Qasim Rashid, Esq.Mar 21, 2023

In the last few months I’ve received 4 speaking invites:
•One to speak on the Black American experience—I said no & referred a Black scholar
•One to speak on Iranian women—I said no & referred several Iranian women
•One to speak on Arab American students—I said no & referred an Arab woman & activist
•One to speak on my experience in Turkey providing earthquake relief, on a panel with a Turkish scholar—I said yes

Lesson: You don’t need to be a voice for the voiceless—just learn to pass the mic.

Show threadMichael Kazarnowicz
@QasimRashid I wish more people thought like this. Back when I worked in tech-adjacent industries in Sweden, and had speaker gigs, there was a thing called #TackaNej (it would be "Decline" in English). Everywhere you looked were men, and anyone who agreed to #TackaNej would say no to conferences, panels, and other gigs unless there were women present. That movement helped to shift awareness a bit. I think it was @fredrikwass who came up with it?
Mar 21, 2023 at 4:37pmWeb