Through empathy and understanding, we can create a more inclusive world. But empathy and understanding are not purely intellectual--they require application. In the Demystifying Diversity Workbook, Biracial journalist Daralyse Lyons offers tangible tools for moving beyond biases and increasing one's capacity for connection. This workbook is meant to act as a companion to Demystifying Diversity: Embracing our Shared Humanity, in which Daralyse Lyons reveals her most important takeaways from her interviews with more than 100 individuals about a variety of topics related to diversity, equity and inclusion. Here, you are invited to go deeper, to move from awareness to action and to develop your capacity for authentic connection. It is in this space that empathy and equity become possible.
"We're Venn diagrams in Venn diagrams. And so, if you can't find those connections, it means you're not looking."
-- Alisa Kraut, assistant curator at the National Museum of American Jewish History
"Every single one of us is personally implicated in this."
-- Cinder Kuss, liberation and social justice activist
"I don't think you can be an honest observer of the human condition without being overwhelmed at times by the cruelty that gets visited on people; this seems to be so counter to who we are. We're beautiful. Every one of us is beautiful. There is nothing like a human being in this world that we experience. We are remarkable."
-- Dennis Moritz, poet and playwright
"Demystifying Diversity: Embracing our Shared Humanity is an important step in our collective, arduous, complex journey towards inclusivity."
-- Kyle V. Hiller, award winning arts & culture journalist, interdisciplinary artist, author of The Recital
Learn more about the Demystifying Diversity project and podcast at DemystifyingDiversityPodcast.com and connect with the author at DaralyseLyons.com
From Loving Healing Press
Lyons, Daralyse: - Daralyse Lyons, aka the Transformational Storyteller, is a journalist, an actor, and an activist. She has written more than two dozen full-length books, a handful of short stories, and countless articles, performed in various plays and comedy improv shows. A member of the National Association of Black Journalists (NABJ) and a summa cum laude graduate of NYU, with a double-major in English and Religious Studies and a minor in History, she is passionate about exposing the painful side of our collective past, the side that is not written by oppressors. Through her studies, she has come to see the beautiful and overlapping philosophies of Judaism, Islam and Christianity and wonders why people so often use religion as a battering ram, instead of a source of connection and cohesion. As a Biracial woman, she has made it her mission to stand for a more integrated world. As a sexually fluid person who has had relationships and experiences with both men and women, she has had to find her place amidst a multitude of communities that attempt to erase her orientation and has been a voice within the darkness. After writing an award-winning children's book (I'm Mixed! under the pseudonym Maggy Williams) about embracing her multiethnic heritage, Daralyse found her passion and her purpose educating others about the need to embrace all aspects of themselves. Since then, she has written and spoken extensively on the subject of diversity. Her perspective is one that looks to acknowledge the past while refusing to become incapacitated by it. To connect with her directly, or to learn more, please visit www.demystifyingdiversitypodcast.com or www.daralyselyons.com
