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Today is another episode in celebration of Pride Month. Our guest, Michelle MiJung Kim (she/her), is a queer immigrant Korean American woman writer, speaker, activist, and entrepreneur. She is the author of "The Wake Up," where she shares foundational principles often missing in today’s mainstream conversations around “diversity and inclusion” and urges readers to go beyond performative allyship to enacting real transformation within ourselves and in the world. 

Michelle is also CEO and co-founder of Awaken, a leading provider of interactive equity and inclusion education programs facilitated by majority BIPOC educators, where she has consulted hundreds of organizations and top executives from Fortune 500, tech giants, nonprofits, and government agencies to spark meaningful change. 

In this episode, Michelle shares her immigrant story, coming out as queer in high school, and how it began her political activism journey. 

Michelle also tells us who and what inspired her to become an activist, why she is passionate about DEI and social justice, and what led her to write her book.

Finally, we'll hear Michelle's insights on how we can be a part of the solidarity movement in more ways that are more than just changing profile photos, dealing with trade-offs and contradictions, and how we can truly incorporate racial equity and social justice in the workplace and the community.

Episode Quotes:

How people can participate authentically in social justice movements

"The most sustaining why that I talk about in the book is the one in which we can see ourselves in it. So, I don't want to see white people wanting to dismantle racism or white supremacy just because they have people of color friends in their lives. I want white people to understand that white supremacy isn't just killing people of color. It's also robbing them of their humanity. I want men to not want to dismantle misogyny or sexism or the patriarchy just because they have women in their lives that they care about. I also want men to want to do this because they understand that the same forces that are killing and hurting women in their lives are the same forces that are robbing men of their ability to be vulnerable, their ability to stay at home with their children, their ability to talk about mental health openly. So, these issues aren't just about helping marginalized people. All of these issues are connected in such a way that, if we don't dismantle all of them, they're eventually going to come for us, too.

So, I think the why question is such a fundamental way for us to begin this work in a more authentic way that puts us on the map, that sometimes we like to think of as totally unrelated to our lives. So, I want more people to feel invested in this because it's about all of us. It's about reclaiming our humanity as much as it is about supporting those who are marginalized, and therefore, that this work must be considered important and urgent for all of us."

Defining performative allyship

"Performative allyship, to me, is similar to virtue signaling, when people are so quick to claim that they are in solidarity with certain movements or certain marginalized people and groups that they are quick to claim that identity before actually having done the work or before they are actually committed to doing the work in a sustainable way. 

And so, for me, that quick, urgent desire to claim that you are a good person, that you are an ally to a certain community, can sometimes be the very barrier between you actually living the values that you want to live, because you desiring to do something but without actually having sat with the necessary introspection can sometimes lead to unintended harm that could burden more marginalized people rather than being supportive or being seen as true solidarity."

What does "The Wake Up" mean

"When I titled the work "The Wake Up," it wasn't just about us waking up to other people's struggles and the injustices that are around us in the world. It was also about our waking up to ourselves, our waking up to our capacity to change and transform, but also our capacity to wake up to our complicity in some of the systems of oppression that we're so quick to denounce.

What I want to see is all of us taking the work of self-transformation seriously even before we claim that we are out there ready to march alongside other people. So, starting with ourselves begins with our questioning the why. Why are we doing this work? Why do I feel compelled to be a part of this social justice movement? "

On trade-offs and living in contradictions

"We will all have to, at some point, be willing to give up something in order to move the movement forward, whether it is our resources, our positions of power, our privilege. So, when it comes to actually doing the things that are in alignment with our set values, what are we actually willing to trade off? 

When it comes to doing this work, there will be some trade-offs that we have to be honest about making. Or when we're not ready to or willing to make those trade-offs, then let's be honest about why and interrogate where that fear is coming from. And they could be very valid reasons.

So, these are some real decisions, real trade-offs and sacrifices sometimes that we are needing to make in order to stay in alignment with our values. We're not shooting for perfection, but we are trying to be honest throughout this process. So, I don't ask people to ever be perfect in their decision-making because I'm certainly not. And I live in contradictions all the time. But in these moments of contradictions, can we be courageous enough to be honest with ourselves and be willing to do the work in order for us to be closer in alignment with our values every single day?"

On holding onto hope and not giving in to cynicism

"I think holding onto hope is such a powerful and courageous thing for us to do, and to remember that change is indeed possible, and it's not only possible but that it's happening every single day all around us. And I think of Mariame Kaba, black abolitionist, somebody who I really admire and look up to and learn from. Her quote is, hope is a discipline. And that's the thought that I want to leave folks with because I think we need a lot of hope these days, and to remember that a better world, a more just, inclusive, safe, equitable world is possible and that it is being built right now by so many people with the same vision. So, don't lose hope. Don't give in to cynicism. Claim the corner of your life and the world that you're in charge of. And make that your frontline where you do the work to create change that you want to see."

Show Links:

• Website
• LinkedIn
• The Wake Up
• Awaken