In this episode of the Kindness Is Podcast, your host Kaitlin sits down for an inspiring and thought-provoking conversation with her friend Nadine Fonseca. Get ready to be uplifted and motivated as they discuss all things kindness, advocacy, and the power of storytelling.

Nadine Fonseca, the founder of Mightykind, an educational multimedia company, joins Kaitlin to share her incredible journey. As a neurodivergent biracial Latina and a proud member of the LGBTQIA2S+ community, Nadine has dedicated her life to building a brighter, kinder, and more inclusive future for young readers. They dive into Nadine's mission, the importance of representation, and the role of kindness in her work.

Nadine explains how Mightykind evolved, how they brought together voices from around the world, and how the magazine's content continues to inspire meaningful conversations. Nadine also shares her debut children's picture book, "Only a Trenza Away." She delves into the inspiration behind the book and the significance of cultural traditions in shaping our identities.

Nadine's insights and experiences shed light on how to approach and honor cultural diversity with authenticity and sensitivity. Ultimately, the episode leaves listeners with a profound understanding of how kindness is not just a passive sentiment, but a deliberate and active commitment to positive change.

Nadine's dedication to advocacy, representation, and storytelling serves as a powerful reminder that small acts of kindness and intentional efforts can create a lasting impact on our world.Tune in to this enriching episode to discover the transformative power of kindness and how it can shape our lives, communities, and the future we envision.

Full transcript

QUOTES

"We noticed our children tokenizing people just out of naivete"

"I realized I needed to fold more intentional conversations around bias, diversity, equity"

"Because if you can't agree with kindness, we're not even gonna start the conversation"

"But if we can agree with kindness, we have a foundation from which we can build into. This idea of genuine and authentic inclusion within our communities and growing those communities"

"I truly believe in prioritizing mental health and absolutely believe in relying on the collective bandwidth of people who are in this activism work."

"We will never perfect our biases. We will never perfect our racism"

"The entire journey of activism is the journey itself and making sure that we continue to progress even when we stumble or falter or take a step back for whatever reason"

"If we're going to move forward imperfectly, we also have to take really large bites of humility."

"I wanted my children to have representation from their own culture"

"There was a sense of responsibility to take a little bit of space to make sure that this representation of Latina characters and families, especially, you know, biracial mixed race families, kept moving forward"

"Are you honoring it in a way that allows them to still maintain their culture? And are they receiving some part of that honor?"

"That's when differences shine, right? Is when you get to appreciate what someone else does that you've never seen or done or tasted or heard, or all of those things before"

"We don't have ownership over those things, nor should we want to."

"Kindness is work."

"Sometimes that looks like advocacy, sometimes that looks like just opening a door. It can be simple, it can be complex, but it's always work, it takes effort."

"The more work that I put into this type of kindness, the more I'm determined to keep going. It just builds that momentum."

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