Cecilia Nelson-Hurt (04/27/2020): At the intersection of passion & purpose

This last Monday (04/27/2020) my guest was ​Cecilia Nelson-Hurt. Both Cecilia and her husband are just now recovering from the Coronavirus. And we were lucky to have her on the show.

We talked about Cecilia's grandmother and mother... and their influences on her. We talked about her career in Diversity & Inclusion training at L'Oréal USA. She gave us her thoughts on the inequity of care based on race and socioeconomic conditions that we are seeing with the COVID-19 virus. We talked about the work that she is doing with the LGBTQIA community inside and outside of her work. And we talked about the additional training that she is doing since the rise of hostility and violence toward Asians in our country.

The show did have a pretty significant technical glitch. The host, mr, was dropped from the show for several minutes. Cecilia recognized the problem and just kept talking to the listeners about the things that were important to her. I did manage to rejoin the show, with my apologies. And we carried on.

Cecilia did share a quote with the listeners that I think is not only optimistic but a real opportunity...

"We will not go back to normal. Normal never was. Our pre-corona existence was never normal other than we normalized greed, inequity, exhaustion, depletion, extraction, disconnection, confusion, rage, hoarding, hate and lack. We should not long to return, My friends. We are being given the opportunity to stitch a new garment. One that fits all of humanity and nature."
​ ~Sonya Renee Taylor
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Cecilia Nelson-Hurt's Biography: As a Diversity & Inclusion practitioner, Cecilia Nelson-Hurt has over 15 years of Diversity, Equity & Inclusion experience. Currently, Cecilia serves as the Assistant Vice President of Diversity and Inclusion at L'Oréal USA where she is responsible for shaping diversity efforts through innovative initiatives that underscore the company’s commitment to creating an equal opportunity workplace. In addition to leading the company's affinity groups for the LGBTQIA and Women of Color employees, Cecilia is also responsible for the curriculum development and facilitation of all L’Oréal USA Diversity and Inclusion trainings, having trained over 15,000 employees to date. 

Her maternal grandmother first introduced Cecilia to the fiber arts, she learned to crochet when she was very young. Cecilia later taught herself to knit and has been an avid knitter for over 20 years. 

At the intersection of passion and purpose, Cecilia combines her love for knitting and advancing diversity, inclusion, equity and belonging with a goal to affect and create a more inclusive fiber community.

A self-proclaimed citizen of the world, Cecilia loves to travel.  She makes sure to visit a yarn shop wherever she goes. To date, Cecilia has visited over 130 shops in the United States and abroad. She chronicles her travels on her "CeciKnitsTheWorld" YouTube channel. Cecilia is married to an adventurous and supportive "Yarn Husband" Jerome, is the mother to an incredible daughter Atrice and a fabulous four-legged furry daughter, Dallas Jade. 

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During the show we talked about a lot of things. Here are the resource links to some of those things...
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• The Aliforney Center: 
  ​https://aliforneycenter.org
  
  
• CeciKnitsTheWorld Podcast:
  https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCdlY_kvXjfQvwA0eAYirMoA
  ​
• ​Racism is Contagious 
  https://racismiscontagious.com/

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