SHE SPEAKS 3/8/2023

1. Dr. Christina Dandy: The Power of Selectively Saying “Yes”

a. Overcoming our fears and saying “yes”
i. Must embrace the unknown and trust in ourselves
b. A time when Dr. Dandy said yes
i. Asked to serve as co-director of the Center for Early Language and Literacy
1. Every child should be able to read proficiently and beyond and to
improve early language and literacy skills of
2. Addressed members of elected state senators about the importance of
childhood literacy in our state
3. Saying “yes” to this opportunity made a difference in her live as well as
the lives of children in Georgia
c. Imposter Syndrome
i. Women especially, doubt their own knowledge and skills all the time, not able
to see own value in personal skillsets
ii. Believe that you are inadequate for the task at hand
iii. Validation for the work that you have done, and your capabilities is so important
in fighting back against imposter syndrome
iv. Surround your people with people that you trust & say “yes”!
d. Negativity bias
i. Use negative information more than positive information when we are making
decisions or assessing a situation, a form of self-preservation
e. Reframing
i. Reconceptualizing a problem from a different perspective
1. something that you can solve, something that you can say “yes” to
f. Liberal arts students
i. The ability to tolerate ambiguity, ability to adapt effectively and rapidly to
change, ability to read and to critically evaluate research and share that
research with others
2. Christina Amezquita: The Power of YA Literature
a. Adult reads
i. Literary Fiction
1. Historical YA: love, school, family, jobs, white, blonde, pretty, happily
ever after, issues and problems of interest to publishers
2. Today's YA: wide range of topics covered, (body issues, people of color,
sexual identity, trauma) want to increase access to these stories to
reach a wider group of people
b. YA helps us to process our identity and discover who we are
i. Helps adults reflect on complexities of growing up, process various degreees of
trauma, intergenerational families, abuse, etc.
ii. Not just for kids
c. YA book recs
i. Darius the Great Is Not Okay
ii. It Sounded Better in my Head
 iii. Fat Chance, Charlie Vega

3. Nadirah Mayweather: Mentorship

a. Mentor: someone who has experience in an area who is a trusted advisor, coaches you
through a difficult time, someone you trust
i. To mentor: to train someone
b. Plant example
i. Mentorship brings you from surviving to thriving
ii. Good water: life experiences that have helped mentors filter their advice
iii. Good soil: ability to root yourself. good mentor can help with this, they are
connected to resources that can help make sure you have a good foundation
iv. Trim away the dead leaves: provides more energy for the leaves that are
thriving to be the best version of themselves, honest conversations to help trim
away the negatives
v. Right amount of sunlight: right amount of motivation, people who are willing to
be honest about what we are doing with our lives (negative & positive),
someone who will help us stretch and grow, get us out of comfortability
c. The best version of you is not just you
4. Susan Spencer: Benefits of Listening
a. Listen with our ears, hearts, spirits, eyes
i. Listen to our inner voice, our body (cold, uncomfortable, anxious, in love, etc.)
ii. Music (emotions, regulates mood)
iii. Listen to the earth (sunbathing, forest bathing, bare feet on the ground,
improves sleep, calmness, reduces stress)
iv. Listen to spirit/God (sense of awareness of being connected to something
larger)
v. Listen to people (friends, family, coworkers, counselors, etc.)
1. Surface listening -- “Hi, how are you in passing)
b. Be open, present, and non-judgmental when listening to others
i. If you catch yourself drifting from the conversation, bring yourself back
ii. Listening/being listened to is a gift
c. Brene Brown
i. Shame: you are not good enough, I am bad
1. Someone else will tend the store
a. If you are supposed to do something, you are responsible for
that
2. Everything will work out in the end
a. Not everything does, cannot hold onto this thought because
gives false sense of security
3. Bad things do not happen to good people
a. Things are never permanent, change is constant
ii. Guilt: I did something bad
5. Morgan Tickerhoof: Fat with an F
a. Body image: one’s thoughts, perceptions, and attitudes about their physical appearance
i. How do you see yourself and feel about your body when you look in the mirror?
 ii. Anyone can struggle with body image
iii. Psychological factor contributing to eating disorders (body image and body
disaffection)
b. Size privilege
i. Assuming thinner people are more healthy, hardworking, disciplined, committed
to healthy lifestyle, and resilient, and that overweight people are considered
lazy, undisciplined and have a lack of commitment to a healthy lifestyle
ii. People with size privilege are often able to find clothes that fit them at any
outlet
c. Adding nutrition not restrictin
i. Listen to body (mindful eating)
ii. Increased vegetable intake
iii. Therapy to adopt healthy coping mechanisms
iv. Do not punish yourself/earn back the food that you have already eaten
6. Jennifer Flaherty (Dr.): Excellence and Effort
a. Baldassare Castiglione
i. The Book of the Courtier describes the ideal member of a court
ii. Sprezzatura: excellence in all areas
1. Practice excellence in everything with a certain nonchalance that
conceals design and shows that what is done/said is without effort and
thought
2. The idea that effort is ungraceful and uncool has been around for at
least hundreds of years and is deeply instilled in our society
3. Imposter syndrome: if we are not doing everything perfectly and
without effort, we are failing
b. Fixed mindset vs. Growth mindset
i. Fixed: talent and skills are innate
ii. Growth: talents and skills can be improved through effort
c. Show your efforts and work, try and care about the things that you do
d. “If a thing is worth doing, it is worth doing badly.” G.K. Chesterton
7. Marie Puckett: Naloxone (Narcan) and GA’s 911 medical amnesty law
a. Georgia Overdose Prevention
b. 911 medical amnesty and Naloxone Access
i. 2014, Govenor Deal
ii. Caller cannot be charged or arrested if they are calling at the scene of a possible
drug overdose even if they are in possession of paraphernalia, under the
influence, or underage
iii. #dontruncall911
8. Ashley Copeland: (re) Learning to Play
a. Epistemology
i. Absolute truth
ii. Knowledge
iii. Dewey: knowledge from doing, feelings, very centered on experience
b. What is a chair?
c. Learning cycle: experience, reflect, learn from it, experiment
d. Why should we play?
i. Releases endorphins
ii. Increases brain activity
e. Take an improve class, play games, go outside, sing, dance, all for own pleasure, not for
social media