Centering your identity to find your act of change-making

I was in school in 2020. At the time, I was saddened by the state of the world and disheartened by my path. Everything I was doing felt so small in the grand scheme of things, until I read an amazing book about intentionality and revolutionizing community. This book offered me a repositioning and inspired me to ask: What if our very existence is an act of change-making?

Whoa, I know — large question! But I like to think of it broken down into two parts: “existence” and “change-making.” To me, our existence is made up of our “who” and “why” and change-making is our “how.” Understanding our “who,” “why” and “how” helps us understand our role in creating a new world.

Existence: Who are you, what is your why and what does this have to do with design?

Understanding our “who” and “why” helps us find our sense of self, and when we find our sense of self, we not only find our voice but our purpose and relationship to the world around us. What are your “I am” statements? What experience does it give you? How does it shape your “why”?

I am a poet and I often use words to reckon with my emotions, thoughts and curiosities. So, when tasked with such a large question, I grabbed my notes app and wrote the following poem, “Reckoning”:

Hymns reverberating off the pews
and floating through the thick summer air in sweet baritones –
amplified by stomping feet
and the vibrations of cicadas —
were my first taste of poetry.

My eyes close.
Now I’m
dancing
like leaves of peace lily.
fluid, arms wide open
a welcoming partner to the Sun.

A Sun whose kisses
leave freckles on my cheek
like warm southern days
deep rooted
seeds
waiting to bloom
and I search for words
that flow like hymns
and are holy watered
to nourish them.

words
poured by a lineage
of women who bore skin
rich and dark like soil
held by deep roots
carved by their ancestors-
my ancestors-
who toted bibles wielded in sharp faith
who spoke prayers into their children’s names
and longevity into their life
southern black baptist women
prayer warriors
doubt slayers
front porch conspirators
and dream preservers
divine vessels
whose hands kneaded love into cornbread
and nourishment into collard greens
Aint that poetry?

When my eyes are closed I can see their faces
Sun kissed freckles
planted seeds
nourished words
beside them I stand tall
weightless
body swaying
twirled with roses
to early morning jazz
and birds chirping
kind of like the hymn
carried from the thick summer air
the melody drips from my ears to my lips
and the words come
through a honey dipped drawl
a hymn
they taught me well

Eyes open.
Aneesha

This poem was my reckoning with my lineage, my environment and the community around me. It was the answer to the foundational question of not just “who am I?” but “why am I?” From stringing these words together, I was able to stand tall and say:

I am Aneesha Tucker, an African American woman who has been lucky enough to descend from a long line of Black Southern matriarchs. I was born and raised in the South and have called North Carolina home for most of my life. This experience has instilled in me a deep sense of community, love and care.

I am also a full-spectrum doula. A doula is a non-medical provider who offers emotional, physical, educational and advocacy support during all phases of the reproductive process. This has historically been the work of BIPOC femmes who have cultivated a community-oriented birth work practice that continues to live on today. From learning these passed down traditions, I have gained empathy, patience, communication skills and the ability to advocate for what people need and understand how to support different people in their unique experiences.

I am also a budding chef and plant mom. These hobbies are now parts of me that shape my perspective. Cooking feels like a way to come home to myself, be creative, feel inspired and get to know other cultures. To me, food is a connector and community builder. People tell stories through food, and when I cook, I am able to hear them. Similarly, caring for my plants has made me more patient, intentional and loving and has taught me failure, feedback and how to be observant.

I am also a lover of my personal community and a poet. I am a continuous student not just in academic and career settings but in my interpersonal relationships. From my loved ones I have learned how to relate to people, what it is like to work on a team, and how to have empathy, receive feedback and grow. I can connect with others and understand people better because of them and the beautiful stories they have allowed me to witness. Being a poet helps me gain the words to tell my own story more widely to those I love.

What does that have to do with design? I am choosing to introduce myself in such detail because before we are [insert whatever job] we are ourselves. We have an identity outside of the work that pushes capital.

Additionally, I am telling my story because that identity informs how and often why we do the work that we do. For me, the parts of my identity that I have named have molded how I see family, friendships, my job and the world. They push me to do work that centers community and creates a better world.

Change-making: Identifying your “how”

Now that you understand your “who” and “why,” you use it to find your “how.” The “how” sits at the crux of connection between our sense of self and what we want to change about the world around us. How does your identity connect you to the world? How can you use your experience to shape change in the community, city, world around you?

Before I found myself at Pinterest, I was an organizer. Through work and education, I wanted to understand people and social structures. I studied social science at university with a piqued interest in intersectional social movements and worked with several nonprofits focused on issues like ending mass incarceration and police violence (think of transformative justice and abolition), ending sexual violence, and reproductive justice. The issues varied, but the work always centered narrative-building and storytelling as a means of organizing communities and driving change.

I was also exposed to the digital and tech space as a tool for real societal change

Through this route, I was not only able to understand the multitude of experiences people navigate and the societal constructs at play, I was also exposed to the digital and tech space as a tool for real societal change due to the power of storytelling. We used social media to amplify people’s stories and spread awareness. We used digital mediums such as podcasts, animations and informative graphic design to activate movements. Seeing the possibilities within technological products to aid in freedom movements and create the world we all want to see expanded my focus past the theorization and social frameworks studied in my majors to what the application of these theories could look like when applied to the growing landscape of technology. There I found my connection.

At the crux of advocacy and technology there was UX research and while career transitions can often feel like a leap, this felt more like a walk across a bridge from one town to another with my suitcase of skills in hand. As a UX researcher, my job is to advocate for the users’ needs and perspectives to help the team come up with the best path forward for the product. As an organizer, my job was to advocate for the needs and perspectives of a diverse and expansive community to help us all come up with the best path forward for the world. I found that advocating for users and advocating for radical change (personally, within the community, nationally etc.) can be similar.

Small-scale changes or directions we advocate for within an app have real impact on the industry and the trajectory of our technologically based lives

The impact of this connection is the opportunity we have to leverage our ability to tell stories and enact change. As a UX researcher or designer on a product team on a specific social media app, it might feel as though the changes made are specific and product-based; however, technological products are embedded in our lives and these small-scale changes or directions we advocate for within an app have real impact on the industry and the trajectory of our technologically based lives.

What if we collectively acknowledge that role each of us play and use it to push large-scale change? We shift the narrative and find our “how.” One example is Pinterest making the intentional decision to be the founding signatory on to the #InspiredInternet Pledge aiming to unite tech companies and make the digital ecosystem a healthier place for everyone, especially young people. Signing this pledge means Pinterest acknowledges it stands at the very intersection of idea cultivation, curiosity and possibility (the “who”), owns that it cultivates a positive space on the internet (the “why”) and it uses that position to push larger scale change by calling for a safer internet (the “how”).

Putting it into action

So what if our very existence is an act of change-making?

I am an organizer, full-spectrum doula, budding chef, plant mom, poet and lover of my community. I have spent most of my life personally and professionally cultivating and dreaming of a new world centering the liberation and ease of life for those around me. This translated easily to UX research because advocating for the user can be advocating for radical change.

The world is a product we are constantly testing the user experience for. We don’t have to stop at how we design or improve the user experience for applications — we can do the same for the world. These things are not divergent. Social media is an integral part of our lives, therefore the small-scale changes we make have the potential to create or at least imagine larger-scale change. For example, if we make our platform more accessible, what does that mean when other companies follow suit and it becomes the norm? What does it mean to make it the norm outside of the digital space and in our communities?

Sold? Ask yourself: who are you, and what tools does this experience give you? Even further, what perspective does this give you and how will you use it to make the world a better place? You can put this into action by understanding your “who” and “why” and making the connections to your work to find your “how.”

You don’t have to start the fight for change, change is inevitable and here, you just have to do your part to shape it. So what is your part? Because your very existence is the start to change-making.

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