My Name Is Kristina (with a K)

One of my favorite Kendrick Lamar lyrics goes like this, “If I am gonna tell a story, I’m gonna start with my name.” I love this quote because the message lies in the power of standing tall in your very unique journey, grounded knee deep in it. Showing up for the world, with all your beauty and your mess, your trauma and highlights, that’s brave. Really brave. And then to stand up and pronounce your name so that everyone can see and hear you? Man. Powerful.

So as we move into Winter quarter, embarking on new discoveries and ventures, I would love to introduce myself to you.

My name is Kristina. Kristina with a K (LOL). I am majoring in Sociology with an emphasis on health and illness disparities. My academic journey has been a zig zag and I wouldn’t change it for the world. The zig zag has taught me self- love and self -confidence and ultimately led me too exactly where I am today. This will be my 4th quarter as an E&I student, and I can’t express enough how much I truly value this class and the community. Rooting for you, our community and myself as we work within the space of a culture of belonging.

Stand up and pronounce your name. We are here for it ALL. Tag, you’re it.

P.S. I’m a huge fan of quotes by empowering women. The one above by Jane Goodall struck a chord when reflecting on what kind of difference I hope to make by taking E&I. What did it illicit for you?

I Loved This

For our first class, Katie (who is such a freaking rockstar) led us through an activity to create a mood/vision board for our E&I quarter. I loved this activity so much that I went back the next day and created a more thought-out version on Canva.

It helped me go even a step further and add some text to further specify the vison. As we go through the quarter, I’m optimistic to see how the board evolves.

What’s A PMM?

I’m taking a research methods class and my professor assigned us a Personal Meaning Map (PMM) too begin thinking about what we might already think about research methods.

So I thought it would be cool to complete a PMM at the beginning of winter quarter and then add to the original towards the end of the quarter 🙂 Here is a descritption for further explore/try PMM’s.

“The Personal Meaning Map (PMM) is a cognitive tool for participants to provide their perceptions of a prompt (a phrase, such as “Research Methods,” or a word, such as “Statistics”). It is a mind mapping tool. PMMs are often now used to assess how people are thinking about particular issues, what connections they are making and how their thought processes evolve through learning new concepts.

You will be making a pre-course PMM before you get any of the content for this course. Then, you will do one at the end of the course and compare the two PMMs. By doing this exercise a second time, after completing this course, you will get a better sense of what you learned and how your thought processes have changed.”

One of the prompts asked what I think my role is in entrepreneurship? And to answer that simply it to show up in my truth and ventures, so that others are inspired to show up in theirs.

Don’t Lose Your Joy (In the process)

My intention is to include notes from books that I’m currently reading, podcasts that I found value in and some wellness related additions each week. These three things are so important to me and the work. My biggest hope is that you might be able to pull some inspo from them as well.

The Lightmaker’s Manifesto

Brene Brown Podcast with Karen Walrond

“We talk about how we met and how we define activism, and we share some really personal experiences we each had after Hurricane Harvey that shaped how we see the intersection of activism and joy. So enjoy this first of two episodes on life, light, and activism and how those three things are completely interconnected.”

BADASS Women Insp: Kiara Freemen IG

I have followed her programs for the past two years and what’s the most apparent gain from this. When I feel good, life flows.