The kickoff of NCG's inaugural Communications Cohort is just a few days away. In advance of the launch, we asked NCG's Vice President of Public Affairs and Cohort faculty member, Emily Katz, to share how the understanding of her identity has changed over time.
Q: What are you hoping to learn by participating as faculty in this experience?
A: This will be the first time for me integrating communications strategy, racial equity, and interpersonal professional skills into one combined approach. I’m excited to learn how each pillar reinforces the other.
Q: How has your understanding of your own identity changed in the course of your life?
A: My first big identity shift was becoming a mother of twins. That became a sort of membership into a secret club of very tired and very resourceful parents. My second shift is still underway—as I learn what it means to identify as a white person—and pay vigilant attention to the benefits and costs that are so often unspoken.
Q: Experience you'd most like to forget from your mid-career? (i.e. greatest learning opportunity?)
A: It could be the time I told a colorful anecdote about my Bolshevik grandmother ‘fighting city hall’ between shots during a battle with our own city hall--while my mic was still hot and the camera was rolling from afar.
Q: Favorite form of procrastination?
A: I am a sucker for the illusion of productivity that comes from cleaning up photos on my phone.