Meet Dr. J or Jen Self | Queer JEDI: Equity & Justice Strategist and Coach

We had the good fortune of connecting with Dr. J or Jen Self and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Dr. J or Jen, what role has risk played in your life or career?
Just being who I am is a risk, merely existing. I know there are many others who can identify with what I will say here. Let’s get clear about who I am. Some of my identities have afforded me safety and privilege, for instance I am white and middle class. While others have put me in the margins of whiteness and U.S. culture, as I am abolitionist, queer, trans – gender-queer, neurodivergent, and assignmed female at birth. I am intense, outspoken, and say truths about equity, justice and liberation. That has been true about me since I showed up on the planet. Being a who I am and a person who is part of a larger movement for liberation that preceded me, is risky. Risk-taking is about living, showing up, learning/unlearning to be better than I was taught to be, believing in the power of radical love, and being in community and relationship with people across race, gender, class, and experience is inherently risky.

Every job I’ve worked has been about power system disruption, so risk has been built into my work as well as my life. I think, believe, and know that to create a world that aligns with that envisioned by Black, Brown, Indigenous, queer, and trans folks, we have to risk so many things: our attachments to power & privilege, complete safety, saying or doing what we believe, even if we are afraid we might do it wrong. We must call on imagination, creativity, and consider the possibility that whatever we know might be wrong. What if we all lived with the intention of being transformed by the experiences of others, to be shifted by the truth of others?

Can you give our readers an introduction to your business? Maybe you can share a bit about what you do and what sets you apart from others?

I am a catalyst for culture change. I coach, consult, educate, and heal. I do this in community and collaboration with Black, Brown, and Indigenous educators, strategists, healers, coaches, and people. My work praxis is derived from the thought & experiential lineages of Black and Brown feminisms, critical queer and critical race knowledge, and social work and activist-inspired healing modalities,

What sets me apart?

Across my life-span and situation, I have had unique experiences that have been in the vein of the one with the pushing edges, creative thinking, the who says truths because others can’t or won’t, the one reading and feeling the emotion and conflict, the one willing to be wrong, be accountable, and make the repair, the one who catalyzes change, the one who sees the connections between the systems and ourselves, the one who acts for and believes in the value and dignity of every person, the one seeking justice, the one paying attention to everything, and the one seeking others like this.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.

I would have a million different things we could do in my back pocket, but I would want to do the things my friend sought out.

Some possibilities: Pike Place to meet Rachel the Pig and I’d tell you this is where my daughter went to preschool; the Underground tour which includes Indigenous and settler histories alongside cool underground tunnels with stories about exploding sewers.

If you like neon, Seattle is a city with more neon signs than almost any on the West Coast.

These are just a few of my favorite things…come out to Seattle!

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
Alongside my family, I feel grateful for and to all the femmes, women, bois, gender awesome, and Black, Brown, and Indigenous people who have been and are my friends, colleagues, students, mentors, teachers, teammates, and family. So much of how I understand the world, what I believe in, how I live, work, and play is rooted in ideas, theory, beliefs, support, and love from all of you.

Website: https://www.brick13.com

Instagram: @drj_brick13

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/drjenself13/