| 1. Podcasts & Keynotes
This year, I started a new podcast, The Your Story Matters Podcast. I invite you to give it a listen. If you would like to be featured as a guest, fill out the form. I recently had a great conversation with Rachel Logan from Sourcewell on the Ed Soul Podcast. What podcasts do you recommend? Post on socials, tag me, and use the #EdBranding and #YourStoryMatters hashtags. Your story does matter, for you, your scholars, colleagues, families, and community. Reach out if you are ready to empower those around you to share their stories and/or need a keynote speaker or consultant to help you.
2. Curated Playlists
Every year, before teaching the CSUF Organizational Theory accelerated doctoral course, I administer a survey to the cohort to learn more about them. Just like we use surveys with scholars, adults appreciate instructors taking an interest in them as well. One of the things I ask is what they would like me to know about them. I highly recommend this question on pre-surveys as it gives space for people to share things that they may not feel comfortable sharing in person. Another question asks for their “walk-on song.” Baseball and wrestlers have walk-on songs; every person needs a walk-on song. A walk-on song is a part of a person’s brand. It says a lot about them. My current four are: “La Vida Es un Carnaval” by Celia Cruz, “Rebel Girl” by Bikini Kill, “Superbloom” by MisterWives, and “Sunday Best” by Surfaces. What would yours be? Here is the 2025 CSUF Organizational Theory Walk-On Song Playlist. A Renae’s Sunday Seven Playlist would be amazing. Fill out the form to share your walk-on song. I will share the playlist on socials. Share your walk-on song on socials by using the #EdBranding and #YourStoryMatters hashtags and tag me.
3. Mile High Comics
Recently, I had the opportunity to do a quick weekend turnaround trip to Denver, Colorado. I had not visited Denver for fourteen years. It was a trip to visit another baseball stadium, Coors Stadium, to see the Yankees play the Rockies. While there, I had the opportunity to visit the “largest comic book store in America,” Mile High Comics, which I highly recommend. Some comic book stores have a tinge of toxic masculinity. Mile High Comics was the complete antithesis of this. It took me two hours to look at everything in the store. It was a blast. Our scholars who are reading resistant will normally read comics and graphic novels as a gateway to novels. I always had a collection of age-appropriate comic books and graphic novels in my classroom when I was a teacher. We also use graphic novels for our Summer Language Academy for Newcomers (scholars who have been in the country twelve months or less). Do you use comic books as graphic novels to teach or make accessible to your scholars? Use the #EdBranding or #YourStoryMatters hashtags, tag me, and let me know which ones you recommend.
4. Meow Wolf
While in Denver, Colorado, an Uber Driver asked if we were going to visit Meow Wolf. I had never heard of Meow Wolf, but I love art and really love weird art. It delivered on both fronts. For those who, like me, are Meow Wolf ignorant, there are five Meow Wolf immersive art experience locations: 1) Convergence Station in Denver, CO, 2) Omega Mart, in Las Vegas, Nevada, 3) Real Unreal in Grapevine, TX, 4) Radio Tave in Houston, TX, and 5) House of Eternal Return in Santa Fe, NM. One more location in Los Angeles will open in 2026, and a location in New York was just announced as well. Give yourself two hours to enjoy the interactive art experience. If you visit and use the #EdBranding or #YourStoryMatters hashtags, tag me, and let me know about your experience.
5. Grounding
Something else I integrate into the doctoral course I teach, as well as most professional learning I facilitate, is grounding. Two ways I attempt to ground myself and give others an opportunity to ground themselves are through Mindkindness and Agreements. Many people, including myself, come into spaces with “all the things” weighing on us, and sometimes anxiety about being in a new space with new people. As a result, I like to lead quick grounding via some of the Eight Petals Practice mindfulness prompts, body scan, or a simple four-square breathing exercise. I also like to have group agreements for even a short hour of time we have together, so people feel safe in the space. These are always invitations and never forced. What are the ways that you do grounding in your meetings? Use the #EdBranding or #YourStoryMatters hashtags, tag me, and let me know.
6. Networking
In The Ed Branding Book: How to Build Leadership with Social Influence we discuss the importance of networking and emphasize that if we can’t bring ourselves to network for ourselves then reframe networking to make it about how you can leverage networking to benefit your scholars, colleagues, families, communities and yourself (if you need to name yourself last). How are you intentionally expanding your professional learning network to include new people? One of the things I am committed to every Saturday morning in June at 7:00 AM PT was to join Courtney and Kate, the Unsupervised Leadership authors and podcasters, as they brought female leaders (classified, certificated, and management) together to hold space. If you are interested in joining in the future, reach out to them on socials. I also spent three days in D.C. at the AASA headquarters for their summer immersion of the National Women in Leadership Consortium (NWLC). I highly recommend that as well. Finally, two female superintendents from California, Dr. Daisy Morales and Roxanna Villasenor, are hosting a virtual webinar discussion, Peer Power: Women in Leadership, on July 30th from 4:00-4:45 PM PT. Register at bit.ly/PPWIL. How are you intentionally expanding your network? Use the #EdBranding or #YourStoryMatters hashtag, tag me, and let me know.
7. Liberatory Design
As we end one academic year and begin planning for another, I invite you to think about how we can lead (we are all leaders because we lead ourselves at the minimum) while keeping the phrase “nothing for us, without us” in mind. One of the ways to do this is through liberatory design. Liberatory design is from the National Equity Project and is based on design thinking from Stanford University. Liberatory Design is the result of a multi-year collaboration between Tania Anaissie, David Clifford, Susie Wise, and the National Equity Project [Victor Cary and Tom Malarkey]. It is free and open source. The authors ask that you just give appropriate credit as you use and share it. How do you use Liberatory Design? Use the #EdBranding or #YourStoryMatters hashtags, tag me, and let me know.
- Renae |
