"It was like a Sunday, and I woke up - my mom doesn't often bring me the newspaper because I was a kid, and I didn't really wanna read the newspaper - but one day she did, and I flipped through it. And I remember they said they had a city council meeting the next week and I was like 14. And I just wondered, 'What does a city council do?'

So I said, 'Mom, when you get off work, can you drive me to a city council meeting?' And luckily my mom and I are on the same page about a lot of things. So she was like, 'Yeah, sure. I'm gonna drive my 14 year old to a city council meeting. Of course that's gonna happen.' And I attended. And then I go in. 

Being so straightforward with you, I remember thinking my town is about 50-50 Black and White, and we don't unfortunately have a lot of other racial and ethnic diversity. 

But when I walked in that room, it was me 14 year old, little Black girl, and everyone else over there was minimum 65 year old White guy. And I just remember being very confused about that.

Because if our town is 50-50, why aren't 50-50 represented in city government?"

Meet Eboni Freeman, a fellow Emory alum who is passionate about advocacy work in corporate and nonprofit spaces. She is also the founder of Wonder Stars of the Universe (https://www.wonderstarsuniverse.com/about), a brand with the intention to spread a message about equity and inclusion through podcasting, blogs, and creative writing. Eboni excels at disability inclusion and accessibility work. We have a conversation on what it means to actually create change in the world, and the patience that requires. If you are curious about diversity inclusion or accessibility work, feel free to reach out to Eboni and listen to the conversation!