In one of my first nonprofit jobs, I worked for a small organization. In my interview I remember being told that the staff was so close that they were like a family. As a recent college graduate just starting my professional career, I was excited by this idea. What could be better than a group of passionate advocates caring so much about creating social change in our community that they are brought together like a family? Unfortunately, I quickly learned that they were in fact like a family – an extremely dysfunctional and problematic family. This “family” narrative didn’t make it easier for me to connect with my job - it gave the higher-ups license to gaslight the staff making it harder to call out issues within the company.  Since it was an organization steeped in white supremacy culture, anyone who spoke up was villainized. The treatment of the BIPOC staff was worse.

I recently managed a Communications project for YNPN-TC with a group of badass young professionals. Our task seemed simple: update an existing document with YNPN-TC’s brand guidelines and create four new resource guides with social media best practices. I am going to reflect on the process of managing this project, what was challenging, and some personal and professional growth that I’ll carry with me for the rest of my career.