Beloved Community Names Lesley Brown Rawlings Vice President of Strategy

Lesley Brown Rawlings recently became the Vice President of Strategy for Beloved Community. Previously, Lesley served as our Director of Capacity Building where she drove the growth and sustainability of our consulting practice strands in Equity in Schools, Equity at Work, and Equity at Home. In the role of VP, she will focus on accelerating and deepening Beloved’s impact through cohesive, cross departmental, strategy alignment and execution.

Prior to our sabbatical we asked Madame VP a few questions to obtain her perspective on her new role, her experience and her vision.

Question: As you get started as the VP of Strategy, what are you most excited for in your new role?

Lesley:  I'm most excited about the opportunity to support our leaders in designing with the end in mind. By this I mean, I have the honor of coordinating all of our work, programming/content, data, research and policy, to maximize our impact. Rhonda Broussard has set a truly ambitious vision for our work. We are seeking to support regions in reaching a tipping point towards sustainable economic equity. Now I have the pleasure, and difficult task, of saying how does our work come together across the organization...and grow...in order to make that vision a reality? We have assembled a team of phenomenal leaders in Dr. Faith Kares, Lauren Young, Dr. Nicole Caridad Ralson and Elizabeth Bates. So really my work is all about supporting, coordinating and amplifying their brilliance so that we can bring the full mission and vision of Beloved Community to bear. What could be more exciting than that?

Question: What is something from your past, a lesson or experience, you'll be bringing to your work in this new role that you imagine will have a positive impact on the DEI landscape.

Lesley:  Coming from a background in K12 education, I got the opportunity to see up close how the many systems that touched our young people's lives impacted their academic experience. Success for any one of our kiddos was dependent upon school resources and family support and community resources. We understood that the work that we were doing in the classroom was not in a vacuum and that our work MUST come to life with the full scope of the systems and institutions that impacted their lives into consideration. I carry that lens into the work that I do everyday at Beloved Community. I have the honor of having really intentional conversations with leaders across the nation about how we can support them in aligning the systems and structures that impact all aspects of their lives around equity in order to disrupt marginalization and systemic oppression. 

Question: What work do you feel Beloved Community is uniquely positioned to do in the world that will make it possible for us to win on equity? 

Lesley:  Beloved Community has truly established a foundation that is comprehensive. First, we've named the connective nature of systemic and institutional racism, which means that our work is designed to address the cross structures and sectors that need to be grounded in equity in order for marginalized communities to thrive. From day one, we have been thinking about the intersection of equity in education AND workforce AND housing, so a holistic approach to equity is inherent in how our work is designed. Second, we are very clear on the importance of measurement and data in sustaining transformational change. That drove the initial creation of our Equity Audit and has grown to the launch of our full Equity Tools Suited hosted in our Awa by Beloved platform. These tools serve as the backbone for our partners' equity journey and create a national standard and language for talking about equity assessment. Our DRIP Center (Data, Research, Impact and Policy) is unparalleled. Beloved Community is committed to decolonizing research and data in order to raise the floor on how we nationally think about centering communities, sharing power and amplifying voice. This is showing up in spaces like the Beloved Community Institutional Review Board, as well as our commitment to Participatory Action Research. Beloved Community is committed to truly practicing what we preach, which means that equity is not just at the core of what we teach but also our very methodologies. Beloved Community is committed to decolonizing research and data in order to raise the floor on how we nationally think about centering communities, sharing power and amplifying voice. This is showing up in spaces like the Beloved Community Institutional Review Board, as well as our commitment to Participatory Action Research. Beloved Community is committed to truly practicing what we preach, which means that equity is not just at the core of what we teach but also our very methodologies. Beloved Community is committed to decolonizing research and data in order to raise the floor on how we nationally think about centering communities, sharing power and amplifying voice. This is showing up in spaces like the Beloved Community Institutional Review Board, as well as our commitment to Participatory Action Research. Beloved Community is committed to truly practicing what we preach, which means that equity is not just at the core of what we teach but also our very methodologies. Beloved Community is committed to truly practicing what we preach, which means that equity is not just at the core of what we teach but also our very methodologies.

When you imagine a just, equitable future what do you see?

Lesley:  When I imagine a just and equitable future, of course, the first thing that I see is my 3 yr old son, Wiley. He is at the core of my greatest hopes and imaginings for our future, so I see him having access to live a life unburdened by racism, bias and white supremacy. I see him, and kiddos just like him, being able to thrive in school, pursue careers and establish lives that are of their own choosing. This means access to quality education, access to unbiased healthcare, access to career and economic mobility, access to safe and affordable housing and beyond. This is not some "utopia". Sustainable equity is a very real possibility that we can achieve with intentional commitments, policy decisions, investments and practices. What holds us back is lack of will and lack of knowledge.

Please help us celebrate our Madame VP, Lesley Brown Rawlings!

We had a great time showing big love to Lesley during our team retreat. See some photos from the event below.