“Our brains only work best when we're cared for all around” - Aubrey Blanche   Failed it! Fam, we’re excited to introduce to you Aubrey Blanche. More love, less hate, more universal connection. We all want to live in a world that Aubrey can help cultivate. Get ready to hear some important bits of information in this inspirational episode! In today’s episode, Aubrey talks to us about: DEI & the “cookie metaphor” (you have to listen in to this one!) How the limits of America’s obsession with productivity is the anti-caring for the human organism DEI work: take rest, don’t quit   Links from show discussions: Stephen Colbert & Anderson Cooper Interview - Grief Check out improve it!’s Zoombie Toolkit Launching 3/29 for 2 weeks – stay tuned on learntoimproveit.com The Memo by Minda Harts book Aubrey’s 2019 Best Reads Diversity Rankings Article Aubrey’s Website URL Twitter: http://twitter.com/adblanche Medium: http://medium.com/@adblanche Linkedin: http://us.linkedin.com/in/adblanche   About the Guest: Aubrey Blanche is The Mathpath (Math Nerd + Empath), Director of Equitable Design & Impact at Culture Amp, and a startup investor, and advisor. She questions, reimagines, and redesigns the systems that surround us to ensure that all people access equitable opportunities. Her expertise covers talent programs and accessible product development to event design and communications. She is the inventor of the balanced teams approach and a culture of belonging, and the Balanced Teams Diversity Assessment in the Atlassian Team Playbook. She open sources these methods and releases thought leadership and tools to create positive change at aubreyblanche.com.   About the Host: Erin Diehl is the founder and Chief “Yes, And” officer of improve it! and host of the failed it! Podcast. She’s a performer, facilitator and professional risk-taker who lives by the mantra, “get comfortable with the uncomfortable.” Through a series of unrelated dares, Erin has created improve it!, a unique professional development company that pushes others to laugh, learn and grow. Her work with clients such as United Airlines, PepsiCo, Groupon, Deloitte, Motorola, Walgreens, and The Obama Foundation earned her the 2014 Chicago RedEye Big Idea Award and has nominated her for the 2015-2019 Chicago Innovations Award. This graduate from Clemson University is a former experiential marketing and recruiting professional as well as a veteran improviser from the top improvisational training programs in Chicago, including The Second City, i.O. Theater, and The Annoyance Theatre. When she is not playing pretend or facilitating, she enjoys running and beach dates with her husband and son, and their eight pound toy poodle, BIGG Diehl. You can follow the failed it! podcast on Instagram @learntoimproveit and facebook, and you can follow Erin personally on Instagram @keepinitrealdiehl here. You can also check out improve it! and how we can help your organization at www.learntoimproveit.com. We can’t wait to connect with you online!