Rebirthing Fierce Allies & Getting Free
Over the last six years, my life and work have been propelled through some disorienting transitions (as I am sure is true for many of you).
On the winter solstice of 2019, I became a mom. A year and half later, I lost my own mother. The COVID lockdown interrupted my thoughtfully-paced return from parental leave, and confined to Zoom the dynamic, in-person, group transformation work that defined so much of my professional identity.
2020–2023 were shaded grey as the exhaustion of mourning, solo parenting, and the need to reinvent myself professionally became entangled with the isolation of the pandemic and the emotional tumult of the racial justice uprisings.
The compounded impact of all of the above amplified some chronic health conditions. This led to a resigned acceptance that is slowly transforming into a liberated embodiment of my identity as someone living with disability.
As Project 2025 began revealing itself, I started questioning if the US was the healthiest place for my child to grow into the QTBIPOC identity she has inherited. When my daughter (who is half Guatemalan) didn’t get accepted into the only Spanish-immersion public elementary school in Berkeley, CA, we decided to uproot ourselves and plant seeds of residency in Mexico.
As I worked to integrate these new realities, I found myself continually asking, What is the contribution that my life’s experience best positions me to make? What changes are needed for me to actualize that contribution?
The answers revealed themselves in the form of more change.
Rebirthing Fierce Allies
After much reflection, and feedback from collaborators and community members, I have arrived at a place of joyful acceptance that Fierce Allies, the body of work I gestated and nurtured over the last 20 years, is ripe for a rebirth.
While the values, theory, praxis, and impact of Fierce Allies feels as relevant as ever, the popular application of the term “allies” and the mode of delivery best suited to leverage my gifts and accommodate my life circumstances have changed. The Fierce Allies body of work, our Community of Practice, and I have all matured considerably, positioning us to respond to current needs and circumstances in more experienced ways. That’s a good thing — as the challenges we are facing, in our lives, communities, and the world warrant seasoned leadership.
And, as is true before every rebirth, Fierce Allies must first be laid to rest.
On the Fierce Allies Community of Practice page it says, “As we conspire with each and every client, our method and community are forever impacted. This is an intentional and crucial dynamic of this work.” This reality remained true to the end, and will be the treasure I cherish most from my time stewarding Fierce Allies. I offer my deepest bow of gratitude to each and every member of the Fierce Allies Community of Practice — thank you for contributing, in countless big and small ways, to my personal healing and growth, and to the work and community’s dynamic evolution.
If you are one of those members, I strongly encourage you to take a final peek at our Community of Practice page to see the brilliant faces of our Fierce Allies family from the last two decades. Reach out to one another. Stay connected. Continue supporting each other in your shared walks toward freedom.
Getting Free
Many people have heard me say,“If your liberation is dependent on how much work or change someone else needs to do, you’ve just given your power away.”
In the past, Fierce Allies focused on creating liberatory cultures and structures for institutions and coalitions as the required first step for empowering the people working within them. At this moment in human history, and in my own healing and development, I now relate to this sequencing of priorities as a version of giving the people’s power away to the organizations they operate within.
We the people, are the ones, the only ones, who can free ourselves from the confines of our current reality.
I have distilled and adapted the Fierce Allies suite of tools into an updated body of work I am calling “Get Free.” Within the Get Free approach, we focus on liberating ourselves, individually and collectively, from the conditioning that keeps us trapped in burnout, scarcity, isolation, and competition.
We then envision and practice ways of being and collaborating that:
embody power without causing harm
hold ourselves accountable for harm, when it results from our actions, despite our best intentions
leverage the conflicts that arise between us, as opportunities for building trust
interweave our power with like-hearted kin by aligning our vulnerabilities; and
actualize ever-deepening spirals of liberation within and around us
If you are interested in accessing this kind of liberation, for yourself individually, or for the groups, institutions, and coalitions you are a part of, check out our coaching, workshops, training, consulting, and interim leadership services on my new website, www.jmiakodataylor.com (NOTE: The site is officially under construction, but you can take an insider peak at this early version).
Let’s Connect
I emerge from the transformative chrysalis of the last six years with a resounding belief that we can and must care for ourselves and each other. We must affirm and celebrate one another — laugh, cry, bitch, moan, and dream unreasonable visions, in a symphony of sounds that reverberates throughout the cosmos. This is how we get free.
Please reach out so we can laugh, cry, bitch, moan, and dream together. I would love to hear about the changes taking place in your life and work and discover how we can better support one another in these uncertain times. I look forward to intersecting our collective walks in the world.