Reading Recommendations: Pride Month

Written by Marla Skibbins, Founder of Level Up EQ

Hey Leader!

I wanted to take a moment to address this open letter of recommendation to all of you as we enter Pride Month. As an ally and stark supporter of the LGBTQIA+ population, I want to share some helpful resources to make you a better support for diversity and inclusion in your world -- and help you be a better person. If we can be even the slightest most inclusive, understanding, and compassionate, the better we will be as a society

The first resource I want to share with you all is a book called The Savvy Ally by Jeannie Gainsburg. It is a simple book that gives resources, tools, best practices, and quizzes and can be a lot of fun to work through. It was an easy read and really can help illuminate where you are in your allyship journey if you need more light on the subject. If you already believe yourself to be a “savvy ally” then this book serves as a great reminder to continue to be! 

The second resource I want to give has more to do with DEIB and is the book Me and White Supremacy by Layla Saad. This book has changed my life. I give it to all of my clients who are open to hearing about this -- you cannot change what you cannot see. This book is a wake-up call. It isn’t that you are racist or that you directly are a white supremacist, but it is a conversation about how blind you might be to how you are contributing.

I truly encourage you to take some time to read these books and continue to recommend them to leaders around you. We all need to take some time to be more kind, inclusive, loving, and supportive of all human beings, and sometimes, we need that little push to wake ourselves up to how to do that. So go read these books, be a good person, and make your parents proud!

Happy Pride Month!

Love,

Marla