How Do You Celebrate Women's History Month?

Thank you Bixel Exchange for hosting the Tech Salon: Diversity in Innovation Event on March 1 at General Assembly Downtown.

What is Bixel Exchange? Bixel Exchange is Los Angeles’ Center for Innovation and Technology. We are hosted at the Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce. We cultivate talent and empower entrepreneurs with the goal of creating a more prosperous Los Angeles. We do this through our two core programs: the L.A. Tech Talent Pipeline & Startup LAunch.

I enjoyed the Special Art Piece and Creative Exercise by Maceo Paisley, Founder/Executive Director, Citizens of Culture so much that I asked him if I could publish it here. Please find it below.

The Keynote: The Importance of Diversity in Creativity was given by S. Jimmy Gandhi, PhD, California State University, Northridge

The Panel Discussion: From the Boardroom to the Homeroom: Diversity in Innovation at all Levels

Included Panelists:

Anna Barber, Managing Director, Techstars
Darla Hornbjork, Recruiting and HR Consultant, Gray Scalable
Sofi Hoysal, People Operations, Tala
Ella Carrillo, Sr. Account Executive, Brand Trainer, The Honest Company
Moderated by Lindsey Heisser | Director, Bixel Exchange – Tech Talent Pipeline

Spoken Word Piece by Maceo Paisley

Two sides to every coin, six sides to every story. Infinite voices in our universal chorus.

Let’s just be objective! 3-Dimensional measures are valued over the subjective.

The subjective is too easy to attack, its too abstract. So lets just take a step back and be selective,

About the criteria we apply when appraising our approach to fulfilling our directives.

There’s a lot of people talking about thinking out side of the box.

But’s what so wrong about this object?

Everyone in it wins, and everyone outside of the box spins

Our into abjection, depending on your adjectives.

The adverse effects of this prescription are part and parcel

To creating safety and protection for those whom we have affection.

It doesn’t make us evil. Just practical. Its a matter of scope.

Some people are a clear “Yes” and other people are a “Nope”

But we should be willing to explore the criteria we use when deciding when we open our doors.

Two sides to every coin, six sides to every story. Infinite voices in our universal chorus.

What is “normal” anyway?!

In 1960 it was normal for black people to move to the back of the bus to make room for white folk.

In 1970 it was normal for a 2 year old to ride in the front of a car without a car seat.

In 1990 it was normal to carry a pager. Normal changes.

Normal is average, or majority, or decided by the authorities.

It speaks not to what is idea, the best, or even most important.

I’d rather be responsive, we have to acknowledge context.

We have to listen, and to listen we have to hear.

We have to be near and connect.

We have to reduce proximity, reach for empathy, and allow for trust in instances where proof doesn’t exist yet.

At some point normal shifts.

Like ships on the sea, so the captain needs to see as far as they can see in every direction.

So up in the crows next they gain new perspective and come down to make calculations about course corrections

People collaborating in a dynamic frame, with a common aim.

Has the social potential to change the game.

Two sides to every coin, six sides to every story. Infinite voices in our universal chorus.

Thank you for an incredible event. Happy Women’s History Month!

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Lisa Ellen Niver

Lisa Niver is an award-winning travel expert who has explored 102 countries on six continents. This University of Pennsylvania graduate sailed across the seas for seven years with Princess Cruises, Royal Caribbean, and Renaissance Cruises and spent three years backpacking across Asia. Discover her articles in publications from AARP: The Magazine and AAA Explorer to WIRED and Wharton Magazine, as well as her site WeSaidGoTravel. On her award nominated global podcast, Make Your Own Map, Niver has interviewed Deepak Chopra, Olympic medalists, and numerous bestselling authors, and as a journalist has been invited to both the Oscars and the United Nations. For her print and digital stories as well as her television segments, she has been awarded three Southern California Journalism Awards and two National Arts and Entertainment Journalism Awards and been a finalist twenty-two times. Named a #3 travel influencer for 2023, Niver talks travel on broadcast television at KTLA TV Los Angeles, her YouTube channel with over 2 million views, and in her memoir, Brave-ish, One Breakup, Six Continents and Feeling Fearless After Fifty.