Let’s be disruptors

My story is probably similar to yours. I wanted to make an impact in my academic field and to have a balanced, fulfilled life. The way to get that, I assumed, was to work hard, get a degree, then tenure, then full professorship and then spend the rest of my academic life working as hard as I humanely could. So I got my dream job teaching at the University of Puerto Rico, but it wasn’t what I signed up for.

Work-life balance? Forget about it. Time to write? Maybe one day. Impact? Does helping students check out projectors count?…

I was pulled in ten directions at once. I needed to write. I needed to publish. I needed to focus. But I also needed to be myself. (What happened to being a full human, anyway?)

I felt like I was squeezing myself into a racist, patriarchal system that was never designed for me. And when the kiddos came along… it became near impossible to get to that dream of mine: an impactful, prolific, balanced academic career.

I knew this life wasn’t for me. There had to be a way to achieve the academic career dreams I imagined for myself AND ALSO enjoy life with my family.

So I paved a new path. I went from being a stressed-out academic mom with chronic fatigue and barely any writing under my belt to a tenured and full professor with publications I’m proud of and time to invest in family, relationships, and life outside academia…

yes, that exists!

“I wanted to make an impact in my academic field and to have a balanced, fulfilled life.”

You are not alone

Most academics feel that if they could just get their publishing under control, they could finally come up for air. After
all, if you could get those couple of articles written off your dissertation, or finish that book finally, you would have the
confidence to face the job market. Tenure review. Going for full. That blinking cursor.

YOU

Everyone in academia has felt this way (even if they’d never admit it). Let me assure you: There is a way to do academia that doesn’t buy into the glorification of overwork and still gets you a flowing publication pipeline.

My dream for you…

…is that you bring your whole brilliant self to your academic career. That you find and use your voice to make changes we sorely need in society. That you publish the vital work that only YOU can deliver to impact your field. Not busting your ass off. Or neglecting your kids. Not by magically creating more time in the day or forgetting about some parts of your life. Just by harnessing the knowledge that already exists on managing those ten gazillion things you face with focus and determination, building a writing and publishing system that works for you, and designing a career path for yourself that you, only you control.

And in my dream, we disrupt the system of academia from the bottom up, make spaces for those of us who have long been silenced, celebrate the diverse contributions to knowledge-making by womxn and people of color, and finally say: I love my life and career in academia.

Start making the impact on the world you were put here to make

Scholar’s Voice Values

At Scholar’s Voice, we believe that our values are made actionable through trust and love. We see calls to “just trust the process” as tools of oppression. Instead, our training, teaching, and coaching emphasize the development of self-trust without judgment. Un-weaponized trust must exist in relationships between our team, our clients, and in our community for us to enact our company values. All relationships are made possible through love, which calls us to action to support each other and is the reason this company exists. Love for each other, for ourselves, for knowledge and knowledge-making, for humans trying to create lives that embody the values listed here–love binds it all together and encourages our continued co-creation of this company and our mission.

Diversity

Diverse voices are essential for knowledge-making.

We know academia historically has marginalized and silenced non-able-bodied, queer, BIPOC participation in knowledge-making. BIPOC womxn have historically not been cited for their work.

WE VALUE deliberate citation of BIPOC scholars.

WE VALUE using diversity in our community to both inform and refine our practices and provide tools, support and community so that this diverse pool can thrive in their own settings.

We believe that diversity is of inherent value.

Community

Building strong supportive relationships with others is key to success.

We know that academic communities have been created to reinforce systems of oppression that exclude.

WE VALUE the creation of communities that share values that are anti-racist-ableist-partriarchy and inclusive. (note: this is secret sauce)

WE VALUE the creation of communities where BIPOC womxn can have a sense of belonging and be included

WE VALUE non-hierarchical community structures. We actively seek to create community where each member is their authentic selves and is valued for what they uniquely contribute, not for their “rank.”

Self-direction

You have control over your career and autonomy to make the decisions that best serve your growth.

Academia pushes a narrative that suggests that there is only one way to “do” academia.

WE VALUE empowerment and agency in action.

WE VALUE moving past academia’s dichotomy of confining agency while encouraging innovation and individual action and encourage people to step fully into their agency and power as both scholars and humans.

WE VALUE and encourage womxn to create and fill up their own containers, taking control of their professional path and maintaining their individual identities as separate from their institutional roles.

WE VALUE “non-traditional” paths within academia, allowing clients to determine their own professional futures, free from the pressures of outside expectations imposed on them.

Disruption

Cultural change is necessary. It’s happening, and we’re here for it.

Women are socialized to seek harmony at the expense of their own needs. For some of us, our very existence in the academic world is disruption.

WE VALUE the disruption of patriarchal white supremacist culture that is ingrained in academia and academic institutions.

WE VALUE the continuous improvement of academia that will only change through persistent and public action.

WE VALUE the active disruption (calling out) of racist, ableist, patriarchal actions and institutions whenever possible.

Fulfillment

Work (and life!) should be cup-filling, stimulating, joyful, and satisfying.

We recognize that colleges and universities exist within fast/late capitalist structures that glorify “busy” and demand more and more production with less and less support. Because of their disadvantaged position, womxn have been disproportionately burdened with fulfilling both their career and household needs. We reject the fast capitalist value of production at all cost.

WE VALUE the ability of people in our community to reject these norms and seek out time for themselves and their self-care.

WE VALUE creation linked to restoration and believe better, more impactful knowledge-making happens when both are present.

We believe that people produce their best work when they are fully engaged.

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