Ashindi Maxton: Winning the Battle for America’s Imagination

Dreaming in Color

Show description

Welcome to Dreaming in Color, a show that provides a platform for BIPOC social change leaders to candidly share how their lived experiences (personal and professional) have prepared them to lead their work and drive the impact we all seek.

In this episode, our guest is Ashindi Maxton. She is a Co-founder and former Executive Director of the Donors of Color Network, an organization that offers a philanthropic and political home for high-net-worth donors of color committed to building power for and across communities of color. From racial equity and voting rights to climate justice and income inequality, Ashindi has had her finger on the pulse of where and importantly how we need to do and be better. Join in as we speak with Ashindi on bringing community and confidence to her work, leaning into healing and collective efforts, and demanding accountability and action.

Jump straight into:

(00:21) - Introducing Ashindi Maxton: Co-Founder of the Donors of Color Network and a truly brilliant mind.

(01:47) - Ashindi pulls inspiration from a poem by Eve Ewing, Buddhism, and the Twitterverse.

(06:32) - The ability to heal: Takeaways from Ashindi’s early path in politics.

(10:19) - “I know how this reality trickles down”: Experiences and principles that have driven Ashindi’s career.

(16:28) - ”Walk into the place like you own it”: On community, a sense of belonging in the social sector and the effectiveness of the Climate Justice Funders Pledge.

(23:24) - A battle of imagination: Family stories and dystopian fictions that bring lessons on how to achieve victories for social justice.

(32:46) - New suns and surviving the end of the world.

Episode resources

Connect with Ashindi Maxton through LinkedIn and Instagram

Learn more about Donors of Color Network including the Climate Justice Funders Pledge

Check out some of the written works by Octavia E. Butler

Read Electric Arches by Eve L. Ewing

Read Peace Is Every Step: The Path of Mindfulness in Everyday Life by Thich Nhat Hanh

Read Savage Inequalities: Children in America's Schools by Jonathan Kozol

Read Emergent Strategy: Shaping Change, Changing Words by Adrienne Maree Brown and listen to the podcast How to Survive the End of the World hosted by Adrienne and her sister Autumn Brown

Learn more about Color of Change

Thank you for listening to Dreaming in Color a Bridgespan supported StudioPod production. Nicole Genova is the Show Coordinator and Teresa Buchanan is the Show Producer. The production team from The Bridgespan Group includes Cora Daniels, Michael Borger, Christina Pistorius, and Britt Savage. Additional music and editing provided by nodalab.