In this week’s episode I speak with Lili Stiefel, founder of The Mixed Space. She shares her unique experience of growing up feeling like an outsider, as a mixed-race military daughter, and how that inspired her community organisation that hosts monthly conversations centered on difference and empowerment for people who fall outside of dominant demographics.
We chat about the power of finding communities that feel like home, the importance of sharing stories of difference, and how to cultivate internal roots and an inner state of freedom.
Whether you’re mixed-race, in an inter-racial relationship, have more than one passport, are the parent of mixed-race children, or simply a white person wanting to better understand the conversations that further freedom for people of all identities – Lili’s work creates a beautiful space to do so!
“A land acknowledgment is a critical step towards working with native communities to secure meaningful partnership and inclusion in the stewardship and protection of their cultural resources and homelands. As many of us are settlers, immigrants, or descendants of those forcefully brought to this continent, our institutions were founded upon exclusions and erasures of the Indigenous peoples whose land we are located. We honor and are grateful for the land we occupy and recognize the ongoing damage of settler colonialism. Land acknowledgment demonstrates a commitment to beginning the process of working to dismantle the ongoing legacies of colonialism and the pursuit of truth and healing.”
Credit: This statement was generously shared with the Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center by the California Indian Museum and Cultural Center in Santa Rosa, California.
Lili Stiefel is an artist, activist, and entrepreneur living between NYC, Frankfurt, and Berlin. She identifies as black and mixed and uses she/her/hers pronouns. Through her work, she empowers people to embrace their true creativity and individual identity so they can find their greatness, use it, and form stronger connections with the world. After graduating from an acting conservatory in Berlin, she went on to receive her BFA in Dramatic Arts Directing and then her Masters in Management and Entrepreneurship from The New School. Lili is the founder of The Mixed Space, a community organization celebrating intersectional experiences. TMS curates a monthly meetup every first Saturday hosting conversations on race, culture, nationality, politics, class, and ethnicity. She also is the Founder & CEO of Experimental Studio, a process-based creative coaching company that methodically helps people through life transitions, career goals, and personal growth.
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Websites:
lilistiefel.com