Deconstructing Karen Film Screening

We are thrilled to host an exclusive evening with anti-racism experts Saira Rao and Regina Jackson, authors and founders of Race2Dinner. This evening is a personal and community development to reflect on our own behaviors and biases, and to challenge ourselves to actively work towards dismantling the systems of racism and oppression that continue to harm marginalized communities.

We welcome all people who are interested in participating, while aiming to educate and call in white women to understand their specific role in both perpetuating and ending racism.

Through uncompromising truth-telling, dialogue, and relationship-building, this experience will open up challenging, yet hopeful, conversations about how we can dismantle racist systems that perpetuate disconnection and violence.

The evening includes a screening of the film Deconstructing Karen and a panel discussion with Saira and Regina, facilitated by Joelle Williams, a cross-industry transformation consultant based here in Austin.

Ticket prices for this evening of community building and reflection directly support the cost of this event and payment to our facilitators. If you can’t attend or would like to sponsor community members who might not otherwise be able to afford a ticket, please purchase a pay it forward ticket or contribute to our mutual aid fund to offset the event costs. If you find the cost prohibitive, please reach out to [email protected].

Drinks and concessions will be available for purchase.

Saira Rao grew up in Richmond, Virginia, the daughter of Indian immigrants. After graduating from the University of Virginia and New York University School of Law, she served as a law clerk on the US Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit and an associate at the law firm of Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton. Saira is a published author, a successful entrepreneur, and a former congressional candidate.

Regina Jackson born in Chicago in 1950, Regina remembers an America where everything was Black & white. Burned into her memory are the beatings & horrific treatment of civil rights workers, the Goodman, Chaney & Schwerner murders, the M**der of Viola Liuzzo, the M**der of MLK, JFK and his brother Robert. The violence perpetrated on innocent people going about their lives, by white people. It is these memories that drive Regina to push for real change in America. Which is why she co-founded Race 2 Dinner. Regina attended U of Colorado and the Executive MBA program at the University of Denver and worked as a management consultant at Organizational Politics. Regina also spent 27 years in corporate America retiring in 1998 as a Sales Executive and has since started three successful businesses.

Joelle Williams is an Austin-based cross-industry transformation consultant. The thread that runs through her multi-hyphenate career - retail executive, educator, innovation, and design leader- is her penchant for playing at the intersection of business and creativity. Being in rapidly changing environments, collaborating, and bringing multi-disciplinary teams together is what fuels her passion. Her work with organizations is focused on accelerating business performance and growth through effecting change in how people behave, lead, and deliver, while her approach to management and problem-solving is geared toward fostering innovation and positive experiences for all stakeholders. Her background in retail, academia and product management has provided her with a diverse set of skills and perspectives, developing expertise in retail-store operations, curriculum design, product/services development, management, design thinking, change management, human-centered problem solving and strategy.

Host or Publisher Jenn Petersen, LMSW & Kat Postel, LCSW