March 12: ‘Love your Life’ virtual leadership bruncheon featuring Mikki Kendall

MANCHESTER, NH — A virtual leadership “bruncheon” is being held via zoom Friday March 12 from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m.  At a time where the lines defining work, community, and personal responsibilities have been blurred, this event is both crucial and timely.

“‘What Covid 19 has demonstrated clearly is that we are not all equally positioned, and so how this pandemic has affected our communities is directly tied to our social positions. Mikki Kendall’s work, “Hood Feminism,” speaks directly to the kind of personal resilience leaders need to have in order to create communities that consider those who have the least economic and social power,” says Loretta Brady, director of Requity Labs at Saint Anselm College, event host.

Activist and cultural critic Mikki Kendall will be keynote speaker this year. A U.S. Army veteran, Kendall left her job at the Department of Veterans Affairs to pursue her writing career full time. She has written for, among others, The Guardian, The Boston Globe and The Washington Post. Her novel “Amazons, Abolitionists, and Activists,” was published in 2019 while her political nonfiction book, “Hood Feminism,” was released in 2020.

Kendall says that resilient leaders do specific things as leaders, and that they, “Show up in terms of hiring, if you have the power to hire. Thinking about how your workplace culture can be inclusive all the time.” These leaders consider these regularly not only during calm or in response to crisis.

Kendall’s talk will focus on lifting others while climbing ones own professional ladder. A moderated panel will follow the keynote and include speakers Jessica Cantin, Erin Algood, Susu Wong, and Vanessa Weathers, all local resilient leaders who will share insights about making plans in times of uncertainty. Nonprofits highlighted at the event were selected for their mission.

“Last year we created an environment where resilient leadership took center stage. Little did we realize how imperative those examples provided by last year’s speakers were for us as we entered a pandemic. This year, we have all been forced to draw on our resilience. We are excited to learn from Mikki Kendall and our local resilience leaders about the ways they are weathering change while holding together communities,” says Brady.

Sponsors for this year’s “Requity Labs Presents” series include the Manchester YWCA and Bangor Savings Bank. Additional events in the series will be announced at the luncheon.

Registration for the event is $25 and online registration is required. https://anselm.afford.com/paynow?storeid=2208