As professional communicators, we want to reach as wide an audience as possible, but sometimes we inadvertently say or write something that derails our message. No question that it can be difficult to navigate personal and social rules, guidelines, and preferences, which seem to evolve at an ever-increasing rate. But it is not impossible!
Join AWC-SB on Wednesday, November 3, 5:30 p.m. on Zoom, to hear from educators and diversity advocates Cheri Gurse and Anita Perez Ferguson, who will discuss best practices and ways to evaluate and elevate our language.
Wednesday, November 3, 5:30 p.m. PT, Zoom
AWC-SB Members Free, Guests $10
REGISTER HERE TO RECEIVE ZOOM LINK BEFORE THE MEETING
Not an AWC-SB Member? Join in the month of October and save $50, during our AWC Fall Membership Drive. For more information and assistance, contact Carolyn Jabs, membership chair at membership@awcsb.org.
About our Presenters
Cheri Gurse
Cheri Gurse, PhD in Human Development, is an educator, activist, and mentor with more than 30 years’ professional experience in university classrooms, nonprofit organizations, and community spaces. She is an expert small-group facilitator specializing in building trust across differences; diversity, equity, inclusion, and justice facilitation; and advocacy for individuals who have experienced gender-based harm.
Enthusiastic and encouraging, she is known for making it safe for people to talk about uncomfortable topics, such as prejudice, fears, or personal beliefs. For example, Cheri co-facilitates Heart to Heart groups, which are committed to open and caring conversations about race. Locally, she has been recognized for community bridge-building (Santa Barbara Humanitarian Award, 1994), Volunteer of the Year (SB Mental Wellness Center group award, 2013), and for being a SB Rape Crisis Center (now STESA: Standing Together to End Sexual Assault) Shining Star (2008).
Cheri is now pivoting from her joyous experience teaching sociology and psychology at Antioch University to retirement and looking forward to her next chapter. Click here to contact Cheri.
Anita Perez Ferguson
Anita Perez Ferguson, Ph.D., is a cross-cultural educator and consultant.
Her work in advocacy and promotion of under-represented communities earned her the 2014 Lacayo Lifetime Achievement Award from the United States Hispanic Leadership Institute. She is an Advisor and Former Chair for the InterAmerican Foundation and a Visiting Lecturer for the Council for Independent Colleges.
Anita is the author of A Passion for Politics, a collection of her weekly NPR commentaries, and the co author of the Women Seen and Heard series. Her historic fiction includes Twisted Cross and Golden Secrets. Click here to connect with Anita.
November AWC-SB Member Spotlight
Justine Sutton graduated from UCSB in 1988 and has adopted Santa Barbara as her hometown. A freelance journalist since her 1991 editorial internship at the SB Independent, she has written for a variety of local media outlets since then, including the News-Press, Independent, Noozhawk, Montecito Magazine, Seasons Magazine, Cannabis by the Sea, and the new UCSB alumni magazine. In addition, she writes fiction and memoir and is working on her first novel. She is also in training as a voice-over artist and has dabbled in improv, storytelling, and stand-up comedy. Last year Justine became a certified Life-Cycle Celebrant®, providing customized weddings, funerals, and ceremonies to mark all important moments in life. She has been an AWC-SB member and volunteer on and off for a decade and serves as chapter “scribe” by writing recaps of the monthly meetings.