It is with deep love and adoration that I share Mia's Ted Talk on our humble website.  If you follow us on Facebook and Twitter you may have noted that Mia was choosen to be a speaker at Ted Women in Monterey, CA this past Spring.   Her brilliant talk was published yesterday and is making powerful waves across social media through screens around our global community.  Mia's talk is centered around the misinformed and misguided "mission" of helping poor people, when the most important narrative should be centered on people who are poor and the incredible stories of building communities with economies that support each others lives. "What if we recognized that what's working is the people and what's broken is our approach? What if we realized that the experts we are looking for, the experts we need to follow, are poor people themselves?" 

Mia also speaks to us, her people, and reminds us that we are MAGIC, despite racists attitudes and systems that were not built for us.  She tells us that she is  "tired of the story we tell that hard work leads to success, because that allows those of us who make it to believe we deserve it, and by implication, those who don't make it don't deserve it."  

"We cannot wait for somebody else to get it right. Let us remember what we are capable of; all that we have built with blood, sweat and dreams; all the cogs that keep turning; and the people kept afloat because of our backbreaking work. Let us remember that we are magic."-Mia Birdsong

Please enjoy Mia's talk.  For me it is a prayer/a statement/a truth that I want to recite everyday.  I am ever moved by Mia's work and her words and I hope you will be, too.  

In community, 

Mariah