with light

Welcome bloomers! Here's a summary of the newsletter this week:
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​🌱Career interview with gender specialist (former BBC, UN Women)
​🌱Women creatives in Latin America/Caribbean mentor program
🌱Global youth-to-youth climate justice fund
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with love & light,
​Jasmine
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fresh soil

Why I joined The Bloom? ​
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To increase my sense of belonging and hope in the world 🌟

What is your “official” professional role and field?

I am a Gender Specialist. I've dedicated the past 10 years of my career to gender issues, most of them at UN Women, where I had the opportunity to work at national, regional, and global levels. I've also worked in the gender field for the BBC Media Action, Women Win, and, in the last three years, for the Centre for Sport and Human Rights.

What if your unofficial role and field?

I have a couple of unofficial roles that I am very lucky to be able to exercise quite often. I am a fiction screenwriter - and am writing a feature fiction right now that I am super excited about and confident that it will become an amazing film in a few years! I am a documentary filmmaker - my first feature documentary about deaf digital influencers is currently running festivals in Brazil and Argentina and will be on a Brazilian TV and streaming platform later this month.

For the past two years or so I have also played with futures and foresight methods and am now putting a social impact venture in the world called Feminist Futures. With Feminist Futures, I am getting the chance to combine all my passions - gender, storytelling, and futurism - and offer creative journeys for feminist activists and writers. My intention is to facilitate processes where people can reclaim the power of their imagination, access alternative desired futures, and find pathways to manifest these futures in reality.

I hear Feminist Futures has a special offer for our community.

Yes! I am offering a workshop titled "Letters from the Future" specially for bloomers on September 22nd. I will not be disseminating this link elsewhere, as I want to create this safe and cozy environment for us to embark on a journey beyond the limits of our current imagination towards a yet-to-be-imagined future. Once we land on these alternative futures, we will produce a collection of letters from there. They will be like little whispers showing us our way forward.

I'm charging a small fee, but if any bloomer cannot afford it right now, they just have to drop me a line over email and I will send a free code for them to join with no explanation required.
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I cannot wait for this creative lab to happen! If you feel this is for you, please come!

How did you get to where you are today in your career?

I think mostly by listening to the whispers of my own future self, who keeps pulling me towards her. I feel like what I came to do in this world is yet to be created (isn't that true for everyone, though?), so my soul keeps guiding me to collect here and there the different elements that will be part of this future creation. This has caused me a lot of frustration throughout my career, because I often felt that something was missing, and then I would change to a different job and, again, in a few months time I would be seeking something else that was not there.

Over time, I have learned to make peace with this process and started to inquire with curiosity: what does life want me to collect from this current experience and put it in my backpack for the road ahead?

Your relationship to “social impact”: has it evolved since you began your career?

For sure! I think for the first years of my career, I didn't have enough critical thinking about the colonial dimensions of the so-called development work, for example. I believed that UN agencies and NGOs should help and "save" people from the miseries, inequalities, discrimination and violence created by society. What I realized later is that very often some of these institutions (not all, of course) are reproducing internally and externally the very same toxic dynamics that keep the current status of the world. Their approach perpetuates the problem much more than creates effective and long-lasting solutions.

So, nowadays, I cannot disconnect the concept of positive and effective social impact from approaches like: meaningful and deep listening, co-creation, democratic and horizontal decision-making. It is urgent that we begin to look at every human being (and non-human beings as well) as a full self, as a source of unique perspectives, experiences, and wisdom. And as an equal co-creator of our collective futures.

And those of us working on the social impact space must learn how to always adopt a transformative approach, meaning an approach that creates long-lasting positive change at the systemic level. It is about time we stop creating programs that serve much more to justify our salaries and perpetuate our jobs than to really help advance equality and prosperity for humanity and the planet as a whole.
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Lessons you’re taking away from the first years of your work experience, and applying to the next chapters of your career.

I am a very purpose-driven person. I was born that way. And maybe because of that, I spent the last 20 years, since my first year at University, putting my job as the most important aspect of my life. Because I wanted it to be where I would express myself and put my talents in service to the world. Over all these years, I have worked really hard, for really long hours, with a level of dedication that often compromises my health, my joy, and my relationships.
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What I have realized in the past few years is that not a single job in this entire world will ever be enough for any of us to express our whole selves. We are so much bigger than our jobs! To me, the expression of ourselves, the fulfillment of our purpose and the service to the collective good should be non-negotiable for everyone. But there are so many ways beyond our jobs for us to accomplish that. It is too much to ask from a job to hold space for our full selves. And sometimes, to offer our full selves is also way too much.

I just turned 38-years-old and began a new numerological phase in my journey on this planet. And I have reflected a lot about what I am willing to invest my energy, my time, and my finitude in. I cannot give everything I have to everything I do. Although I truly believe that our spirits are infinite and eternal, this current life and configuration of who I am is finite, and I might be already halfway through on this current journey - we never know. So, I must learn to be wise and proportional in my exchange with the world. And with that make more space for the work that really matters - the work of my soul expressing herself through the woman I currently am.

And Feminist Futures is definitely part of this authentic expression of who I am and the gifts I want to co-create with other women and the Universe.

Impact resource rapid fire questions!

Podcasts?

• ​Where Should We Begin? - Esther Perel
• ​How to Write the Future - Beth Barany
• ​Unlocking Us - Brené Brown (she is no longer recording, but there are so many timeless and amazing episodes in there).

Social media people/projects?

• I love the Fearless Futures - A Feminist Cartography Toolkit and use it quite a lot in the design of my labs.
• I am very moved by the recently released Stories of Girls Resistance.
• I was super inspired by the Girls Not Brides use of art in Nepal to support young girls communicate about their challenges and dreams.

Readings?

• I just read an amazing article about transformative futures.
• ​All About Love by bell hooks
• Elizabeth Gilbert's Masterclass on Creative Living Beyond Fear is a gift to the world (Calm offers a 14-day trial. So, if you want to sign up to access the Masterclass, you can cancel your subscription in a few days free of charge)
• ​The Lightmaker's Manifesto: How to Work for Change without Losing Your Joy​

Join Thays and inspiring social impact leaders in directly in The Bloom's global membership community! And reach out at team@readtobloom.com for info on upcoming recruitment and networking events we're hosting in the community 🥰

branch out

🦋 Mentorship

​Mentoras Creativas: Free mentorship program to empower women from Latin America and the Caribbean to succeed in the creative industries.

📚Courses

​Building Our Narrative Power: Course for 16 people interested in changing the narrative across social, climate, and economic justice, and are impacted by oppression.
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​Humanitarian Action in the Digital Age: Course to help humanitarian practitioners learn more about technology and how to use it responsibly in their work.
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​Tribaja Tech Career Accelerator: Intensive 6 week program designed to level up your tech job search and network with top experts.

💰Grants

​Youth Climate Justice Fund: A historic effort youth-to-youth participative fund up to USD $10,000 to support youth climate justice collectives and groups all over the world with trust-based funding and resources.
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​Impact Grants: Artist-led grassroots organizations with community-driven approaches towards using arts for social change from the Netherlands, Germany, France, United Kingdom, Spain, or Italy – up to EUR €50,000 per organization.
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​Creative Bursaries: Supporting emerging art undergraduate students from marginalized groups experiencing financial hardship, and are looking to develop practices focusing on arts for social change with a bank account in the Netherlands, Germany, France, United Kingdom, Spain, or Italy.

pollination partner

Join the third edition of a financial wellness workshop for women with an INCREDIBLE financial expert: Bola Sol. The event is in person (London bloomers, try to go in person!) and digital to explain how you can get the most from your money, no matter what your situation.

Here's the breakdown of the workshop:

🔑 Navigating Career Advancement: Uncover the pivotal steps to climb the career ladder successfully. From skill development to negotiation tactics, explore ways to propel your income forward.

💼 Side Hustles and Beyond: Discover the world of supplementary income streams. Learn about side gigs, freelancing, entrepreneurship, and investment opportunities that can bolster your financial journey.

🌐 Leveraging the Digital Landscape: Dive into the digital age and harness online platforms for income expansion. Explore e-commerce, content creation, and remote work possibilities.

⏰ The Power of Networking: Understand how building meaningful professional connections can open doors to unforeseen income prospects. Learn effective networking strategies and their impact on your financial growth.

grow new roots

Email team@readtobloom.com to feature your organization and job openings to 35,000 diverse and talented bloomers around the world. ​
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ASIA
​Innovation programs co-lead – Nirantar Trust​
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🇮🇳
Production & Design Editor – Zubaan Books​
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🇹🇭
Human rights officer – APTN​
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🇦🇺
Human rights researcher – Asia Division of Human Rights Watch​
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​LATIN AMERICA + CARIBBEAN
​Program manager for region – Thousand Currents​
x4 regional consultants (senior/junior) in GBV – UN Women ​
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🇲🇽
​Comms project manager – Sarape Social
​Admin assistant – ELEVATE​
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🇨🇴
Evidence & learning senior office – Fòs Feminista
​Program manager – Cuso International​
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​AFRICA + MIDDLE EAST ​
🇿🇦
​Gender & youth inclusion officer – International Water Management Institute​
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🇵🇰
Undergraduate exchange program to USA – USEFP​
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🇿🇼
Program officer – Feminist Voices Zimbabwe​
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​EUROPE
🇳🇱
Feminist advocacy officer – Hivos
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🇧🇪
Climate, food, and economic justice EU assistant – Oxfam*deadline is in 24 hrs but the role was too good to omit! ​
​Forum coordinator – Eurocities​
Senior tech program manager – Civitates
​Young coordinator – Friends of the Earth Europe​
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🇬🇧
Editorial intern – ProFellow​
Multiple roles – Island Press
Climate stories program manager – Charity People​
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​NORTH AMERICA ​
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​REMOTE​
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Climate comms consultant – Legado​
Comms consultant part-time – Fern​
Fellowship for law, journalism, international relations, or other relevant disciplines –Human Rights Watch​
Technology manager – Thousand Currents​
Director of movement partnerships – Thousand Currents
Indigenous Fellowship Program – OHCHR​
Learning consultant – Global Fund for Children​
Marketing coordinator – Anti-Racism Leadership Institute​
International junior professionals program – ILGA
Disability rights intern – Human Rights Watch​
Comms consultant – (preference for India/Nigeria/Kenya) – Fòs Feminista
Content graphic designer (must have USA/UK right to work) – Fund for Global Human Rights​
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