August Member Workshop Recap - Q&A with Mona Tavakoli

Thank you to everyone who attended this week's member workshop Q&A with Mona Tavakoli! Her positive energy, insight, and commitment to being part of a team was a breath of fresh air in today's often-dark, isolating times. Below, enjoy a couple clips from our virtual call where Mona talks about showing up authentically for social justice. 

TRANSCRIPTION:  “​I think what became really clear to me was through Rock Camp and why that space is so important to me is that could I, by just being myself, could I by just being Mona, with all of my quirks and all of my beauty and all of my insecurity, exactly as I am, could I come to this space? And just by showing up to the space, can I help somebody else feel free or seen or loved? So that was walking the walk for me. So being on stage as a person of color and feeling like maybe that's gonna be important somehow, but then going and being the boots on the ground for Rock Camp, and not just being Persian Mona, or not being lady Mona, but just being myself and creating a space where other people can come and just be themselves. You don't have to be the best drummer in the world. You don't have to have technical skills. You don't have to be a great teacher, to be honest with you. You just have to come into the space and say, 'Let's do something together. Let me teach you something that I know the best way that I know. And can you then reflect something back in that space? It was so powerful and it felt like, that's social justice, that's equanimity. That's creating an equal playing field for all girls. That's saying, 'I'm going to be who I am. You be who you are. And let's create a space.' And music is the medium in that way. Right? And writing a song or learning an instrument is - this is going to sound weird, but a distraction to learn those deeper values of communication and allyship and compassion and self-love and how to be a better citizen of the planet."

TRANSCRIPTION:  “So if you want to be a social justice warrior advocate, you have to be yourself, and you have to be true to you, and do the things that feel true to you and be of service that way. Is it through songwriting? Is it through poetry? Is it through volunteering? Is it through creating space or a meal for somebody else? There's so many ways to be creating equality in your own life that is true to you and not true to the vision of somebody else's social justice."

If you're a local woman or gender-marginalized creative who is interested in building community, collective education, and resource sharing, we'd love to have you! Please register to join Lady Brain Collective here! ​