply the folks who make the coffee or show up day after day. Listen in to begin to answer the question: What kind of activist are you? Welcome to this very special series, New Roots, New Voices: Listening to Our Immigrant Neighbors. where we will listen to and lift up the voices and stories of local immigrants here in Greenville South Carolina.  Find a full transcript and show notes HERE. This immigration series is done in partnership and collaboration with Village Engage and Greenville Immigration and Faith Coalition. Sign up for our newsletter and join us at The Inclusive Community to discover conversations, insights, and practices to encourage and support each of us working to build a more inclusive and equitable community. If you would like to help continue and grow our work, please visit our Support Us page.

In this episode, with the help of our guest Russell Stall, we will look back at the contributions past immigrants have made to Greenville, S.C. In doing so, we will draw from the lessons of our community's immigrant past to help inform our future.  Welcome to this very special series, New Roots, New Voices: Listening to Our Immigrant Neighbors, where we will listen to and lift up the voices and stories of local immigrants here in Greenville, South Carolina.  Find a full transcript and show notes HERE. This immigration series is done in partnership and collaboration with Village Engage and Greenville Immigration and Faith Coalition. Sign up for our newsletter and join us at The Inclusive Community to discover conversations, insights, and practices to encourage and support each of us working to build a more inclusive and equitable community. If you would like to help continue and grow our work, please visit our Support Us page.

In this episode, we will hear from Julian Cabra, who came to the US from Colombia seeking asylum. Julian's story asks us to reflect on the sacrifices and risks parents take for the safety of their children, as he shares what it was like for him to flee home at the age of 17, leaving everything and everyone he loved behind. Welcome to this very special series, New Roots, New Voices: Listening to Our Immigrant Neighbors, where we will listen to and lift up the voices and stories of local immigrants here in Greenville, South Carolina.  Find a full transcript and show notes HERE. This immigration series is done in partnership and collaboration with Village Engage and Greenville Immigration and Faith Coalition. Sign up for our newsletter and join us at The Inclusive Community to discover conversations, insights, and practices to encourage and support each of us working to build a more inclusive and equitable community. If you would like to help continue and grow our work, please visit our Support Us page.

Sometimes it takes someone new, coming from outside the community, to hold a mirror up, allowing us to see our community more honestly and realistically. In this episode, we will meet Chong Song, who came to the U.S. to marry a soldier. Following her husband’s military career, she has lived in many places across our country and beyond. In this episode, Chong shares a little of her life story, including her immigration journey, as well as her honest and direct take on Greenville.  Welcome to this very special series, New Roots, New Voices: Listening to Our Immigrant Neighbors, where we will listen to and lift up the voices and stories of local immigrants here in Greenville, South Carolina.  Find a full transcript and show notes HERE. This immigration series is done in partnership and collaboration with Village Engage and Greenville Immigration and Faith Coalition. Sign up for our newsletter and join us at The Inclusive Community to discover conversations, insights, and practices to encourage and support each of us working to build a more inclusive and equitable community. If you would like to help continue and grow our work, please visit our Support Us page.

In this episode, we'll meet Andrew Assuah, a teacher from Ghana who has come to Greenville to teach French in our public school system. In our discussion, Andrew will share about his dreams for himself and his family as well as the principles he lives by. He'll also give us a glimpse into the differences between how American children and Ghanaian children view their education.  Welcome to this very special series, New Roots, New Voices: Listening to Our Immigrant Neighbors, where we will listen to and lift up the voices and stories of local immigrants here in Greenville, South Carolina.  Find a full transcript and show notes HERE. This immigration series is done in partnership and collaboration with Village Engage and Greenville Immigration and Faith Coalition. Sign up for our newsletter and join us at The Inclusive Community to discover conversations, insights, and practices to encourage and support each of us working to build a more inclusive and equitable community. If you would like to help continue and grow our work, please visit our Support Us page.

In this episode, we'll meet Maria Beltran, an immigrant from Ecuador, and a paralegal who works every day on behalf of local immigrants. You'll quickly realize, as I did, that Maria is a force, a person who gets things done, someone anyone would be happy to have by their side.  Welcome to this very special series, New Roots, New Voices: Listening to Our Immigrant Neighbors, where we will listen to and lift up the voices and stories of local immigrants here in Greenville, South Carolina.  Find a full transcript and show notes HERE. This immigration series is done in partnership and collaboration with Village Engage and Greenville Immigration and Faith Coalition. Sign up for our newsletter and join us at The Inclusive Community to discover conversations, insights, and practices to encourage and support each of us working to build a more inclusive and equitable community. If you would like to help continue and grow our work, please visit our Support Us page.

In this episode, I have the pleasure of interviewing two Afghan sisters. They share about the artwork they did for this project and also offer a view into the challenges they and other girls have faced in their home country of Afghanistan. They also offer wisdom about how our community should think about immigrants and refugees, as well as how we can become better allies. Welcome to this very special series, New Roots, New Voices: Listening to Our Immigrant Neighbors, where we will listen to and lift up the voices and stories of local immigrants here in Greenville South Carolina.  Find a full transcript and show notes HERE. This immigration series is done in partnership and collaboration with Village Engage and Greenville Immigration and Faith Coalition. Sign up for our newsletter and join us at The Inclusive Community to discover conversations, insights, and practices to encourage and support each of us working to build a more inclusive and equitable community. If you would like to help continue and grow our work, please visit our Support Us page.

In this episode, I have the pleasure of interviewing four Afghan youth. In their voices we hear the beautiful energy and resilience of the young, even ones who have left so much behind. We will learn a little about their journey and the dreams they have for their future. Welcome to this very special series, New Roots, New Voices: Listening to Our Immigrant Neighbors. where we will listen to and lift up the voices and stories of local immigrants here in Greenville South Carolina.  Find a full transcript and show notes HERE. This immigration series is done in partnership and collaboration with Village Engage and Greenville Immigration and Faith Coalition. Sign up for our newsletter and join us at The Inclusive Community to discover conversations, insights, and practices to encourage and support each of us working to build a more inclusive and equitable community. If you would like to help continue and grow our work, please visit our Support Us page.

In this episode, I have the pleasure of interviewing Ziad Namouz, a beautiful and generous soul who shares a little of his heritage and culture every day through food. Ziad is one of the founders and owners of the Pita House Restaurant and Grocery, a place I've visited for years,. This interview is a reminder of how much richer our sense of community can be when we take the time to make a personal connections with those we see and interact with regularly. Welcome to this very special series, New Roots, New Voices: Listening to Our Immigrant Neighbors. where we will listen to and lift up the voices and stories of local immigrants here in Greenville South Carolina.  Find a full transcript and show notes HERE. This immigration series is done in partnership and collaboration with Village Engage and Greenville Immigration and Faith Coalition. Sign up for our newsletter and join us at The Inclusive Community to discover conversations, insights, and practices to encourage and support each of us working to build a more inclusive and equitable community. If you would like to help continue and grow our work, please visit our Support Us page.