Crealanta Magazine

What did Cicely Belle Blain teach Anti-Racism in their Living Room

Oct 22, 2023

The author, activist and thought leader Cicely Belle Blain (they/them) is in the business of driving powerful conversations that result in modifications. This is accomplished through their anti-racism and anti-oppressive activities through Bakau Consulting Inc.--and their online classes created under their organization.

In addition to providing vital DEI (diversity equality, diversity, and inclusion) and training for organizations via workshops that are live or online and also educational opportunities, Blain is noted for founding his own organization, the Vancouver Chapter of Black Lives Matter and was named one of Vancouver's fifty most influential people according to Vancouver Magazine as well as the BC Business"30 under 30" and one of Refinery29's Powerhouses of 2020. Blain is also the writer of the first poetry collection, Burning Sugar (Arsenal Pulp Press, 2020) that aids the reader to understand the connections between their past and the oppression system that is prevalent across the world.

A descendant of a large generation of feminist educators and activists, they discovered a love for social justice early on in their journey. After graduating from the University of British Columbia in 2016 they joined a community which supported trans, queer and Two Spirit youth across the province of BC. "I have a passion for designing inclusive spaces specifically for people who are 2SLGBTQ+," Blain says. Blain.

The most enjoyable part of their task was the facilitation of workshops. "I believe that this was something that I was studying with greater depth," they continue. "And I was also trying to integrate an anti-racism as well as anti-oppression lens into that research ."

They decided to establish their own consultancy business which eventually evolved into Bakau Consulting. Bakau Consulting is a full-service equity integration, anti-racism, and inclusive consultancy firm located in Vancouver, BC. Since its inception at the end of 2018 Bakau Consulting has worked with a wide range of clients from various sectors including corporations, non-profits, and universities. "Lots from different kinds of companies seek our advice and guidance for creating more inclusive equitable, fair and welcoming work environments," the company says.

Today, the company provides four courses online--with further coming very soon, to aid in liberating everyone. In June of this year, Blain launched a fourth course--Living Room--which offers a transformative journey for practitioners of DEI and anti-oppression-centered work in a small, intimate setting. Here's how:

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Then, they moved to learning online

In addition, it was the year when covid-19 was adversity across the globe. However this was also the year that innocent Black people like George Floyd, Breonna Taylor as well as Ahmaud Arbery were killed and brought the struggle for freedom and fighting oppression to the forefront. Also, it led to DEI working being given higher priority in many of organizations. "2020 was a crucial year for awakening a lot of individuals," says Blain. "Since, DEI is an industry that has seen significant growth in ."

In the aftermath of the outbreak, members of the Bakau team immediately shifted its focus to virtual education. The Bakau team members collaborated to design four self-paced recorded courses about Disrupting the Cultural of Appropriation, fight against Anti-Asian Racism, Locating Patriarchy as well as RISE: Exposing Racism and Sexism. Intersections that are Racism and Sexism.

The courses serve as an essential learning opportunity for customers from Bakau. "They aid in reducing the workload of Bakau's personnel; we advise our customers to take part in the courses, and let us to do more," says Blain.

Blain chose to run classes over other platforms because of the ease of use.

"I loved my time on the platform as student since it was easy to utilize," they say. "We had a student from the department of social justice at Adler University conduct a study of the various e-learning platforms for an internship we had with them. They allowed the most flexible customization and simple uploading of content. The uploading of content could be more difficult for us as there's no an IT staff. This was what we thought could be the most efficient option. ."

They have created a warm community based on groups

Blain was looking to create an educational program that could enable individuals to form closer relationships than their own. Therefore, the group-oriented Living Room course was launched in the year 2000 to enable people to meet up, talk about the things they're dealing with and create a community of support. "The idea of Living Room had been percolating in my mind for a long time," they explain.

"There's lots of info available that is specific to particular areas, like discrimination against people of colour as well as disability justice and 2SLGBTQ+ inclusion" says Blain. "For myself personally, Living Room is more interested in the "how" to do the job. For instance what do you do to manage the demands of your household? How do you reduce the stress of your day with the application of a specific technique? What can you do to manage your control or power that you don't? What do you have to accomplish to control emotions when you talk about subjects that could be personally important to you and those who watch too? ?"

They created a warm, inviting learning environment--virtually

Living Room Living Room is a popular space for those who work in and around strategies to combat the oppression of others and to mobilize for social justice.

Bakau's content Bakau is easy to understand, Living Room is presented in a relaxed, friendly manner. "As an individual who is introverted, I actually love working at home, and I think that a lot of people also do," they continue. "I thought it might be possible to feel a part of a group and feel like you're an integral part of the community as well as learning online ."

This is apparent from the language used on the website and also in the content itself. In the case of Living Room, for example The About section of the Living Room landing page reflects the warmth and friendly feeling the site communicates.

They can write:

     "I am inviting me into your living space.

     I'm a neurodivergent introvert and is in some way capable of performing an emotional task that is front-facing within my house, and the living space has been my sanctuary.

     The walls are covered with paintings that enthrall me. My mom's hands and cuddling my newborn fingers, an original photograph that me and my friend created with one of my favorite artist from the area, a photo of one of my most favorite friends' film photography as well as a "no cops the pride" poster.

     Each corner is distinct and each has its own style and a meaning. The window seat is adorned with a soft pink blanket ideal for a quiet reading of your favorite YA books with a candle. In the other corner, you will find a table in your dining area (because no one has an additional table these days?) as well as pretty yellow chairs. I often paint and design collages (dinner is almost always sitting in my lap. Isn't yours? )

     My favorite corner is the right, to the right. The memorial altar is dedicated to my beloved Nana, Jean. I honoured her by gifting her the sun's rays an inviting, yellow-colored shelf decorated by her beloved glasses, trinkets, books, and other things that she took on her many excursions, and even a golden vase."

The name for the room was picked in honor that of "Living Room" due to its dual meaning. "It represents an inviting and warm place, and also an area to relax in; it is giving us space to breath and relax" Blain explains. Blain.

They shook up the traditional way of studying.

In addition, the manner in which they convey that they share their information differs from normal. "With Living Room, I tried to question the conventional ways we learn. It is more about the process of reflection and connecting than contents," they say.

The idea is to translate their ideals into an inviting virtual world. Blain recorded them talking to each other using their phones, similar to Instagram Live's design Instagram Live. However, they did not, have the possibility of uploading their video by using Powerpoint.

"I realized that in order to create a more relaxed atmosphere, I needed to approach things in a different way," they say. "Sometimes I would speak while wearing make-up, or do various things while reading sentences. Following that, I'd place the footage on slide. I'd then write notes and captions. ."

"This isn't a great idea for the classes we teach where we're presenting to corporate clients" Blan says. Blan, "but in this situation, I thought it would be fascinating for the students to show something different than a typical PowerPoint presentation. It was a lot of fun making the slideshow ."

Furthermore, when Blain wrote an instruction in text within the course, they interpreted the text as an article published on blogs. "I believe students find it easier and more enjoyable because the format is different than studying a textbook" authors say.

They collected the information from different sources

As well as developing concepts that are innovative that Blain believes are essential to the work as the creator of online classes - Blain also curate other content for learners.

"It's crucial to be able to think about new ways to think," they say, "but it's also an amazing talent to have a knack for curating sources as well. It's really exciting going to the classes of a teacher who has the ability to gather all the data you'll need to be aware of in one location and even create the site themselves. ."

Furthermore, curating content lets Blain to incorporate new perspectives and personal experience into the classroom. "I suggest that students take advantage from different sources of knowledge accessible around the world," continues Blain. "You do not have to think of every concept yourself; it is possible to credit someone else with their work. ."

When making the content and editing it, Blain created everything directly within Course Builder. "It seemed like it took out the effort of doing many writings and formatting of the layout of an Google document before simply copying and rewriting it," they say. "That's my personal choice but I'm sure it's less anxious and has gave me more immediate gratification ."

They provided a vast range of delivery options

When the announcement was made that the Living Room was to be launched, Living Room, Blain provided a variety of options for delivering the program.

The second was the cohort tier which included full access to the program. In this plan, the group of 15 students met for five weeks to go through live seminars on topics such as navigating capitalism, intergenerational storytelling, as in the program of guests speakers. Participants were also able to access the audio-based class on storytelling for intergenerational audiences, and an online community called Slack. "We're still in the early phase of this program, but I'm very happy with how our initial group went, and am excited to discover its possibilities," shares Blain.

The following group was initially set for the month of January in 2024. they're considering a rethink of Living Room's format Living Room as well as creating a membership plan instead. "Five weeks was not enough," Blain says. Blain. "The connections made were beneficial. There is a possibility of this being an offer for the whole year which allows users to keep connecting to their communities and have these conversations and, possibly, the quality of information available on the internet will rise also ."

The other option offered was the flex learning option. It allows students to join only for the online class as well as participate in two lectures. "It's an alternative to having an easier time participating in the course if you don't want to commit as much time," says Blain.

The last stage was an online video class which was recorded and then played on its individual.

HTML0 They didn't exaggerate.

Blain may offer the cohort tier on the basis of the sliding scale. The price for the base model was $599CAD. There was also the "generous rate" that was set at $899CAD. "The generous rate is applicable to companies that offer the opportunity to receive scholarship funds," says Blain. "This allows me to provide numerous scholarship choices to students, including the all-inclusive scholarships as well as a couple of 50percent scholarships. ."

The option to learn in a flexible manner cost $199CAD. The online course cost 99 CAD.

In order to price their classes they looked at how much other institutions were charging, but they said that their prices were "all all over the board."

"We weren't able to determine the cost that is typical," they say. "We were thinking of offering a cheaper price for a quicker accessibility type of thing for all people, however considering the effort that we invested in it as well as the quality of the item and the quality of the product We realized it would be a more cost-effective option ."

Make sure not to minimize the significance to the importance of DEI work. The DEI team figured that they were pleased that DEI's Living Room wasn't priced too low. "We found a price that was roughly similar to the cost of attending workshops that we run," they say.

In order to collect payments for processing payments, the business uses Stripe with .

They relied on their mailing lists to advertise their products

Blain states that Living Room is a popular location. Living Room attracts both individuals--like activists, community organizers, volunteers human rights activists and those who wish to learn about others' experiences, as well as groups that require help in these kinds of projects.

The course is promoted by Living Room through their live workshop facilitators who work in conjunction with Bakau Consulting. They also promote the course through advertising workshops that take place live through Bakau consulting and the Bakau monthly newsletter, which has been received by over two thousand people, and through Blain's Instagram account. "When we market the course through social media platforms, such as Instagram this is typically a draw for participants who are enrolled to the course for themselves," they say.

The publication can be used to market their programs as well as to talk about events like Pride Month or Black History Month.

"Our newsletter is one of the most effective ways to get users to visit our website," they say. "I consider that we have an extremely loyal and constant following of folks there ."

If Blain were to go back in time and change anything the course would become more structured in their approach to promoting not only Living Room, but their other classes too. "We're trying to review the best way to promote our classes," they say. "For many years our experience has been positive which were mostly the result of recommendations, but we've never put much of a budget for marketing. What we'll need to do is to maintain the sameness of our products on the internet, in order to ensure that our users continue to visit our website. We must adapt to changing times, and making sure the information we offer is interesting and informative. ."

Marketing plans is at the top of their thoughts throughout the coming months before they embark on the upcoming class, Processing Rage -- which will be held by the University of Toronto and is open for the public in advance for registration.

HTML0 They were part of a team

While Living Room was mainly created by Blain however, the other classes within Bakau were a collaborative team collaboration. Bakau is home to a variety of team members, ranging from facilitators, strategists, to researchers. "We have been working on these since November. We the team took a vacation for two weeks. During that time, we met in person and conducted lots of brainstorming" the team members say.

If Blain considers his process in creating Living Room and Living Room They're excited about the future, and how positive it could have for the those who participate. "In reviewing my joy with the initial cohort as well as the feedback positive, I'm hoping it'll grow to become a larger part of Bakau's population," Blain says. Blain.

If you're interested in taking the position of online course creator do not hesitate. The world will want to know more about you. Join today for no cost.

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