DeLois "Dee Dee" Strum Ep. 115 - Listen to learn WHY Black lives matter! It is important to believe that change will happen if we continue advocating for it as leaders. The American society needs economic, social, and policy changes in order to give everyone regardless of their gender or race equal opportunities where they reach their full potential. Meet DeeDee Strum, a 40+ year entrepreneur, a public speaker, an affordable housing advocate, and is currently involved in offshore wind as a renewable source of energy. She's a feminist who believes that Black women continue to hold a moral high ground in America and must raise their voice to elevate the conversation on gender and racial equality if America is to achieve its full potential.
Top Takeaways:
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- Becoming committed to empowering women to believe in themselves and to learn to seek support
- How to encourage black women to influence public policy by running for local positions
- The power of unleashing the talent that everyone can bring to the table to have a just and equitable America
- The difference between policing a community and being there to protect and serve a community
- The need to dismantle what we currently have and rebuild systems that are not working
Listen in to learn the difference between community policing that people of color experience in America and the protection and service they instead require from the police.
"The public policy has to be recast in a light that there is going to be more equity, and that's what the national conversations have been about. In terms of income equity for the last 10 to 20 years, it keeps getting wider and wider between the haves and the have-nots." -DeeDee Strum
Best Black Female Entrepreneur and Activist Podcast
DeLois Strum has worked in the housing and community development industry as a housing professional, and she previously chaired the National Section 8 committee of the National Association of the Housing and Redevelopment Officials. DeeDee started her housing services company MD Strum in 1981 where she was involved in major housing and community development programs. She is the co-host of TrailBlazers Impact Podcast, telling the stories of Black women from the civil rights era to the young Black women of today. Nan and DeeDee have been friends since the 1970's and are enjoying working together again after all these years.
In addition to her advisory work on wind as an energy source with Strum Contracting, she is a Senior Faculty Advisor to the UMD School of Public Health - Students Transitioning into Effective Professionals. DeLois Strum is a dynamic public speaker for board and staff professional development, entrepreneurship, and mentoring of women and youth. She has a strong passion for public policy and governmental affairs to increase the economic self sufficiency of families of low income, strengthen the middle class, promote social justice and increase support for small- and women-owned business development and growth. She has a strong belief that each of us must "be the change we want to see".
Learn the importance of empowering Black women so they know how to influence public policy and make a difference.
Key Moments:
DeeDee narrates how she got interested in becoming a women empowerment and community development advocator [3:10]
She describes her 4-year tenure as the President of the National Coalition of 100 Black Women where she had the opportunity to learn and connect with other women across the country [11:14]
Why society needs to recognize what everyone brings to the table with justice and equality [16:16]
The purpose of telling the world that Black lives matter too through the Black Lives Matter Movement [18:57]
Understanding innocent ignorance about race and equality, community policing, and what needs to change [25:10]
How the American economy is built on the winners or losers based on race and gender [33:46]
Why all leaders need to be accountable, transparent, and courageous enough to transform the society [38:26]
How the society is saying they want change and are willing to do what it takes to be part of the solution [41:58]
DeLois Strum advises young leaders to continue to believe in themselves and in the possibility of change [44:56]
She describes how she sees the future as space where everyone is reaching their full potential without imposed structural barriers [47:47]
Resources:
Zoom Info on Strum Contracting
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