Ep. 211: Telling the Truth Without Selling Out w/ Katie Wallace

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EQ: How do institutions navigate the line between storytelling as advocacy and storytelling as exploitation—especially when funding is on the line?

In this episode, we welcome back educator and youth advocate Katie Wallace who joined us back on Episode 83: Kill the Ogre of Post Secondary Ed w/ Katie. With over 18 years of experience in education and nonprofit leadership, Katie returns to share her two cents on the line between advocacy and exploitation. We wrestle with the ethics of storytelling in a post-affirmative action landscape, where Black and Brown students are increasingly expected to turn their trauma into personal narratives for gatekeepers' approval. From the rise of the "trauma essay" to fundraising strategies that tiptoe or trample over the line into white saviorism, we try to pin down a very complex and abstract topic by centering human dignity. Katie brings insight, honesty, and hope as she discusses how to shift power in storytelling and how to ensure young people, especially those from marginalized communities, retain full agency over their own narratives.

Do Your Fudging Homework:

  • Hope: The Luis Ortega Survival Club by Sonora Reyes (The Lesbiana’s Guide To Catholic School)

  • Megan:

  • Katie: Tipping Point - Trevor Noah with Malcolm Gladwell - its ok to change your mind