Inclusive excellence for holistic wellness - the key to Dr. Srivi’s mission - is flourish-ing.
On March 9, 2021, from noon - 1 p.m., Dr. Srivi Ramasubramanian, founder of the Difficult Dialogues Project, gave a special keynote address, called ‘Antiracism and Organizational Well-Being.’ She spoke to a virtual audience of about 35 participants on behalf of Texas A&M University's Flourish. Dr. Srivi's workshop functioned as an overview of the upcoming 6-week online course: "Action-Based Dialogues for Anti-Racism."
TAMU staff can apply to participate in Dr. Srivi's course HERE.
This keynote encouraged participants to seize the opportunity for connection in a safe space. Throughout the interactional speech, Dr. Srivi utilized small group breakout rooms so that participants could talk out their concerns and experiences. In this way, the speech was designed to inspire meaningful action based on hard conversations around racial justice.
Devoted to campus-wide wellness, Flourish is a team with a mission to foster gratitude and community among full-time Texas A&M employees. The organization offers classes, events, and wellness resources to Texas A&M faculty.
Additionally, Dr. Srivi has been featured on Flourish's website. On the Flourish.tamu.edu 'About' page, readers can find the spotlight of Dr. Srivi, who was selected to represent the values of Flourish as someone who uses art and scholarship to flourish.
Given the alignment of Dr. Srivi's mission and Flourish's mission, Dr. Srivi's address on racial justice in organizational settings received positive feedback. Dr. Srivi gave an introductory speech on antiracism in her session, which was mostly geared towards those who might not have thought about antiracism and organizational well-being to a large extent. Within her workshop, Dr. Srivi spoke on her initiative, Difficult Dialogues, which also offers a safe space to learn from others by creating a conversation about race relations on campus.
The session covered everything from the difference between inclusion and diversity to the story behind the founding of the Difficult Dialogues Project. By now, the Difficult Dialogues Project has been materialized in about 30 workshops, which have been attended by close to 1000 people.
"Thank you so much to Flourish for organizing a space to create room for us to have these conversations about the role of antiracism in our organization," said Dr. Srivi during her Flourish keynote address.