Melanin Monday Motivator - Bozoma Saint John

Every single day, cite a woman of color" Melissa Harris Perry....Soooo now I'm loudly quoting them (again) on Mondays...

Today's #melaninmonday motivator:  BOZOMA SAINT JOHN

"Let me say it again for those in the back. I’m the best at what I do. I’m not in the job because I’m a black woman but BECAUSE I’M THE BEST AT WHAT I DO. And being a black woman is just the sauce!" Bozoma Saint John

#justthesauce

Melanin Monday Motivator - Dr. Janet Helms

"Every single day, cite a woman of color" Melissa Harris Perry....Soooo now I'm loudly quoting them (again) on Mondays...

Today's #melaninmonday motivator:

Janet Helms


"There is a reciprocal relationship between my life and my work. My life sometimes reveals to me fights that still need to be won, and my work helps me understand people sufficiently enough to allow me to remain in the battle."
Janet Helms, Life Questions

Janet E. Helms, PhD,  is the founding director of Boston College's Institute for the Study and Promotion of Race and Culture. Helms's research has driven new theories of how race and gender identity and cultural factors influence counseling practices, assessment and personality development.

Her work has provided empirical evidence that it is not race or gender per se that affects people's mental health, but the psychological effects of being treated in certain ways because of one's ascribed membership in these categories. Source

In Helm's 1993 publications of "I also said 'White racial identity influences White researchers.'" she discusses how usually when discussing racial and cultural issues only groups of color have the focus. So, she decided to argue how white racial identity theory (her theory) can influence how white researchers conduct their scholarship. Helms describes the white racial identity first by saying that "stages of racial identity be viewed as levels of racial complexity within the individual, with higher or more advanced stages representing greater sophistication in one's conceptualization skills with regards to one's own racial characteristics as well as those of other racial group members." [6] According to Helms, each stage is present in a person, but the level of maturity within the individual shows if they can control a person's attitude, feelings and behavior. Source

Celebrating 25 Yearsof the Janet E. HelmsMentoring Award:A Conversation WithLillian Comas-Díaz and Janet E. Helms