Welcome to Martin Luther King Jr. Day!
And welcome to our new podcast!
Helen Choi and I met up in November, in Toronto at AFP Congress. We started talking about the conference theme, disrupting philanthropy. And we started to talk about what we wanted to see for the sector. She said, let’s start a podcast! So, we had to figure out-what would we talk about? And decided that we wanted to interview people about what they saw in the sector. We wanted to share potential solutions to the problems people face. And resources, and stories of hope. the result? Name It! Podcast! This is a podcast for people who work at nonprofits and who want to name and claim what’s going on. To make the sector better. It’s about anti-oppression best practices and justice.
Are you looking at the sector, and wondering, why do you always see people from the dominant culture in charge of the biggest nonprofits? This podcast talks about naming and re-claiming what’s going on from the perspective of the oppressed. How can we build meaningful allyship based on the principles of inclusion and dignity. We’ll share, in quick episodes, quick definitions, interesting anecdotes, PLUS interviews with nonprofit leaders. AND positive things you can do to move up and change the nonprofit world!
This is a movement. Join us!
Why us?
Mazarine Treyz worked at a domestic violence shelter, and learned how working in anti-sexual violence and anti-domestic violence applies to a lot of nonprofit work, even if your nonprofit is not specifically focused on these issues. Then she worked in social justice at the Urban League. Then she learned from the Ontario Nonprofit Network that women have the lowest wages in the lowest paid sector. The most precarious work. The least economic stability. And she wanted to change that. She became passionate about Universal Basic Income and Income Inequality. She wrote a book called “Get the Job! Your Fundraising Career Empowerment Guide” with key strategies to help people get raises in 2013. But that wasn’t enough. So in 2014 she created two online conferences to help people negotiate their salaries and to help convince bosses to pay people more. But four years and 1900 attendees later, that STILL wasn’t enough. She read Rebecca Solnit’s “The Mother of All Questions” and started to learn about emotional labor, how the sector is feminimized, and how fundraising is getting paid for emotional labor. In 2017-2018, she learned that her biggest passions are standing up for women, aka feminism. So she decided she wanted to do more than just write, or run the Nonprofit Leadership Summit or the Fundraising Career Conference. She wanted to create space for people to talk about these issues, and take action. And do more than just perform “wokeness” but actually try to research and interview people from marginalized communities to be a better ally, and help other white folks be better allies.
Helen Choi is a passionate advocate for first generation women working in the nonprofit sector. She believes strongly that we all deserve justice and equity. Helen Choi is a dynamic, empathetic and experienced fundraiser. She is also a leading public relations consultant to nonprofits, public sector organizations and socially conscious driven for-profit enterprises. She is a strong advocate for compassion, generosity and thoughtful investment in causes related to vulnerable women and children. Helen brings a wealth of experience working with boards of directors, volunteers, donors managing complex projects to scale which includes representing Parkdale Community Food Bank, ReelWorld Film Festival, The Yonge Street Mission, and Eva’s Phoenix Rising $12.5 Million Capital Campaign. She is the recipient of Ryerson University’s Communicators Forum Award and the Hansa and Ramesh Mehta Fundraising Management Award; Fellowship in Inclusion and Philanthropy (Association of Fundraising Professionals – Foundation of Canada Philanthropy). Helen has her B.A in Political Science and post graduate studies in PR, Fundraising, and Volunteer Management. International Media and Business Exchange with MBC Television and Yonsei University in Seoul, South Korea covering global affairs in East Asia.
Why now?
Because in the spirit of Dr Martin Luther King, we want to help the dominant culture see what it has been avoiding for so long.
Because our world is going off the rails on a crazy train. We’ve got so many problems rising to the surface-that we need to name and claim what is going on, first, and that can help us take action, and be better allies to marginalized communities.