This past week, NYC Art of Hosting gathered together for Transformative Conversations on Racial Equity—as they described, "to get unstuck and try something new." Tuesday joined to facilitate, and shares with us some of her reflections on the way home.

"When our team met the day before to finalize the design, we were all a bit daunted by our charge," she wrote. "Transformative conversations about race? How were we going to do that in two days? Turns out, we breathed and reminded ourselves that we didn’t have to transform the world. We just had to bring people together and create the space and conditions for connection. Transformation would take place or it wouldn’t..."

My beautiful new friends,

I’m writing on the plane home after our two days together and my heart is full. I want to thank you for all that you each brought, and I want to tell you a little bit about yourselves.

You are beautiful. I’m not sure you know it, but when I looked around the circle the first morning or watched you dance to the rhythm of the drums or saw you lean over cafe tables to understand each other more, sometimes I had to catch my breath. We were every hue and every size and every shape in that room, and our beauty was undeniable.

And frankly, your physical beauty paled compared to the light of your souls.

You are rooted. Whether New Yorkers, Wisconsinites, Minnesotans or fleeing from Ohio—your awareness of your place and how you brought that with you was important. Our places are who we are. The land that we live on is part of our stories. And we told our stories boldly and brightly. With candor and with grace.

What I’m saying is, you BROUGHT it. You were present, fearless, and audacious at every turn.

You wondered: How do we not mistake a bigger cage for freedom or transformation? You asked: How do we know it’s time for transformation? And how do we allow ourselves to liquify enough to do it? You were curious: How do we hold multiple truths and still move forward together? You sought the future: How do we focus on what we have not yet even imagined?

And you are powerful. Each and every one of you is living the change you want to see. Each and every one of you found pathways to action that you hadn’t seen before, and not one of you said you would wait to take them. Our time is now, and we are ready.

You are brilliant and bold. You aren’t afraid to challenge yourselves. No more seeking outside. We have everything we need. We are ready to move from expressions of WHAT to blueprints of HOW in our efforts for racial equity.

You, my friends, are incandescent joy in action. With you, this work is not a burden. With love,

A love letter to equity practitioners