Today we’re excited to be connecting with Jessica Dickson again. If you haven’t already, we suggest you check out our prior conversation with them here.
Jessica, thanks for joining us again. Just to level set a bit for folks who may have missed our last interview together, can you briefly introduce yourself?
My name is Jessica Denise Dickson, pronouns she/her(s). I am a liberation-centered coach and consultant that guides healing and culture change work through the combination of Enneagram, antiracism, and embodiment work.
You may have heard the quote by sister Angela Davis that tells us that “it’s not enough to be non-racist, but we must be anti-racist.” This is an intentional decision to unravel racist ideologies, behaviors, and structures, not just from your mindset, but from your nervous system, and ultimately your sense of safety.
Our Enneagram work gives us access to more abundance. Instead of living in the narrow confines of our ego structure’s ideals of success, we get to become more.
Our embodiment is a process of reclaiming our relationship to our bodies and befriending our nervous systems, repatterning them to create more capacity for freedom and liberation.
I started this business full-time in March 2020, the month the pandemic shut everything right down. In addition to being a group fitness instructor of BodyPump and BodyCombat, I find fulfillment in this work. I haven’t looked back since!
Awesome, so we reached out because we wanted to hear all about what you have been up to since we last connected.
Right now, I’m most excited about a yearlong leadership program that I created for organizations who want to develop their employees into leaders who can create culture change and guide the organization into the changes with grace and more ease.
It’s called Empowering Embodied Leadership, and it’s cohort-based, structured around the needs of the organization.
I created this program because in the world we live in now, we need more people who are poised to hold change and to guide us into freedom.
I’m looking for organizations that want to change their worlds.
This is especially important now. With political leaders committed to limiting freedoms, our dogged pursuit of true freedom will determine how we move forward and whether we’ll just simply survive, or whether we’ll flourish.
Here’s a quick description of the program:
“The Empowering Embodied Leadership (EEL) program is a cohort-based program designed to cultivate impactful leaders within your organization by focusing on self-awareness, cultural humility, and nervous system regulation. Over the course of a year, participants will explore the Enneagram system to better understand their motivations and behavioral tendencies, while integrating antiracist practices and embodiment techniques to become more culturally conscious and humanity-centered leaders. By diving deep into these areas, participants will gain insight into how their nervous system responses influence their leadership style, improving their ability to lead with intention and empathy, and increasing their capacity to create long-lasting culture change within your organization.
The program is structured into three key components: Foundational Learning, Skill Building, and Application. Foundational Learning will cover the basics of the Enneagram, antiracism, and embodiment, establishing a solid base for personal growth. In the Skill Building phase, participants will practice emotional regulation, holding space, and distinguishing between various internalized patterns and external realities. Finally, participants will apply their learning in real-world contexts through the Leadership Application Project (LAP), a hands-on opportunity to demonstrate their newly developed leadership skills within your organization.
Through ongoing group coaching, one-on-one check-ins, and immersive retreats, the EEL program ensures a comprehensive learning experience. Participants will leave the program equipped to foster a more inclusive, resilient, and innovative workplace culture. The program’s long-term structure allows for deep, embodied change, ensuring that leaders not only grow personally but also contribute significantly to the health and success of the organization.”
I also am hosting a community called the “Embodying Liberation Community!” It’s a subscription-based program model. Every month, we’ll gather to learn, heal disembodiment wounds from the white supremacist imperialist capitalist patriarchy, and build capacity in our nervous systems and in our toolkit of skills to be culture changers in our worlds.
When you join, at the beginning of every month, you’ll receive a lesson on a topic that’s important to liberation – whether boundaries, harm repair, communication, consent, solidarity, etc.
The third Sunday of each month, we’ll gather to get in our bodies, practice the skills associated with the topic, and I’ll coach someone around how to apply the concept.
Why would someone join the ELC?
Because we must meet every bit of inhumanity with our full humanity
Because racism, sexism, classism, etc are disembodiment wounds that heal through our intentional embodiment
Because our capacity to be free will depend on what our nervous systems can hold onto, individually and collectively, and our practices of Liberation
Because not having the skills to live liberatory is a societal failure, not a personal or individual one
Because the dreams we want to see on a large scale will come because we create them in our immediate spheres of influence first
Because the work of divesting from toxic structures includes dismantling internalized whiteness
And you’ll get to know other people who are committed to living out their values in tangible ways that create culture change
One of the things about me is that I bring together amazing groups of people!
Since we last talked, one of the biggest changes in my life is that my mom died. It was unexpected and it was devastating. I’ve never experienced something so horrible. I’m still coming back from it, little by little.
I’ve been shocked by the things that come with grief. There are parts of myself that I’ve lost. I’m not sure they’ll ever come back. There are also parts of myself that I’ve gained, and they’ve only come because of what grief excavated, and likely wouldn’t have any other way.
So, I keep living, grateful for every day.
We also want to give folks a chance to get to know you a bit better so we’ve prepared a fun lightning round of questions. Ready?
- Favorite Movie: Wizard of Oz
- Favorite Book: The Invitation by OMD
- Favorite TV Show: The Twilight Zone
- Sweet or Savory: Savory
- Mountains or Beach: Beach
- Did you play sports growing up (if so which ones): I didn’t play sports. It makes being a group fitness class instructor very funny.
- As a kid, what did you want to be when you grew up: A fashion designer, wedding planner, home decorator
- French Fries or Onion Rings: French fries!!
- Favorite Cartoon growing up: Muppet Babies or Tiny Toon Adventures
- Favorite Childhood movie: Hook
- Favorite Breakfast Food: French toast with bacon, eggs, and strawberries
What do you want people to remember about you and your brand? What are some of things that you feel are most important, unique, special, etc?
I’m going to borrow from my birthday buddy, Malcolm X. (May 19th babies FTW!!)
He said: “I want to be remembered as someone who was sincere. Even if I made mistakes, they were made in sincerity. If I was wrong, I was wrong in sincerity.”
I also want to be known for loving people well, and holding people as fully human.
Everyone is whole, regardless of how they show up. Their wholeness is there for the reclamation through their healing work.
For me, these things guide my work.
And when people work with me, we’ll go into the depths of their souls with gentleness and from an embodied, grounded place.
Contact Info:
- Website: jessicaddickson
- Instagram: jessicaddickson
- Facebook: Jessica D Dickson Coaching
- LinkedIn: jessicaddickson
Image Credits
Anna Johnson
