Net worth with Regina jackson

Precious J. Stroud: What about BlackFemaleProject sparked your interest and what resonated with you?

Regina Jackson: One of my mentees, Dania Frink, suggested that I might participate. I am in my fifties now and listening more to the young people that I’ve helped to mentor. The other piece is that I’ve spent a lot of time focused on building work around men and boys of color, and more mentoring girls, but not really diving deep into the storytelling and the lessons. I felt like this BlackFemaleProject interview would create a construct that would allow me to do that. I was particularly interested in some of the racism/ sexism kinds of questions because, in thinking back, I’ve experienced quite a few of them and feel like every time I share a story it is so informative to someone else. It shares a concept that they hadn’t considered until they heard the story. Or, they had that light bulb moment of, “Wow, this happens a lot.”

PJS: You mentioned that sharing stories can have an impact. Can you tell me a little more about that? RJ: Oh yes. These days, young people seem to think more than ever that nobody knows what they are going through. So when I would talk about one of my first internships and being sexually discriminated and not being able to find my voice or wrestling with the Anita Hill-ishness of it all. You know, is this what I want to be known for? I think what pops up with people is, “Oh, someone hit on you, too?” How do you resolve this so that it does not become a part of your professional legacy to be—not quite a whistleblower situation—but not make the situation a large part of your identity, and still be free of it, in order to move into the next series of experiences? Recognizing that sexual discrimination in the workplace can happen again, and then aligning your behavior so you either protect, defend, deflect, or build the box around you.