We help organizations redefine difference and unleash their creative power.
“In our world, divide and conquer must become define and empower.”
— Audre Lorde
The narratives we have been taught about identity define difference as dangerous, confusing, and something to be ignored. But recognizing difference as a source of strategic strength can radically transform how we work with each other.
define&empower is a strategic and creative incubator for applied Black feminist thought and imagination that helps organizations radically redefine their relationship to difference and move our culture toward more equitable futures.
We listen to what is being said at the margins and place those insights at the center of our research, teaching, and consulting work with clients. In centering the experiences, needs, and visions of Black people, and particularly Black women, we believe we can shift our culture in unprecedented ways.
That’s why we see the personal and the political as irrevocably interlocked. Our work is powered by daring visions of Black feminists such as Audre Lorde, bell hooks, Angela Davis, and the authors of the Combahee River Collective statement, who inspire us to do the messy work of reaching across difference.
From margin to center.
We draw on our expertise as Ph.D. trained scholars of identity, and hundreds of hours of research, teaching, facilitating, and interviewing. We want to help you move culture by integrating a wider array of perspectives and narratives into your brand values and business practices.
Our deconstructive approach combines cultural and semiotic analysis, qualitative and quantitative research methods, data visualization, and consciousness-raising conversations — all conducted with empathy and integrity.
True equity can only be achieved through a careful reframing of the narratives that we tell ourselves, individually and collectively. We like to begin our process with a very simple question that quickly becomes quite complicated: “What’s your story?”
At define&empower, we see those we work with as complex beings with their own stories that shape how they think, act, and move through the world.
That’s why we center storytelling in our method of consultation, evaluation, and facilitation. Storytelling empowers organizations to understand and honor people’s experiences through the lens of race, gender, and sexuality awareness.
We use storytelling as a powerful tool for crafting new narratives rooted in Black feminist principles of inclusion.
“Advocating the mere tolerance of difference between women is the grossest reformism. It is a total denial of the creative function of difference in our lives. For difference must be not merely tolerated, but seen as a fund of necessary polarities between which our creativity can spark like a dialectic.” — Audre Lorde
What We Do
We offer a wide range of services that are all designed to help you navigate difference critically and compassionately.
Consulting
Our model provides your organization with a new and progressive framework for navigating difference.
Research
We conduct multi-method cultural research projects that help you better understand your consumers, employees, and brand audiences.
Training
Our training sessions help employees, team leaders, and educators become fluent in issues of race, gender, and sexuality.
Education
Our educational work includes keynote lectures, workshops, and courses on culture and identity rooted in Black feminist thought.
