Resources

Books, people, and practices that have supported, inspired, and educated me on this human journey. 

Entrepreneurship

Often, the world of entrepreneurship can feel dominated by (mostly white) men making tech companies that may or may not benefit society... Fortunately, there are more and more diverse voices challenging traditional paradigms and building new models and examples for what it means to be a business. Here are some of my favorites, and I encourage you to dig for voices that reflect your own values and journey. 

• Finance For the People – a great book and newsletter about personal finance

• Holly Howard & Mini MBA – I took Holly’s course and highly recommend it and her newsletter
  

• Business for The People – an online community founded by Toi Smith rethinking business during late stage capitalism 
  

• Lean Startup by Eric Ries – a classic that’s a helpful framework for resisting perfectionism and getting the thing started

• This is Marketing by Seth Godin – an easy and deceptively helpful read on how to think about marketing 

• Emergent Strategy by adrienne maree brown – one of my favorite thinkers today and an inspiring read about frameworks for change and resistance 
  

 

Healing & Mental Health

Self-healing is a core part of who I am and how I spend my time on this planet. I’m a big believer in ending the stigma around mental health and speaking openly about my own journey healing my depression and eating disorder. Here are some teachers and therapies that have brought deep healing in my own life. 
 

• Internal Family Systems (IFS) – IFS changed my life and I see an IFS therapist weekly. I definitely encourage you to check out founder Dick Schwartz’s books and podcast interviews where he demos the model

• Holistic Life Navigation by Luis Mojica – a six-week course on trauma healing rooted in somatic experiencing, nutrition, and herbalism

• EMDR – a form of therapy to help you process traumatic memories and experiences
  

• Psychedelics & MAPS – I believe in plant medicine and most importantly bringing it above board in our society through ethical, safe, and sustainable means

• Insight Timer – my go-to app for meditation

• Tara Brach – Tara is a Buddhism and meditation teacher oustide of DC, highly recommend all her books and podcast

• Vibrate Higher Daily by Lalah Delia – get her book and check out her meditations and courses on Insight Timer 

Abolition & Anti-Racism

This is by no means an exhauastive list but here are some core readings for those looking to understand how systemic racism affects us, individually and instutitionally, and how we got here. 

• My Grandmother’s Hands by Resmaa Menakem – written by a therapist, this book is a trauma and somatic informed look at racism and its legacy living in our bodies 

• The New Jim Crow by Michelle Alexander – legal and historical book on the legacy of slavery directly impacts our criminal justice system today

• How to Be an Anti-Racist by Ibram X. Kendi – if you still haven’t read it, now is the time

• Just Mercy by Bryan Stevenson – a memoir by lawyer and activist Bryan Stevenson, founder of the Equal Justice Iniative 

• Caste by Isabel Wilkerson – a comparative and historical look at the origins of caste system in the U.S., India, and Nazi Germany 

• The Case for Reparations by Ta-Nehisi Coates – his 2014 essay for The Atlantic 

• Interview with Carla Simmons via Real News – a firsthand account of the trauma and realities of our carceral system 

• Reparations4Slavery – resources and courses about reparations in America