mia birdsong

in a time when covid physical distances us from one another, politics emotionally separates us, and an economy driven by individual success financially divides us, it can seem almost impossible to create what we most need to truly belong: community.

mia birdsong, pathfinder, activist, storyteller and author of “How We Show Up: reclaiming family, friendship and community” has devoted her life to creating and cultivating community not just because it feels good but because we need it. we need it because we are human. because we are interdependent creatures who rely on one another to survive. we need it because it’s through shared wisdom and experience that we can save what is failing and create what we are imagining. and we need it because, as much as creativity is a solo act, it comes from our shared existence.

mia has “a gift for making visible and leveraging the brilliance of everyday people so that our collective gifts reach larger spheres of influence, cultural and political change, and create wellbeing for everyone.”

and in this conversation mia brings her experience as senior fellow of the Economic Security Project, founding co-director of Family Story, vice president of The Family Independence Initiative, speaker at conferences and universities around the country and her Ted talk (viewed over 1.7 million times), to show us how we can use community to chart a new path forward.

“when we function collectively it restores what is deeply human about us. I’m being a whole person right now. I’m being connected. I’m part of this community of people that is bigger than me. I’m in it. it feels almost magical.”