Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Joquina Reed. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Joquina, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Let’s start with a story that highlights an important way in which your brand diverges from the industry standard.

I’m so glad to be able to make time! After the highly publicized murders of Ahmaud Arbery, George Floyd, and Breonna Taylor we saw a global response to police violence against Black people! This response showed up across industries as well. In fact, Dr. Janice Gassam Asare reported, “DEI as a field/industry saw a sharp rise in interest following the murder of George Floyd. CNBC reported in January of 2020 that demand for diversity and inclusion professionals was expected to rise…Then came the pandemic and the killing of George Floyd; the focus became racism, anti-blackness, and the specific harms that the Black community has faced.”

With this increase of industries and organizations prioritizing having conversations relating to racial equity, DEI training has become standard practice. Yet, in many of these cases, the conversations that are occurring often center on the most empowered people. For example, in conversations around racism or implicit bias people who are racialized as white and have dominant social power are often centered. Being a DEI practitioner with a justice-related approach requires me to always speak from the perspective of those sitting at intersections and margins.

Joquina, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

If you had asked me at the end of 2020 if I would be one of the millions of folks who left their vocations that year I would have laughed! And if you would have asked me at the end of that same year would I be sitting here today as the founder of J Reed Consulting LLC I probably would’ve laughed so hard my tummy would have hurt. But here we are in 2022 and I am indeed the proud steward of my small business and celebrating the autonomy and agency I have in the new role. In short order, I provide consulting, coaching, and training for organizations and people who want to do their part in creating a more just, equitable, and inclusive world. A world where shared humanity can truly exist!

Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?

Wow, what a powerful question! I’m not sure if this is quite a lesson learned but I will share one of the biggest ideologies I’ve had to unlearn is the idea that Black Excellence provides safety. It’s a lesson I have to unlearn every day. So many tensions exist for Black business founders and laborers as we work to manage our shared inheritance of having to always “be better” to oftentimes receive much less for our efforts

Candice Marie Benbow does a wonderful job expanding on this inner tension in an article she wrote for the Grio this spring. She writes, “In a world that judges the future possibilities of Blackness by its current achievements, here is no room for mediocrity.”

No room for mediocrity always creates a huge demand for #BlackExcellence. And many of us are more than willing to work that much harder to achieve it.

Yet, as a founding steward, I intentionally started unpacking the physical, mental, and emotional costs tied to being Black and Excellent.

Have you ever had to pivot?

I think the most significant pivot I can recall is leaving my nearly 20-year career in higher education. On top of that, I decided to start working for myself. That is a tremendous pivot! The origin story behind my business isn’t glamorous. It doesn’t have a shiny finish or rustic enthusiasm. It’s deeply rooted in finally being in complete alignment with my deepest values. One of which is my belief that I deserve to be safe from all manner of racialized violence. After nearly a two-decade-long career in higher education, I decided I could no longer willingly stay in institutions that capitalized on racism, anti-Blackness, colonization, and other violent systems.

So much of how we often talk about “the work” in #DEI spaces seems to be outwardly facing. We talk about client engagements, billing clients, discovery calls, document reviews, etc.

All these things are indeed a part of labor in eliminating barriers and violent systems. Yet, we need to recognize that a significant part of our work must always emphasize the importance of internal embodiment. If this is NOT a part of our internal praxis then we are more than likely just re-creating the same values, norms, and frameworks we are attempting to correct.

Eliminating my own internalized anti-Blackness has been a process. One, that includes so many moving parts. One of the biggest components of this work has been learning to affirm Black women/femmes and learning how to be affirmed. Again, I share this not as a simple strategy for self-esteem. I share this as an essential component of both my current labor within the DEI industry but also my desire to live truly free.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.jreedconsultingllc.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jreedconsulting/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/joquinareed/
• Other: https://www.instagram.com/divestingfromwhiteness https://www.instagram.com/theantiblacknessreader/ https://divestingfromwhiteness.podbean.com/ https://pleasesayblack.podbean.com/

Image Credits
Ashley N. Mack & Marian Gbaiwo