Have you ever felt like every time you step back into racial equity work, you're starting from scratch? Like the learning you've done before hasn't been retained because you haven't been practising it?

In this episode, I share a simple journaling practice designed to help you stay in racial equity work consistently, without feeling like you need to keep rebuilding from zero.

Drawing on the work of trauma therapist Resmaa Menakem and neuroscientist Lisa Feldman Barrett, I walk you through a three part practice you can return to again and again. One that honours what your body is telling you, invites self-reflection and helps you track your growth over time.

What you'll hear in this episode:

• Why so many values-led business owners feel like they're constantly restarting in their racial equity journey
• The three questions that form the foundation of a sustainable journaling practice
• How to bring intention to what you're consuming before you consume it
• What your body is telling you when you encounter content that brings up discomfort
• How to tell the difference between a break that's part of the practice and one that's a departure from it
• One small shift that helps this work stop feeling separate from your everyday life.

Resources mentioned in this episode:

• My Grandmother's Hands by Resmaa Menakem
• How Emotions Are Made by Lisa Feldman Barrett

How I Can Personally Support You:

If what you're realising today is that you need a way to stay connected to this work consistently, to be in community with others who are on the same journey, to have a space where the learning deepens rather than dissipates, that's exactly what we do inside REPRESENTED.

REPRESENTED is a ten week racial inclusion program for values-led online business owners. Find out more and join the waitlist👉🏾 https://anniegichuru.com/represented-waitlist/

Come say hi on Instagram, let me know where you are tuning in from. I'd love to hear from you 👉🏾 https://www.instagram.com/annie.gichuru

Most of us have been taught that being nice is a good thing. In racial equity work, it might be the very thing standing in the way.

Today, we're making a distinction that many get wrong: niceness and kindness are not the same thing. Niceness keeps the peace. Kindness pursues justice and in antiracism and DEI work, choosing one over the other has real consequences for real people.

Dr King wrote about this very issue in his Letter from Birmingham Jail in 1963. He had a name for the people who agreed with him in principle and did nothing in practice. That name still fits.

We explore what niceness looks like when it operates inside institutions and inside relationships and why, according to racial discrimination research, it is rarely as harmless as it feels. We look at examples from across the globe and draw on scholars working at the intersection of systemic racism, racial harm and what genuine inclusion actually requires.

And we make the case that kindness, real kindness is the currency that allows people, especially those with marginalised identities to keep showing up.

This episode is for you if you have ever stayed silent when something harmful happened and told yourself you were just keeping the peace. It is for you if you lead a team, run a business or show up in community spaces and want your values to match your actions.

LINKS

I'd love to invite you to dive deeper into racial inclusion work by joining the waitlist for my 10 week online program REPRESENTED. Check out all the details and join https://anniegichuru.com/represented-waitlist/

Come say hi on Instagram, let me know where you are tuning in from. I'd love to hear from you 👉🏾 https://www.instagram.com/annie.gichuru

How does the same book that says "the Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to set the oppressed free" get used to keep people in chains?

That is the question at the heart of this Easter Monday episode where I'm unpacking one of the most confronting intersections in history race and faith and what it means for those of us doing inclusion work today.

This episode is for you whether you have never opened a Bible or whether faith is the very foundation of your life. Because what happened when the Bible was weaponised to justify slavery, what it produced in response and the system that made it all possible, that story does not stay in history. It shows up in our businesses, our communities and our own unconscious patterns right now.

In this episode we cover:
* The deliberate distortion of the Bible to justify slavery and racial hierarchy
* The true story behind the making of the Black church
* Who the Pharisees were and why their system is alive and well today
* What the Bible actually says about liberation and the character of Jesus
* What this means for you and your inclusion work in 2026

LINKS

I'd love to invite you to dive deeper into racial inclusion work by joining the waitlist for my 10 week online program REPRESENTED. Check out all the details and join https://anniegichuru.com/represented-waitlist/

Come say hi on Instagram, let me know where you are tuning in from. I'd love to hear from you 👉🏾 https://www.instagram.com/annie.gichuru

This is episode 100 and if you've been here from the start, you know how much has shifted in the world, in this work and in this space since we first began. Today, the mic gets handed over to my dear friend and business strategist Jess Miller. She's been present for so much of the behind-the-scenes of this podcast and this work and so I'm turning the tables and she's interviewing me.

We're talking about the evolution of racial equity work in Australia, what it means to stay grounded in your values when the landscape gets challenging, the role of community, truth-telling and why showing up, even when the work is slow, is still the most powerful thing you can do. This is a conversation centred around legacy, leadership and the long game.

In this episode we cover:

• How the racial equity and DEI landscape in Australia has shifted over the past six years
• The impact of global politics on diversity, equity and inclusion work locally
• Why values-led business owners are still needed in this space, now more than ever
• The role of community in sustaining this work for the long term
• Truth-telling, misinformation and why education matters
• What it means to build an anti-racist, inclusive business with integrity
• Why showing up consistently, even in slow seasons, is the most powerful thing you can do

This episode is for you if you are:

• A coach, consultant or creative who wants to do business more equitably and inclusively
• A values-led business owner navigating the current DEI backlash
• Someone curious about racial equity work in Australia
• A woman of colour in business looking for community and honest conversation

LINKS

Jess Miller Website

Jess Miller Instagram

I'd love to invite you to dive deeper into racial inclusion work by joining the waitlist for my 10 week online program REPRESENTED. Check out all the details and join https://anniegichuru.com/represented-waitlist/

Come say hi on Instagram, let me know where you are tuning in from. I'd love to hear from you 👉🏾 https://www.instagram.com/annie.gichuru

60 years ago, the United Nations proclaimed the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (IDERD) in response to the Sharpeville Massacre of 1960, when 69 people were killed at a peaceful protest against apartheid's pass laws in South Africa. This episode marks that anniversary by retracing our steps to see if we've experienced the kind of change that moves us forward.

Racism has evolved from overt to systemic, from explicit to performed. And performed progress is one of the most powerful obstacles to real change. Through three grounded case studies; the Sharpeville Massacre, the 2023 Australian Voice referendum and the global rollback of corporate DEI commitments, we look at what this pattern reveals and what it means for those of us building businesses with inclusion at the centre.

We also get into the role of language. Why words like "harmony," "social cohesion" and "belonging" can be doors toward truth or destinations that replace it and how to tell the difference.

This episode is also personal. The 21st of March is my birthday. Growing up in Kenya, this day carried no particular heaviness for me. Coming to Australia and entering the work of racial equity changed that. This is the story of how proximity changes things and what it means to do this work with love rather than constant correction and calling in rather than calling out.

LINKS

I'd love to invite you to dive deeper into racial inclusion work by joining the waitlist for my 10 week online program REPRESENTED. Check out all the details and join https://anniegichuru.com/represented-waitlist/

Come say hi on Instagram, let me know where you are tuning in from. I'd love to hear from you 👉🏾 https://www.instagram.com/annie.gichuru

There's been a lot of conversations taking place about the mass exodus from ChatGPT to Claude. But I think the deeper conversation should really be about the ethics behind the AI tools we are using especially whose values are embedded in the tools running our online businesses.

Today, I'm taking you underneath the headlines to unpack the AI ethics story your online business needs to hear. I cover why Anthropic was the U.S Pentagon's first choice for AI and the extraordinary cost they paid for holding their ethical line.

We look at the research on AI bias, how image tools flatten cultures into stereotypes and reinforce the very hierarchies you're working to shift away from. And we examine what it means that OpenAI, Meta and Google have all walked away from their DEI commitments since 2025.

For values-led online business owners doing real inclusion work, that truth deserves more than a passing thought and so, here's what you'll take away:

• The AI ethics story behind the ChatGPT to Claude mass exodus
• How DEI rollbacks in big tech affect your online business
• Five practical steps for using AI tools more consciously and ethically

LINKS

I'd love to invite you to dive deeper into racial inclusion work by joining the waitlist for my 10 week online program REPRESENTED. Check out all the details and join https://anniegichuru.com/represented-waitlist/

Come say hi on Instagram, let me know where you are tuning in from. I'd love to hear from you 👉🏾 https://www.instagram.com/annie.gichuru

March is a month that amplifies and highlights women's leadership normally kick starting with International Women's Day on 8th March. The theme this year is Balance the Scales, a message that speaks to the hope of a society where women and girls are safe, heard and able to shape their own futures.

In this episode I'm exploring this year’s theme and asking a question that sits beneath the slogan. What does it actually look like to balance the scales in the world we are living in today?

I reflect on the deeper work required if we want fairness, dignity and opportunity to be a reality for all women.

In this episode we explore:

• Why conversations about women’s advancement often overlook race and cultural context
• The difference between equality and equity and why that distinction matters
• The representation gaps that still appear in major International Women’s Day events
• What organisers of these events could consider if they genuinely want to broaden the conversation
• How online business owners can contribute to shifting culture through the spaces they lead.

If you are someone who cares about leadership, representation and creating environments where more voices are heard, I hope this conversation gives you something meaningful to reflect on.

LINKS

I'd love to invite you to dive deeper into racial inclusion work by joining the waitlist for my 10 week online program REPRESENTED. Check out all the details and join https://anniegichuru.com/represented-waitlist/

Come say hi on Instagram, let me know where you are tuning in from. I'd love to hear from you 👉🏾 https://www.instagram.com/annie.gichuru

I believe today's conversation is one that many women of colour will feel in their body and not just in their mind.

I’m joined by Premila Jina, a global leader, speaker and inclusive leadership consultant whose journey has taken her from India to Kenya, through eighteen years in London’s high-pressure corporate world and now to Perth, where she leads her own consultancy and supports women to move from invisible to invincible.

Premila and I talk about what happens when you spend years learning how to “fit in” and still find yourself judged against a leadership standard that was never made with you in mind. We speak about the subtle, everyday ways workplaces silence women of colour and the courage it takes to self-advocate in a bid to make strides.

This is a conversation about the long, often exhausting work of choosing yourself in systems that benefit from a culture of silence.

In this episode, you’ll hear us talk about:

• The hidden rules women of colour are expected to follow in order to be seen as “professional”
• Why speaking up can feel fearful, even when harm is obvious
• How accent, tone and “being corrected” can become a form of control
• The difference between getting more qualifications and building the skills that actually help you move forward
• How Premila is creating a different path forward for women of colour through her work and her program Rise and Radiate.

If you've been editing yourself to survive or have been told leadership has a certain look, sound or tone, this episode will show you a different side, the leader unwritten.

LINKS:

LinkedIn

Website

Book - The Leader Unwritten

I'd love to invite you to dive deeper into racial inclusion work by joining the waitlist for my 10 week online program REPRESENTED. Check out all the details and join https://anniegichuru.com/represented-waitlist/

Come say hi on Instagram, let me know where you are tuning in from. I'd love to hear from you 👉🏾 https://www.instagram.com/annie.gichuru