Introducing Broken Office Chair, a new podcast produced by Alternatives, a Chicago-based nonprofit. Broken Office Chair is hosted by Alternatives’ Executive Director, Bessie Alcantara, a Chicago native and a first-generation Salvadoran-Mexican American who’s passionate about dismantling systemic racism.In each episode, Bessie will be joined by friends and colleagues who are ready to talk frankly about the most important issues within the nonprofit sector. Topics range from challenges for women of color in nonprofit leadership to the cost of being poor.To learn more, visit our website: www.alternativesyouth.org/brokenofficechair

In part 2 of their conversation, Broken Office Chair host, Bessie Alcantara is joined by Sufyan Sohel, Chair of Cook County Commission on Human Rights - Consultant Social Impact, board member of ACLU, whose career centers on combating hate and advancing justice for marginalized communities, and he is the Founder of Globalize Good, where he advises leaders and supports nonprofits, foundations, and social enterprises in navigating internal conflict, building strategic capacity, and scaling equity-centered solutions. He also leads CAIR-Chicago’s Travelers Assistance Project, providing critical guidance and support to individuals and families facing challenges at airports and borders. In part 1 of this conversation, Bessie and Sufyan talk about privilege, values, politics and cancel culture.

Sufyan currently chairs the Cook County Commission on Human Rights, serves as Equity Officer for the ACLU of Illinois, co-chairs the DePaul Law Diversity Council, is Board Chair of the South Asian American Coalition to Renew Democracy (SACRED), and facilitates anti-hate and bystander intervention trainings with Right To Be. A trained facilitator, storyteller, and poet, he uses public narrative, media, and movement-building to uplift impacted communities and inspire collective action rooted in justice, dignity, and belonging.

You can follow Sufyan here:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/sufyansohel

https://www.instagram.com/sufyansohel/

https://www.threads.com/@sufyansohel

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CAIR-Chicago provides information and legal services free of charge.

For EMERGENCIES AT THE AIRPORT ONLY, please text (630) 930-2987 with the traveler’s full name, passport number, nationality, flight departure/arrival/airline details, visa details, and emergency contact person’s details.

Broken Office Chair host, Bessie Alcantara is joined by Sufyan Sohel, Chair of Cook County Commission on Human Rights - Consultant Social Impact, board member of ACLU, whose career centers on combating hate and advancing justice for marginalized communities, and he is the Founder of Globalize Good, where he advises leaders and supports nonprofits, foundations, and social enterprises in navigating internal conflict, building strategic capacity, and scaling equity-centered solutions. He also leads CAIR-Chicago’s Travelers Assistance Project, providing critical guidance and support to individuals and families facing challenges at airports and borders. In part 1 of this conversation, Bessie and Sufyan talk about privilege, values, politics and cancel culture.

Sufyan currently chairs the Cook County Commission on Human Rights, serves as Equity Officer for the ACLU of Illinois, co-chairs the DePaul Law Diversity Council, is Board Chair of the South Asian American Coalition to Renew Democracy (SACRED), and facilitates anti-hate and bystander intervention trainings with Right To Be. A trained facilitator, storyteller, and poet, he uses public narrative, media, and movement-building to uplift impacted communities and inspire collective action rooted in justice, dignity, and belonging.

You can follow Sufyan here:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/sufyansohel

https://www.instagram.com/sufyansohel/

https://www.threads.com/@sufyansohel

----------------------------------------------------------

CAIR-Chicago provides information and legal services free of charge.

For EMERGENCIES AT THE AIRPORT ONLY, please text (630) 930-2987 with the traveler’s full name, passport number, nationality, flight departure/arrival/airline details, visa details, and emergency contact person’s details.

Broken Office Chair host, Bessie Alcantara is joined by Mercedes Brown Racial Equity Assessment Director from the Building Movement Project (BMP) and Frances Kunreuther former Co-Executive Director from BMP. BMP supports and pushes the nonprofit sector to tackle the most significant social issues of our times by developing research, creating tools and training materials, providing guidance, and facilitating networks for social change. In this episode, Bessie, Frances, and Mercedes talk about the Race to Lead surveys, the difference between DEI and Racial Equity, and other surprising (and not so surprising) results from the Race to Lead survey.

Frances Kunreuther (she/her)

Former Co-Executive Director

Building Movement Project

Frances Kunreuther is the Former Co-Executive Director of the Building Movement Project, dedicated to strengthening U.S. nonprofits as sites for civic engagement and social change. She co-authored From the Ground Up (Cornell, 2006) and Working Across Generations (Jossey Bass, 2009). Frances was a senior fellow at Harvard’s Hauser Center for Nonprofit Organizations for five years and previously led the Hetrick-Martin Institute for LGBTQ youth. She has been recognized with an Annie E. Casey Foundation Fellowship for her work with homeless youth and families, undocumented immigrants, and other vulnerable populations. She writes and presents frequently on nonprofits, leadership, and social change issues.

Mercedes Brown (she/her)

Race Equity Assessment Director

Building Movement Project

Mercedes Brown is the Director of Race Equity Assessment at the Building Movement Project, where she leads the organization’s race equity assessment process, Building Blocks for Change, to strengthen racial equity in the nonprofit sector. With nearly 17 years of experience in public policy and social services, Mercedes has a background in advancing social and racial justice through cross-system transformation. She previously served as Michigan Director at the Corporation for Supportive Housing. Mercedes holds a Master’s in Social Work from the University of Michigan and a JD from Western Michigan University. She also teaches policy and community organizing as a part-time lecturer.

Broken Office Chair host, Bessie Alcantara is joined by Dr. Cristina Pacione Zayas as they talk about parenthood, Pacione Zayas's trajectory from nonprofit to the State Senate, the importance of Latina representation in leadership and more.

Pacione-Zayas, a distinguished leader born and raised in Chicago, with an extensive background in public service, policy development, and advocacy is Chicago's first Latina chief of staff to Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson.

Dr. Pacione-Zayas experience includes her service in the Illinois State Senate, where she served on several key committees including Early Childhood, Education, Education Appropriations, Health, Higher Education, Human Rights, and Revenue. Her contributions as secretary to the Illinois State Board of Education, the Illinois Early Learning Council, the Legislative Audit Commission, the BUILD Initiative, the Illinois Crime Reduction Task Force, State Designated Cultural Districts Advisory Committee, and the Title V Needs Assessment Advisory Committee have been instrumental in shaping policies to support a spectrum of public programs and services across the state.

Prior to her legislative work, Dr. Pacione-Zayas was the Associate Vice President of Policy at Erikson Institute, where she led efforts to support young children, families, and communities through policy development, leading to greater racial equity and access to critical services and intervention in the early years. She is credited with establishing the Early Childhood Leadership Academy and the Community Data Lab, initiatives that have had a statewide impact on child development policies.

Her commitment to education policy, restorative justice, and community engagement was further demonstrated through her impactful work with Chicago Public Schools, Enlace Chicago, Latino Policy Forum, and Palenque LSNA, where she leveraged community partnerships to build systems, craft policy, and design programs that supported young people, parents, and educators.

Broken Office Chair host, Bessie Alcantara is joined by lauren Ornelas as they talk about environmental/climate/food justice, animal rights, community organizing, and more.

lauren Ornelas (she, her, hers) is Food Empowerment Project's founder and general programs team member. lauren has been active in the animal rights movement for more than 37 years. She is the former executive director of Viva!USA, a national nonprofit vegan advocacy organization that Viva!UK asked her to start in 1999. While lauren was the director of Viva!USA, she investigated factory farms and ran consumer campaigns. In cooperation with activists across the country, she persuaded Trader Joe’s to stop selling all duck meat and achieved corporate changes within Whole Foods Market, Pier 1 Imports, and others, and she helped halt the construction of an industrial dairy operation in California. lauren was also the spark that got the founder of Whole Foods Market to become a vegan. In addition, she served as campaign director with the Silicon Valley Toxics Coalition for six years. Watch lauren’s TEDx talk, The Power of Our Food Choices.

Bessie is joined by Prisca Rodriguez, founder of Latina Rebels. as they talk about being raised as Latina women in dual culture environments, leadership as women of color, and how to share access to elitist spaces.

Prisca Dorcas Mojica Rodríguez is a leading Latine activist, writer, and speaker. She is the founder of Latina Rebels, a platform with over 350,000 followers, and the author of For Brown Girls with Sharp Edges and Tender Hearts. She has been featured on NPR, New York Magazine’s The Cut, Teen Vogue, and Cosmopolitan.  She earned her master’s from Vanderbilt and lives in Nashville, Tennessee.

Bessie is joined by Tinisha Dorsey, Senior Principal, Central Zone Leader at Mercer as they talk about professional development, leadership as women of color, and how to show up for your community while in leadership positions.

Tinisha Dorsey is a Principal Central Market leader of Mercer’s Life, Absence and Disability (LAD) practice. As a highly valued leader of the LAD consulting team, she manages a team of consultants, provides practice oversight of the client engagement & selling work streams and leads in developing overall client strategy.

Tinisha’s career spans more than 20 years of director-level consulting experience in the national and global market, including premier carrier account management, operations & supply chain management and regional leadership within the insurance and consulting industry.

Tinisha currently lives in the Chicagoland area with her husband of 25 years and three adult/collegiate children, where she volunteers for a number of organizations, most notably serving on the Board of Directors as the Business Manager for The Spirited Pearls Foundation and as a featured mentor/sponsor for Greenhouse Scholars.