Ama Nyamekye
We Want to Thrive, not just Survive: Listening ...
We Want to Thrive, not just Survive: Listening to Black CA
Ama Nyamekye
Asian and Black Power: Leading While Grieving

Interview with Nina Revoyr and Ryan Smith. Artwork by Shauna Dixon, public school student.

The summer before my senior year of high school, I discovered AOL Instant Messenger (AIM), which was all the rage in the late 90s. It was thrilling to easily connect with other teens from all over the country. I had been chatting for weeks with this teenager who one day casually joked about being Asian and I thought: “What on earth would I have in common with some Asian guy?!”

Asian and Black Power: Leading While Grieving
Ama Nyamekye
Dear White People

To My White Friends, Progressives, Liberals, and Reformists:

Like many Black children, I was raised with the parental refrain: You have to work twice as hard as any white person to get half as far. This refrain was said matter-of-factly in my home, an acknowledgment of the power of white supremacy and a tacit acceptance that the best we could hope for was to survive—not change—an unjust system. When I was in middle school and a white friend would get in a schoolyard fight or bring home a bad report card, my parents would remind me: “You cannot do that.” And when I turned 40 and thought about leaving my job to explore consulting and writing projects, I heard myself repeating the same refrain: “You cannot do that—leave a job without having a job!?”

Dear White People
Ama Nyamekye
A Black Panther’s Take on the Pandemic and the ...

When I left a job with colleagues, bosses and members that I admired and loved, I was determined to do two things: 1.) Write creatively, politically and unapologetically regularly. 2.) Take consulting work only from clients that I deeply admire and see as truly Good Influences on our community. Anthony Thigpenn of California Calls is one of those clients. He’s a mix of refreshingly candid and also intriguing and mysterious

A Black Panther’s Take on the Pandemic and the Future
Ama Nyamekye
The Victor of an American Dream

I recently buried my 93-year old grandfather. Funerals are described as a “celebration of life,” yet are often fraught with regret, despair and blame. In the case of my grandpa Victor, however, his funeral was a celebration of a life and dream fully realized.

Victor was the victor of an American Dream. He immigrated from Kingston, Jamaica to Brooklyn in the late 60s. His wife was sponsored to enter this country to work as a live-in maid for a wealthy Jewish family. She left her own children to take care of other people’s children. But, thanks to a policy focused on helping families immigrate to this country together, my grandmother saved up and eventually brought her husband and four children to join her in America.

The Victor of an American Dream

We Want to Thrive, not just Survive: Listening to Black CA

By December 23, 2021, the California Redistricting Commission will approve the maps that will define our state’s political arena for the next decade. To inform that process, The California Black Census and Redistricting Hub, a project of California Calls has been lifting up community input and proposing mapping recommendations that will ensure fair representation of our diverse Black communities. Our coalition of over 30 Black-led and Black-serving community organizations held 51 listening sessions with over 435 Black folks across our state. The resounding refrain from all the conversations we held throughout 2021 was: We want to thrive, not just survive.

The aim was to help identify the key issues and communities the CA Citizens Redistricting Commission should consider when drawing the maps that will determine how resources and political representation are distributed in our state for the next decade. We called this journey Our Road Trip: Listening to Black California.

We invite you to explore three key stops on the road trip through Black California:

Good Influence Consulting proudly supported this effort with project management, fundraising, and thought leadership strategy and content development. Connect with Good Influence to learn more about our passion for helping organizations center community stories, wisdom, and power  in their thought leadership.

*Black California bus Illustration by Shauna Dixon, a high school illustrator. 

*All CA Black Hub blog graphic designs by Lanae Norwood Consulting.

Asian and Black Power: Leading While Grieving

Asian and Black Power: Leading While Grieving

Interview with Nina Revoyr and Ryan Smith. Artwork by Shauna Dixon, public school student.

The summer before my senior year of high school, I discovered AOL Instant Messenger (AIM), which was all the rage in the late 90s. It was thrilling to easily connect with other teens from all over the country. I had been chatting for weeks with this teenager who one day casually joked about being Asian and I thought: “What on earth would I have in common with some Asian guy?!”

Dear White People

Dear White People

To My White Friends, Progressives, Liberals, and Reformists:

Like many Black children, I was raised with the parental refrain: You have to work twice as hard as any white person to get half as far. This refrain was said matter-of-factly in my home, an acknowledgment of the power of white supremacy and a tacit acceptance that the best we could hope for was to survive—not change—an unjust system. When I was in middle school and a white friend would get in a schoolyard fight or bring home a bad report card, my parents would remind me: “You cannot do that.” And when I turned 40 and thought about leaving my job to explore consulting and writing projects, I heard myself repeating the same refrain: “You cannot do that—leave a job without having a job!?”

A Black Panther’s Take on the Pandemic and the Future

A Black Panther’s Take on the Pandemic and the Future

When I left a job with colleagues, bosses and members that I admired and loved, I was determined to do two things: 1.) Write creatively, politically and unapologetically regularly. 2.) Take consulting work only from clients that I deeply admire and see as truly Good Influences on our community. Anthony Thigpenn of California Calls is one of those clients. He’s a mix of refreshingly candid and also intriguing and mysterious

The Pesky Virus and the Pendulum

The Pesky Virus and the Pendulum

My four-year old daughter has anxiety. Sometimes it erupts in waves of rage or fits of hysteria and it often ends with a tight and cathartic hug. That’s what happened the other day. When I asked her what was wrong (I’ve learned not to ask: What’s wrong with you!), she said: It’s that pesky Coronavirus, ruining everything. I can’t see my friends, my teacher, my Nana, my favorite park. She was right. The Coronavirus is many awful things, including pesky, disrupting our active routines and forcing naturally social beings into isolation. Because of the pesky virus, activists can’t take to the streets, teachers can’t refocus daydreamers, comedians can’t turn an uneasy audience into laughter, even mothers can’t tell their children with full certainty that everything will be just fine.

The Victor of an American Dream

The Victor of an American Dream

I recently buried my 93-year old grandfather. Funerals are described as a “celebration of life,” yet are often fraught with regret, despair and blame. In the case of my grandpa Victor, however, his funeral was a celebration of a life and dream fully realized.

Victor was the victor of an American Dream. He immigrated from Kingston, Jamaica to Brooklyn in the late 60s. His wife was sponsored to enter this country to work as a live-in maid for a wealthy Jewish family. She left her own children to take care of other people’s children. But, thanks to a policy focused on helping families immigrate to this country together, my grandmother saved up and eventually brought her husband and four children to join her in America.

Growing Up: My Chat with Mónica Garcia and Aurea Montes-Rodriguez

Growing Up: My Chat with Mónica Garcia and Aurea Montes-Rodriguez

I collect mentors and I collect dresses. In fact, I have different mentors for different occasions in my life and career—mentors who help me sort out thorny political strategy, mentors who help me think through people management challenges, mentors who give me tough love and courage, mentors who help me integrate motherhood and careerhood. I am evangelical about the power of mentorship.