What Brought Me to the Beloved Community?

This piece was written by Dr. Nicole Caridad Ralston, Associate Director of Education and Programming at Beloved Community

So, how did I, Dr. Nicole Caridad Ralston, get to Beloved Community? Let me start from the beginning, because in many ways I believe that who I am, my background and identities, have led me to join paths with Beloved Community in New Orleans.

Growing up in a multiracial, low-income household afforded me a wealth of experiences and provided fertile ground for building empathy and a desire for positive, social change. I attribute my life’s dedication to rebuilding a world where everyone feels like they are enough, can be enough, and are granted equitable access to our society’s systems as a result of my experiences. I grew up a mixed kid, white & Cuban, and there were a lot of moments in my childhood where I did not feel enough.

I didn’t feel white enough, I didn’t feel Cuban enough, I didn’t feel rich enough, I didn’t feel pretty enough.

No one directly told me I that I wasn’t enough, but society’s subtle messaging that a mixed girl like me didn’t fit into society’s prescribed boxes came in loud and clear. All of my identities, both marginalized and privileged (white passing, cisgendered, heterosexual), have provided fertile ground for me to learn how to communicate and navigate various cultures, gain an appreciation of personal differences, and created a desire to make sure everyone in a room feels seen, heard and included. My upbringing also provided me the serious privilege of regularly eating and cooking delicious Cuban food, which I’m pretty sure led to my official food blogger life as Off the Eaten Path NOLA, but I digress.

What else would you like to know about me? Well, I come to Beloved Community fresh off of a 9-year career in higher education and college student development. I was most recently working at a private institution leading their community service and social justice student initiatives, advocating for undocumented students and students of color, and leading the office’s internal diversity, equity and inclusion work (you can make connections back to my background and social identities, again here! WOAH). In my role as the Associate Director of Education and Programming, I curate and develop our content and facilitation strategies. At Beloved Community, we believe that people change systems, and in order to do this we must build sessions that feel engaging, resonate with people’s experience, and challenge and support people in thinking deeply about how to operationalize diversity, equity and inclusion into their practices and policies. My personal attachment to diversity, equity and inclusion work is what keeps me motivated in this role.

We at Beloved, frame our name from Josiah Royce’s and Dr. Martin Luther King’s concept of a beloved community that included a multiracial coalition working together for racial and economic justice practices.

This is the kind of coalition that I look forward to co-creating at Beloved Community.