From The Suggestion Box with Nicole Smith Adams Davy Media | Nicole R Smith

Title: Let Go of Perfection: How to Be an Accessibility Asset
Description: In this episode, Alec Lawson and I are talking about all things accessibility and acknowledging the fact that if you aren’t talking about accessibility you aren’t doing DEAI at all. Alec discusses how working with people with disabilities has enhanced his programs, what audio description is, and why cost isn’t a viable excuse to not implement better accessibility practices in your organization. He offers, “if you want to learn, come to me; say the wrong thing, ask the uncomfortable question, I am here to help.”


Connect with Alec
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alec-lawson-3a464680/ 
Email: volunteerinclusionaccess@gmail.com




Resources from Session
LEAD Conference:


Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)
Crip Camp on Netflix
Atomic Habits
James Clear


I’m Glad My Mom Died
Jennette McCurdy


Demystifying Disability
Emily Ladau




More About Alec
Alec Lawson is a professional consultant in volunteerism, accessibility, front-of-house operations, and inclusivity.  With more than a decade of experience guiding and mentoring non-profit and volunteer professionals into a more human-centered, inclusive, accessible mindset, Alec continues to work with non-profits, private, and corporate businesses to strengthen engagement with all people.  He offers coaching, and access services including Audio Description, developing branding, and storytelling for access programs. and writing handbooks and policies. He works with a close team of access champions with a combined experience of over 50 years.  He is very passionate about creating welcoming environments and a sense of belonging for all. Need help with volunteerism, accessibility, or anything customer/audience-facing? Find Alec on LinkedIn or email VolunteersInclusionAccess@gmail.com.
Learn more about how Nicole can help your volunteer program grow and flourish when you visit
www.nicolersmith.com

Severina Ware, CVA shares her incredible background that led her into the field of Volunteer Engagement. She discusses imposter syndrome, how she overcame it and the importance of always showing up into any room as a student ready to learn something new (even about a topic you are already familiar with). She shares how she overcame the “you are new here so you don’t know how things work” when her being new didn’t mean she wasn’t right dilemma. Lastly, she shares about protecting your peace and her contribution to the new book “I Said What I Said: An Anthology of Black Women in Nonprofit” aimed to amplify and shed a positive light on Black women and their stories of thriving in spite of a society dominated by negative views of Black women.


Connect with Severina
https://www.linkedin.com/in/severinaware/
Purchase a copy of “I Said What I Said” here


Bio:
Severina Ware, CVA is the Volunteer Program Manager for National Breast Cancer Foundation, Inc. with over a decade of experience developing community resources and mobilizing volunteers. She is best described as an action-oriented and dynamic professional with a knack for relationship building, inspiring the growth and potential in others, and effectively engaging individuals. As a tenured nonprofit professional, she continues to be committed to growing strategic partnerships and implementing a culture of inclusion, growth, and dynamic leadership. 


Severina is a Public Voices Fellowship Alumni of The OpEd Project and her writing has been featured in VISIBLE Magazine, Ms. Magazine, Thrive Global, TRT World, and Blavity.  She is also an alumna of the inaugural cohort of Black Women in Nonprofit Leadership, sponsored by Dallas Truth, Racial Healing, and Transformation. In May 2023, the BWPNL cohort published I Said What I Said: An Anthology of Black Women in Nonprofit which Severina is a featured author in sharing the stories of Black women thriving in spite of a society dominated by negative views of Black women leaders and future leaders.
Learn more about how Nicole can help your volunteer program grow and flourish when you visit
www.nicolersmith.com

Faiza Venzant, CVA, and Mark Hager share fascinating insights regarding their recent research study funded by AmeriCorps surrounding Assessing Diversity and Equity in Volunteer Inclusion We chat about whether DEAI is really still even relevant, DEAI initiatives disappearing from certain industries, the lack of adequate DEAI training opportunities and the “adversity of diversity”. We discuss the continued importance of creating spaces where every person’s opinion is actually welcome, and the next steps are now that they have this newfound groundbreaking information.
RESOURCES:
ADEVI Survey Results and Focus Group Emerging Themes
ADEVI Infographic On the Personal Identities of CVAs
The Adversity of Diversity – Carol M. Swain, Ph.D. and Mike Towle


More About Faiza,
Connect with Faiza Venzant, CVA  Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/faizavenzant/ 
From a young age, Faiza Venzant's parents instilled a strong sense of volunteerism in her and her two older brothers. They, as immigrants to Canada from Uganda in the early 70s made a successful transition into Canadian life with the help of many generous volunteers. A volunteer herself from a very young age, she has been an advocate for volunteer engagement and excellence in volunteer management for over 20 years.  As a facilitator for the Community Action Poverty Simulation, Faiza is passionate about equity and access amongst volunteers and leaders of volunteers. Faiza immigrated to the United States with her family in 2021.

Faiza immigrated to the United States in 2021 and now serves as the Executive Director of the Council for Certification in Volunteer Administration and an active member and volunteer with the Association for Leaders in Volunteer Engagement (AL!VE.) She has been a CVA (Certified in Volunteer Administration) since 2016.


In 2018, Faiza published her first children’s book entitled, My Mamma Wants to Eat Me Up!  As a mother of two young boys, she has not actually eaten any of her children.


Learn more about the Council for Certification in Volunteer Administration at
www.cvacert.org



More About Mark
Connect with Mark Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mhager/ 
Mark Hager has been studying and writing about the nonprofit sector for 30 years. His doctoral dissertation centered on the reasons why nonprofit organizations closed. His years at the Urban Institute focused on studies of finance and volunteer administration. He spent 14 years as a faculty member anchoring the graduate program in nonprofit leadership and management at Arizona State University. He has stepped out of his teaching slot and is now working on research and field-building full-time.  Most of his attention is back on volunteer administration, including his current leadership on Assessing Diversity and Equity in Volunteer Inclusion, a three-year project funded by AmeriCorps.


Learn more about how Nicole can help your volunteer program grow and flourish when you visit
www.nicolersmith.com

Publication date: 9/15
Description: Jerome shares the content and logistics of the new project he is a part of and why this book isn’t just for volunteer engagement managers, but nonprofit CEOs, those who work in academia, those who work in for-profit CSR, or even the HR director. He speaks candidly about being a person of color in the profession of Social Impact and Volunteer Engagement, the value of succession planning, and its connection to knowing when it is time to take the next step in your career. Lastly, shares about the importance of storytelling and why communication is the new power tie.


Connect with Jerome
https://www.linkedin.com/in/jdtennille/  
https://www.jerometennille.com 


Resources
Click here to purchase Transforming Disruption to Impact


More About Jerome
Jerome is the Director of Social Impact & ESG at The Uplift Agency where he is responsible for leading the social impact-focused work for Uplift's corporate clients. In his role, he's led clients through social impact and ESG strategy design and implementation to address their unique challenges. Prior to joining Uplift, he led Marriott International’s global volunteer program on their social impact team where he managed national partnerships and designed the strategies, guidelines, and toolkits that empowered and equipped associates to serve their communities across the globe. He has over a decade of social impact experience and is the co-author and co-editor of the book Transforming Disruption to Impact: Rethinking Volunteer Engagement for a Rapidly Changing World. Jerome is also a veteran of the United States Navy.
Learn more about how Nicole can help your volunteer program grow and flourish when you visit
www.nicolersmith.com

Description: Breauna Dorelusdrops some knowledge in ways you may not have heard before. We address what to do when accused of white saviorism, what to do if you are made to feel unwelcome as a white volunteer, why pity will never take you to the next level of impact, and why context is king. Sit down and buckle up buttercup, you are in for a ride.


Connect with Breauna
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/breaunadorelus/
Website: https://www.connectingthecause.com 
Instagram@connectingthecause 
Next Heart Work Session – August 17, 2023


More About Breauna
Breauna Dorelus is the Founder and Chief Cause Consultant at Connecting the Cause, a consultancy dedicated to dismantling harmful volunteer practices implemented by nonprofits and volunteers toward Black and brown communities. Breauna started her career as an AmeriCorps member and spent 10+ years in various volunteer management roles in humanitarian aid efforts, refugee resettlement, and ministry. Breauna believes in community inclusion in all aspects of the volunteer process, and has dedicated her work to ensuring that service is centered around co-dreaming and not harmful charity. She believes that best practices may not be the best for all and that we must look at service through the lens of community-centered support in order to create a more just future.
Learn more about how Nicole can help your volunteer program grow and flourish when you visit
www.nicolersmith.com

2022 AL!VE Impact Award Winners Angela Williamson, CVA, and Susan Sanow CVA share about their Impact Award Winning Experience.

Resources from the episode:
Engage Journal - https://engagejournal.org 
Transforming Disruption to Impact: Rethinking Volunteer Engagement for a Rapidly Changing World
Brag Better - 


More About Angela
Angela Williamson, CVA, appreciates the many people who have shared information, wisdom, and encouragement with her and loves to pay it forward to others.  She is the Volunteer and Community Relations Specialist at the Blood Bank of Delmarva where she’s redeveloped the volunteer engagement from around 70 volunteers to over 300 in four years increasing the variety of roles and departments with volunteer engagement.   As a 2022 Al!ve Impact Award Recipient, she battles the “imposter” syndrome and wants you to know you too are amazing and we are all on a journey together to make the world a better place.  
Connect with Angela
https://www.linkedin.com/in/angelawilliamsoncva/ 
 
More About Susan
Susan Sanow, CVA, is the Senior Manager, of Volunteer Management Education at Volunteer Fairfax (Fairfax, Virginia). She leads the volunteer management educational programming including webinars, roundtables, book clubs, and the area’s Civic Circle Cohort. Susan is an experienced meeting facilitator and trainer in nonprofit management and volunteer management. She has presented educational programs in the local area, at statewide conferences, and at national meetings. Susan holds a B.S. in Consumer-Community Services from Michigan State University. She became a Certified Volunteer Administrator in 2020 and joined the board of the Northern Virginia Association of Volunteer Administrators in 2021. In 2022, Susan was named an Exemplary Leader in Volunteer Engagement by the Association of Leaders in Volunteer Engagement (AL!VE).
Connect with Susan - https://www.linkedin.com/in/susansanow/ 
Learn more about how Nicole can help your volunteer program grow and flourish when you visit
www.nicolersmith.com