222 - Wandile Mthiyane - Anti-Racist Architecture and Inclusive Workplace Culture
“I feel most healed when I'm in service to others, and in many ways, I'm still trying to figure out and discover that journey.” - Wandile Mthiyane
Let’s tug on the thread woven through much of the world’s established (ahem, accepted) architectural design. Yep, it’s racism. It makes sense since white supremacy was exported around the globe. In its wake, agents razed indigenous structures and constructed new buildings to reinforce colonialism’s authority.
I’ll be honest: before Anne’s fantastic conversation with Wandile Mthiyane, an Obama leader, TedX fellow, founder and CEO of Ubuntu Architecture Group, and social entrepreneur, I hadn’t given this aspect of institutional racism much thought. Nor had I considered the healing characteristics that culturally competent architects might incorporate into future designs.
To be fair, Wandile says architecture isn’t inherently racist, but the biases imposed on designs by those in power are. The discipline is ripe for revolution. “My work now centers around using architecture as a vehicle to restore folk's dignity by building homes,” he explains.
But architectural design is just one angle of Wandile’s multifaceted approach to banishing racism from the homes, workplaces, and third spaces in which humans collaborate. “Using platforms like the Tea and our consulting within anti-racism and inclusion, [we] help companies build homes of belonging for all their employees to thrive.”
The “Tea” is GrindTea, the #1 ratings platform on which “truth thrives, careers take flight, and women & people of color find the workplaces where they belong.” GrindTea is NOT your parent’s Glassdoor! Instead, it uses an algorithm to provide minority voices with a megaphone to rise above the white noise.
It’s helpful to understand how world events have shaped Wandile’s perspective to appreciate his multi-disciplined design efforts––and why representation matters in all things. Born in South Africa just before Nelson Mandela became the nation’s first Black president, Wandile then went to school in Zimbabwe during the tenure of Robert Mugabe, that country’s first Black president. He later attended college in the United States while Barack Obama was president. Those folks leave some indelible marks, y’all!
Today, Wandile’s serving up his antiracist tea alongside hotdogs, a strange combination when taken out of context, so I’ll leave that story to the episode. For my part, I’m humbled to piggyback onto the beautiful Zulu philosophy that guides each of Wandile’s groundbreaking projects: Ubuntu––I am because we are.
GUEST CONTACT AND BIO
Wandile Mthiyane is an Obama Leader, TedxFellow, architectural designer, social entrepreneur, and the founder and CEO of Ubuntu Design Group (UDG), an architectural organization that focuses on social impact design projects ranging from individual housing to urban design scale.
Let’s be friends! You can find me in the following places…
Website:
www.headheartbiztherapy.com/podcast
Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/HeadHeartBizTherapy/
Instagram: