Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Lutze Segu. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Lutze, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Do you have any thoughts about how to create a more inclusive workplace?
My advice for creating a more inclusive workplace starts with leadership. Leaders must ask themselves whether they have what it takes to meet the current challenges at work. The pandemic has radically changed how people see work and approach work. And as we learn to live with this enduring global pandemic, workers across industries, race, ethnicity, and roles are asking for more equitable and hospitable work conditions, pay, and environment. You see this in the different sectors striking or threatening to strike. And therefore, people who are leaders today must ask themselves do they have what it takes to lead an intergenerational team, a racially diverse team, a team that has queer, transgender, and non-binary people, and a team with people with both visible and invisible disabilities successfully. To be a people manager requires inspiring and leading people who may be different from you while seeing their strengths and weaknesses while centering their humanity and keeping their dignity intact so that they can psychologically thrive in the workplace. Only a leader who has a clear anti-racist feminist brand of leadership will be able to rise to this moment and lead teams that are resilient, successful, and steady,
Lutze, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?
I am a first-generation Haitian American. I am the daughter of immigrants who came to the U, S by boat. I like to describe myself as a citizen of Miami-Dade County. I am a Ph.D. Candidate at The University of British Columbia at The Social Justice Institute, where I study Gender, Race, Sexuality, and Social Justice. I am a creative-intellectual, Digital Black Feminist content creator and The Social Justice Doula. As The Social Justice Doula, I accompany individuals and organizations in operationalizing their anti-racist feminist practice. This looks like coaching Executive Directors, middle managers, creatives, etc., and helping them to bring their ethics and values into their work and leadership. And with groups, I do conflict resolution; I am often called to hold restorative justice circles in organizations, train groups on ant-racism, and help organizations shift their culture. I do all of this from a Black feminist, anti-racist perspective. I am a former Social Worker and Gender Justice Organizer for a Worker’s Center and bring that into my work as The Social Justice Doula. I also believe in transformative justice and practice abolition, which means no matter a person’s race, ethnicity, age, etc., I fundamentally believe in people’s ability to be radically transformed for the better by social justice. It is this transformation that I have seen many times that keeps me committed to my work.
Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?
Unfortunately, I became a small business owner to escape racism and the perpetual promotion denial and disappointment at traditional workspaces. I loved my work, but I needed to improve the conditions I did it. Plus, I wanted more autonomy over my schedule because it was clear that my brain worked differently. As an introvert, the office was not the most conducive space for me to get work done, and before the pandemic working from home was considered a luxury. So I came to entrepreneurship out of utility and survival. So I left traditional workspaces that were unpleasant but safe to become an entrepreneur, which is all risk all the time. I know I made the right decision, but learning everything on the job while trying to run a business has been challenging. So the past three years have been humbling. I do not come from a family of entrepreneurs, and there is no blueprint for what I am attempting to do. So the mere fact that I am still in business, I consider this a miracle and cause for celebration. I do not come from money, I do not have funding, everything I do is self-funded, and it has been challenging, and I have been figuring it out. I am slowly amassing a team of mentors, supporters, and fairy-god mothers who guide and teach me. My work’s impact in a short period has exceeded my expectation. It’s not easy trying to build a business rooted in social justice, but every day I am reminded that what I do matters, it’s prescient, and it’s needed.
Let’s talk M&A – we’d love to hear your about your experience with buying businesses.
In 2017, I left Miami, my career, and my activist community and moved to Vancouver, CA, where it’s 1% Black, to live in a share house with some Canadian Boomers who were not kind to me all to pursue a doctoral degree and start over. And it was in my Ph.D. seminar classes I got the idea to create The Social Justice Doula and pursue becoming a public scholar/entrepreneur. And it was the best, most forward-thinking idea and decision I have followed. I will be eating off the dividends of this decision for years, and it did not feel good, and some moments were downright awful. Traditional paths of success and happiness are dead. In this rapidly changing world, the people who allow themselves to become proficient in the art of the pivot will truly experience the fullness and richness of life. For Sequoia trees to grow as big as they do, our Indigenous kin realized that they needed controlled burns; every now and then, conduct a controlled burn in your life. What will grow back will blow your mind.
Contact Info:
- Website: lutzesegu.com
- Instagram: @lutzesegu
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@thesocialjusticedoula
- Other: https://www.thesocialjusticedoula.com (newsletter) https://www.patreon.com/LutzeSegu (Patreon)
Image Credits
Image # 4 picture in the mask – Armando Carrada https://instagram.com/armandocarradaphoto?igshid=MzRlODBiNWFlZA== Image # 3 in blue – Black Daliah Visuals https://instagram.com/blackdaliahvisuals?igshid=MzRlODBiNWFlZA== Image 1 & 2 – Roxy Azuaje https://instagram.com/roxyazuaje?igshid=MzRlODBiNWFlZA== Personal Photo in brown – Passion Ward