Collective Flow Consulting

Big shout-out to Emily O. Weltman, M. Ed. for an excellent business and website strategy session last week. I got a LOT of value from it and have already started implementing some of her recommendations so my new focus as an antiracism writer, educator and activist is crystal clear.

🏆 Prize competition notice! 🏆 Today, we are proud to launch our Locally Led Humanitarian Assistance Prize Competition 2024: Women-Led and Women’s Rights Organizations Making a Difference. We look forward to shining spotlights on transformative work and innovations pioneered by women leading local relief efforts. The contest is open to women-led humanitarian and women’s rights organizations registered in the Democratic Republic of the Congo #DRC, #Guatemala, #Haiti, #Iraq, #Mali, and #Ukraine — or those who can justify being unable to register in these countries. The competition is funded by USAID’s Bureau for Humanitarian Assistance in partnership with USAID’s Innovation, Technology, and Research Hub offering one grand prize award of $250,000 USD and five additional prizes worth $150,000 each. Click ⬇ for details about how to enter. We look forward to your entries! #USAIDCompetitions https://lnkd.in/eBTgeMZ7 Photo courtesy of Fedecovera R.L., Anayanci Artola, February 2024

Do you think it’s tacky to talk about money? 💰Your perspective may be holding you back…. According to Mellody Hobson, Co-CEO and President of Ariel Investments, talking more openly about money is vital to breaking the cycle of financial anxiety that plagues 77% of adults in the U.S. Hobson says education and conversations — both in school and around the dinner table — can help give the next generation the tools they need for financial success. She suggests adding investing classes to school curriculums, noting it can have “profound implications for the rest of a person’s life…The more we normalize a money conversation, the closer we are to people being comfortable and informed.” Are you comfortable talking about money with friends, family and colleagues? Chime in the comments. 🎬 Premium Subscribers: Want more from Mellody? Get early access to an extended video of her conversation with Hello Monday’s Jessi Hempel all about how to turn financial fear into money mastery. Join the conversation here: https://lnkd.in/g2tpXbFy ➡️ Not yet a subscriber? Learn more here: https://lnkd.in/djNtgBdr

🚨 Rad tool alert in honor of "International Day for Access to Information" If you follow me (and Uncle Algo is kind that day) you've seen me rant and rave about the importance of media literacy. I'm working on an article breaking down some media to show my process. While I was in that rabbit hole, I found a few cool tools worth checking out. The link below is for the "Misinformation Dashboard: Election 2024" created by The News Literacy Project. "A tool tracking the topics and tactics of 2024 election misinformation" that is "collecting and cataloguing examples of misinformation reveals valuable insights into the common disinformation tactics and narratives that threaten to influence public opinion about the 2024 election." My thoughts: - The dashboard is nicely designed. I like this tool for designers and journalists thinking about how to categorize or disseminate information. - This is dashboard about certain kinds of media, and not focused on our 2 current candidates. - I wish there was a LOT more debunking of what the media shares of 🍊 🚽. I'm guessing those lies are pretty hard to stay on top of. - I want some more flagged around articles having to do with war and weapons, the economy and healthcare. - We need ways to see the connections to MONEY (lobbying, think tanks etc.) - It seems low as far as counts of misinfo. It's not comprehensive; I'm not sure that's the goal. Certainly does not seemed funded or staffed that way. It's a good start and methodology/approach to analyzing election-related media, which they lay that out in a Feb 2014 paper on their site. It is a solid source to visit if you see something viral that doesn't jive. There are others platforms besides this newer one. I reviewed a LONG list from Rand, but most of the links are dead. I would stick with Snopes and Politifact first. Google has some fact check tools though they seem newer, the image ones seem worthwhile). Why share it? Because the tools we use to analyze and approach the media are always changing and we should be looking at nonprofits experimenting with new media, data viz, and anyone increasing access to credible information. As always, stay informed, vigilant, check your sources, see who's funding the media you consume, be wary AF of memes and videos, and don't believe soundbites without finding out context. Too many foreign and domestic "leaders" are counting on us being misinformed or buying and spreading disinformation. Good thing WE know how to do better. Stay tuned for more Hot Tips and Tools alerts, especially around #MediaLiteracy. And PLEASE subscribe to InfoDumpsterFire (See link in comments).

Please repost to assist a Black, queer, neurodivergent, and physically disabled person who is looking for full-time work! My main part time/freelance media relations gig is coming to an end at the end of November. The nonprofit that is my client is cutting the hours of the entire media relations team. I did just start with a DEI executive at a global comms firm, but am working for her 24 hours total until the end of the year. In other words, I am behind on taxes, have a hefty hospital bill from an asthma attack, and need to be able to afford my meds for PTSD and other types of neurodivergence. I need your help LinkedIn! I am a media relations consultant and freelance journalist based in LA. I have gotten clients interviews with NPR, Nonprofit Quarterly, and more. I have several years of pitching experience and have written for nearly 40 publications from blind pitching. I have a formula for getting in the door with pitching and I’d love to help your team get even more placements. If you are looking to hire a media relations manager/consultant (I am open to part-time work but would prefer full-time) then please reach out. Here’s what I can bring to your team. -A unique perspective as someone who is Black, neurodivergent, queer, and physically disabled. -Extensive experience with media pitching and getting placements in prominent publications. -Solid relationships with editors, reporters, and staff writers. And so much more! If you are interested in working with me or are hiring for a full-time remote role, please DM me or email mayarichardcraven@gmail.com. I look forward to hearing from some of you! -MRC #creativity #neurodivergence #jobs #careers #jobhunt #blacklinkedin #linkedin #linkedincommunity #mediarelations #publicrelations #mediapitching #pitching #media #journalism #pr #commsgirlie #comms #neurodivergent #blackpeople #queerpeople #queer #lgbtq #lgbtqiaplus #freelancer #fulltimework #fulltime #jobopportunities #hiring #recruiter #recruiters #blackwomen #blackgirlmagic

instead of blaming yourself / other working people, blame capitalism. ✌🏽

I struggled all day to post and I wrote a few billion words buy nothing felt worthy. This still feels schmaltzy and trite, but it’s all true. When people say we aren’t our work it’s partly true. None of us are one dimensional. But, I embrace my J.O.B.S. They’re a huge part of my identity. I won’t feel bad about that because it isn’t separate from my life. It’s all LIFE. By design. It’s why I started my business (officially 5 years ago!) and why so many like me have done the same. In 2017, at 2am standing in my kitchen after a rough week and long night at my day job, I stood there and word vomited the vision that became coFLOWco in a doc in my phone. 5 years ago, August 28, 2019, I formed my LLC after taking a vacay and realizing it was time. I started to build out the businesses I dreamed up a few years prior, and then 6 months later…ya know the story. By 2020, my vision grew. It was clear it had to be an ecosystem. I learned the problems I was trying to address needed multiple orgs. 3 orgs have names, sites, budgets, strategic plans, and still exist. And we’re just getting started. The making things sustainable and financial/social impact pieces are coming along. 5 years in biz may not seem huge to some, but to me it’s my theory of change in action. Despite a lot, I’m still at it. The 5 year mark for a women owned small business IS a big a$$ deal. 💯 the only way I made it this far was the impetus of The Collective itself: I have many brilliant creative people in my network and they deserve to make it, too. So, THANK YOU…for being a supporter of my work—for hiring me or referring me. For reading my rants and sending me DMs. For my cheerleaders that have come and gone. For the FL5 guests and members who did the same. For subscribing to my personal blog and finding my trove of medium articles. For inviting me on your podcasts and interview series or panels. For schooling me and calling me out or in or just calling me. For allowing me the privilege to share what I know every week and for trusting me with your BIG ideas and dreams for a better future of work and a more safe, kind, and just world. For TEACHING me and letting me teach. For caring more. For not being able to compartmentalize and for showing it’s hard. For showing me your brain and your “imperfections” and sharing your gifts and strengths. For all the gifs and memes, the solidarity and conversations. All the zooms and virtual teas. For allowing me to share my vision and for everyone who has helped or gotten up underneath it. And for all this who’ve donated to Rage2Rainbows, FLOWLab⁵ and hired Collective Flow Consulting…I’m literally just floored at what I/we started and the impact we’ve made. Here’s to the next 50, should I be so lucky. Seriously the world is a dumpster fire and hard. It’s also freaking magical. And for me the magic is 100% the people in my neighborhood, virtual or in my town. YOU are my why. And I cannot wait to see what WE do next.

This Innovate UK grant situation would be laughable if it wasn’t so serious. When I first saw the ‘Women in Innovation’ grant announced, I questioned why Innovate UK needed a female-specific grant in the first place, when *surely* they show no gender bias in their assessment process. Alas, don’t look a gift horse in the mouth: 50 women receiving a £75k grant is not to be sniffed at. It’s not enough, mind, but baby steps and all. Over the past week, reading the frankly disgusting stats about the grant procedure and lack of women being funded has truly floored me. It seems that just short of 1,500 (1,452 to be precise) female founders applied for the award, for only 25 – yes, 50% of what was available – to be awarded. That’s now over 1,400 women who have taken their eyes off their business to go through the onerous process of applying for the grant, only to not receive it and – by all accounts – have lazy and ill-informed feedback as to why. Whilst I haven’t read the grant applications, I know quite a few of those 1,452 women and some of them are so incredible I’m just speechless that they haven’t received the award. There’s a whole ecosystem out there telling women that the tide is changing. People like me – and way more qualified than me – telling female founders to keep pushing and that there’s money out there. Convincing them that equity investment isn’t the only way (let’s not start on the 2% right now) and encouraging them to apply for grants like this. For this to be the end result is honestly the biggest gut-punch. It screams performative action, systemic bias, terribly trained assessors, and a system that STILL can’t get its act together when it comes to funding women. If you’re one of the founders who applied and wasn’t successful, please take two mins to complete this survey: https://lnkd.in/e5DiciJi I’ll stand by anyone shouting about this. We HAVE to change this system because we can’t keep talking about £250bn being left on the table by underfunded female founders and then an institution like Innovate UK publicly adding to the issue. What’s next ladies? I’m with you! Heather Payne Emma Jarvis Emma Wright Zandra Moore Jordan Dargue Debbie Wosskow, OBE Emmie Faust investHER-UK Invest in Women Taskforce The Lifted Project Lifted Ventures The 51% Club Female Founders Rise Female Founder Finance