Personalized coaching and strategic planning for space holders and their teams
Risk-Worthy
How to Lead Transformative Communities in Polarizing Times / for space holders navigating the gap between stated values and lived reality
The world is asking more of your community than ever before.
Deportations. Book bans. Healthcare rollbacks. Escalating violence against trans people. Genocides unfolding in real time while algorithms serve us distractions. The ground keeps shifting beneath us – and you want your community to be a place where people can do meaningful work together through it all.
You've done your work as an individual to grow in awareness of your privilege—especially since 2020. You've invested in DEI trainings, added a land acknowledgement to your usual intro, and intentionally invited Black women to be guests on your podcast.
But here's what you're noticing:
Your community doesn't look like the world you're trying to build.
The same types of people keep showing up . . . and you're not sure why. You craft inclusive language in your marketing. You genuinely want to welcome everyone.
But when you look around the (virtual or physical) room, you see a lot of the same demographics: the same race, the same body types, the same approximate income level, the same general life experience.
You want to create space for a wider range of people, but you're honest enough to admit that you don't know how.
The truth is you don't know what the day-to-day experience is like for people who hold identities you don't.
You're not sure how to advertise to communities you're not part of without it feeling performative or extractive.
You wonder if you even should be centering people with marginalized identities – maybe that's not your role? But someone you respect challenged you on that assumption, and now you can't stop thinking about it.
Or maybe your community is more diverse than you expected – but it doesn't seem like everyone is having the same experience being in it.
People with different backgrounds, identities, and experiences are showing up, and you consider that a huge honor. But you've noticed they don't tend to stay in your world long-term.
They're also less likely to provide testimonials or send referrals your way.
It makes you think that maybe you're not creating a genuinely safe space for everyone; maybe some people are working twice as hard just to feel half as comfortable.
Recently someone in your community mentioned that they were offended by the way another member dismissed concerns rooted in their experience as a Black women. You apologized, but it made you realize that you don't have systems in place to help facilitate repair when harm happens.
You have a nagging, persistent feeling that you could be doing more – that you should be doing more – but just keeping the revenue coming in and serving the clients you have takes up all your time and energy.
Bottom line, you're feeling the gap.
The world is getting more polarizing, more urgent, more destabilized. You know your work matters more than ever. It makes you feel sick to consider the possibility that the people who need a transformative work most may not feel safe enough to join your community . . . or to stay once they're here.
You have a compelling vision.
You just don't have the awareness, systems, or capacity to fully live it out.
Yet.
What is a Risk-Worthy community?
Risk-Worthy Definition: When the level of support provided meets the level of risk/vulnerability experienced by every person – especially those whose culture and/or identity is systemically marginalized.
In polarizing times, good intentions aren't enough. Creating truly transformative community requires:
Without this, the burden falls on those experiencing the most risk to work two or three times as hard for half the benefit.
And many of the people who could benefit most from your work will keep choosing not to join – no matter how inclusive your personal values are.
What if you could build a community that doesn't just welcome diversity – but structurally supports it?
What if you could:
Understand what risk looks like for people with different identities in your space so you can actually meet them where they are
Build proactive systems that create safety before people show up, not scramble to figure it out after
Get clear on who you're equipped to serve right now… and what capacity you'd need to build to serve more people well
Create pathways for harm repair so mistakes don't become reasons people leave silently
Design your marketing, onboarding, and culture in ways that invite the diversity you say you want – and can actually hold it
This is what a risk-worthy community makes possible – especially now.
Your facilitator
Hi! I'm Deb Shine Valentine
I'm a Liberatory Life and Leadership coach , a former professor, published author, and certified Racial Justice From the Heart Facilitator.
I co-created Risk-Worthy with my colleague Andréa Renae Johnson based on our work teaching pre-service coaches over the last two years.
We saw how much more powerful their work became when they increased their awareness and capacity to create spaces where a range of different humans are truly welcomed.
I look forward to guiding you on this journey!
I bring over a decade of experience participating in and facilitating transformative spaces where accountability and care coexist.
What you'll experience:
Building Awareness
We'll assess your current capacity and get clear on who you're actually equipped to serve right now versus who you want to serve. We'll also identify what's preventing wider diversity from showing up and thriving in your space.
Cultivating Capacity
We'll explore the core capacities of risk-worthy culture and what proactive systems invite trust, safety, and equitable belonging for all. You'll learn how to repair harm, track impact, and co-create a culture that supports people on the edges of your community.
Integration: A New Vision
You'll write a new vision for your community that connects your big-picture values to on-the-ground systems and define your first phase of change. You'll leave with a tangible action plan anchored in awareness and integrity.
How to register
Risk-Worthy Leadership Intensive
$1197
Founders level pricing.
Lowest cost this offer will ever be! Group coaching price for highly personalized consulting and strategy.
Risk-Worthy Leadership Intensive
$797*
*$400 discount for those who commit to provide before and after feedback for case study.
USE CODE OFF400
How to know if this is for you…
This workshop is designed for community leaders, facilitators, and space holders who recognize themselves in one or more of these patterns:
Your community is dominated by a particular privileged group (white, able-bodied, thin, cisgendered, etc.)
and you don't have proactive supports in place for people outside that majority
You're unsure how to advertise in ways that genuinely invite a wider range of people without it feeling performative
(different races, abilities, body sizes, economic backgrounds)
You don't know how the lived experience of members who hold marginalized identities compare to those in the majority
you're flying blind on your impact
You're wrestling with whether you should center people with marginalized identities you don't hold – maybe it's not your place?
and you suspect harm is happening that you don't know about
Your community is large enough that you don't fully know how privileged members are interacting with more marginalized members
and you suspect harm is happening that you don't know about
You don't have clear pathways for harm repair when it occurs
between members and/or your team
You have a felt commitment to social justice in your own life but your community hasn't fully reflected that yet
and you're not sure what's missing
Resonate with any of these?
I've made this space for you.
This work requires slowing down to speed up.
You'll need an hour or two of reflection before we meet.
This isn't about a quick-fix…
This is an invitation to build the capacity and culture your community deserves.
Ready to lead a truly
risk-worthy space?
Questions?
Email: [email protected]