My Reflections
By Danielle Steer, Founding Executive Director, Lunar Startups
At Lunar, we are still grieving and celebrating the death of the “before times,” while grappling with the tension and strangeness of contradicting emotions that the past year of reckoning has enabled us to feel more fully. The highs and lows, pain and joy, and relief and anxiety, all driven by a collective energy building to do better.
As we move into this next phase of transition, we are doubling down on ritual, reflection, and deep listening in our work. We’re trying to avoid falling into internalized patterns of "value," "work," "deadlines," and "productivity" – which we know only favored a small percentage of humans, anyway. We are leaning into giving more grace and slowing down, while feeling pressure to act fast.
Make no mistake, there is real gravity pulling many leaders and organizations towards old patterns. Our greatest fear for the “after times” is that the start-up ecosystem will be lulled into a false sense of accomplishment and complacency about dismantling oppression in the economy.
That responsibility still belongs to all of us, all the time.
This where my focus is staying: on the entrepreneurs Lunar serves. Lunar Startups’ cohort CEOs are the leaders who are reimagining the future of work and building an economy that works for everyone. They are the dreamers with the solutions to our community’s greatest challenges. They are driving real, substantive change while raising the bar for what it means to hold power.
They are opening a door to a better tomorrow and we’re walking through it, together.
ABOUT THE REFLECTIONS CAMPAIGN
After a year of reckoning with the ravages of racism in our schools, businesses, neighborhoods, and halls of justice, we see clearly that racism is deeply woven into every fiber of our society and that the consequences have touched each person in America. We see the depths of division and racism and the imperative to work in new ways to address very old problems.
The Center for Economic Inclusion invited leaders at all levels and from across sectors to share their reflections of the past year; several members of the Center’s staff have also participated. We wanted to learn how they have reckoned with racism over the past year; what is different in the places where they live, work, and play; what they think the the future holds; and what they think it will take to reimagine and build an economy that truly works for everyone.
We thank the leaders who answered our call to participate in this campaign. All week long, we will share their powerful reflections, in their own words.
> To engage with our entire Reckoning to Rise Together series, click here.