Promises We’re Making for a Rad 2021
We're already 2 weeks into 2021.
Coming together while not coming together (in person) is still more important than ever. Telling nonmainstream stories is still more important than ever. Cue in Anti-Heroine Media - a digital communications firm that always asks, how can we reach everyone?
We're getting ready for a radical year. Check out our company commitments for 2021:
1. Putting Care First
Self and collective care and wellbeing is at the foundation of Anti-Heroine Media and the type of workplace we're creating. This year we’re trying to find new ways to build joy into our work. A big element of this is giving ourselves the space to be creative. One way we are doing this is by blocking out sections of time in our week to work on fun projects (*cough* perhaps a new podcast *cough*).
It is hard to hold ourselves to it, but we are also committing to practice some form of collective care together at least once a week. This might be a simple and honest check-in or venting session, or doing a cheesy personality quiz (yes I am half-Hermione half-Elsa according to Buzzfeed’s “Which Harry Potter and Disney Characters Are You?).
Lastly, we are working really hard at creating boundaries, something we’ve lacked in previous workplaces. This means that when we’re done for the day, we’re done for the day. While we’re unsubscribing from the traditional patriarchal work week, we are keeping our weekends free and waiting on work stuff until Monday. This helps with the increasingly difficult issue of taking work home, since we literally are working from home.
We’re sharing resources weekly on our social media channels with #SelfCareSunday.
2. Being Truly Digitally Accessible
The digital space wasn't made by or for us. And although it is a powerful tool for activism and movement building, it's important to intentionally build in practices that make our organizations, brands, and even ourselves more accessibility-friendly online. Let's make content everyone can enjoy and engage with.
We love this piece from Zara Rahman as a primer on feminist tech tools and what a feminist internet would look like.
In 2020, we introduced #TechTuesdays with this mind. Every Tuesday we share an easy explainer on tech with a feminist lens. Whether it's an app that helps BIPOC & queer folks find a licensed therapist based on their unique experiences or practical tips to avoid zoom burnout, we're here to help bridge the digital gender gap.
In 2021, we're looking deeper into ways we can be more accessible in our social media practices, ways we can better (and safely) use technology as activists, and practical ways to keep our digital spaces organized.
Stay tuned, anti-heroines.🔥
3. Finding & Using Ethical Alternatives to Software
Working remotely is the new norm and whether we like it or not, we're taking on a lot more screen time than before.
That's why Anti-Heroine Media is being mindful of seeking out software alternatives that reflect our values — ones that not only reduce our digital and physical footprint, but help us reclaim some of our online agency.
From browsers to email services to file sharing — we're making the push to use software that is user-friendly, privacy-conscious, sustainable, and affordable.
Psssst. We know these software alternatives aren't always the cheapest and easy to adapt to, especially when you're sharing tools among teammates. That's why we're committing to keeping you posted with clear and honest guidance as we transition.
In 2020 Anti-Heroine Media moved to ProtonMail for email and Signal for texting, both of which are encrypted. In 2021, we're looking for alternatives for things like video conferencing, file sharing, streaming, analytics, campaign tools, among a few.
4. Unlearning, Unlearning, and More Unlearning
It was a really liberating thought when we realized that we didn’t have to follow capitalist-patriarchal conceptions of what work should look like, when it should be done and how. But, if we’re being honest, it is really hard to unlearn! For a lot of us, our lives are organized around a 9-5 work week — one which we know does not consider the various intersections of our identities and the different forms of labour that we take on as activists both in the workplace and outside of it. A feminist workplace not only takes this into consideration, but is built with this in mind.
This year we are finding different ways to track our time and labour outside of this construct. And that goes hand in hand with “productivity”, a term so ubiquitous it has kind of lost all meaning.
At the start of this year we had an open conversation about our work structure, what is energizing for each of us, and the goals we would like to set for 2021. We don’t always work the same hours everyday, but we do make sure to check in and give notice when we need to make changes.
This is just a start, and it is small! But small steps still have a huge impact. We’re committing to this work in 2021 and looking for resources from other feminist organizations to put it into practice. Here are some examples: “3 Ways To Decolonize Your Nonprofit As Told By A Black Queer Feminist Organizer”, this toolkit for “Working in a Feminist Organization” and great resources from feminist think thanks like Feminuity and The Nap Ministry.
Outside of Anti-Heroine Media, we're also keen on checking off some of our personal resolutions. Ashna wants to learn a TikTok dance and Hayley is upping her food photography game.
What are your resolutions? We'd love to know!
Let's keep fighting this good fight together,
- Ashna & Hayley