THE UPROOT.ED JOURNEY
CHALLENGING OPPRESSION 𖤓 CULTIVATING CARE 𖤓
CHALLENGING OPPRESSION 𖤓 CULTIVATING CARE 𖤓
What do we mean by uproot.ed?
/uhp · root · ehd/
Uproot.ed has a multilayered, metaphorical meaning. The emphasis on “ed” refers to education that unearths the oppressive origins of inequitable policies, practices and perspectives. It reflects the process of disrupting their growth, from the rotten roots to the poisonous fruit. It signifies a critical step towards transformation, as we tend to the soil to cultivate something new and nourishing.
Uproot.ed also describes the experience of historically displaced people who feel disempowered and disconnected from their roots while suffering through systemic oppression. It represents the journey of the uprooted, returning to their deeply rooted power while centering care and refueling for resistance.
This extended metaphor conjures our inherent connection to nature, and how it can be our comrade in resistance and healing.
Uproot.ed was founded in 2018…
seeded from the struggles of students, faculty, workers and managers who were suffering under the status quo and seeking tools for transformation; not only for their survival, but to strengthen support for their communities. Uproot.ed emerged as a source of external support for those committed to challenging convention within their institutions, and invested in imagining more liberatory possibilities in their work, and the world.
“I created uproot.ed to mitigate the harm marginalized peoples experience within their institutions, in hopes that fewer of them would have the alienating and disabling experience I did.”
OUR ACCOMPLISHMENTS
Since 2018, uproot.ed has…
ASSESMENTS & RECOMMENDATIONS
Conducted comprehensive culture assessments with strategic recommendations for institutions with 1100+ employees.
WORKSHOPS & TRAININGS
Facilitated 100+ workshops and skills trainings for consultants and institutions across the United States.
POLICIES & STRATEGIC PLANNING
Created custom policies, programming and strategic plans for 30+ organizations across various sectors.
COACHING & CURATION
Coached 100+ workers and managers; facilitated 40+ restorative spaces; and curated immersion experiences for dozens of conscious travelers.
OUR VALUES
OUR APPROACH IS ROOTED IN
Courage
We must have the courage to interrogate our deeply rooted beliefs and behaviors while challenging our own oppressive conditioning and complicity. It requires courage to be relentless in our resistance, even if it costs us comforts we could have secured through submission and silence.
Creativity
Creativity is how we challenge oppressive conventions and conditions; how we move from “this is how it’s always been done” to “this is how it could, and should be done”. It’s how we turn liberatory possibilities into equitable policies, and novel ideas into established norms. We must imagine the realities we want to experience and create our ideal worlds through innovation.
Care
Care is how we survive and subvert racial capitalism together. Care calls us to prioritize the well-being of people over profit while promoting equity and accessibility. It’s an act of resistance against, and a path to recovery from oppressive harm. Care is a condition of and catalyst for our collective liberation.
While there’s always uprooting work to be done within each of us and our organizations, it’s our hope that more will be proactive in creating a culture of equity and care at the outset, and less reactive after causing infinite and irreparable harm. This is both an invitation, and an obligation for any organization claiming a commitment to justice.
A MESSAGE FROM OUR FOUNDER
Shannon Cumberbatch
It’s meeee. Your transformation steward and systems gardener, here to help you uproot oppressive conditioning and conditions while cultivating systems of care.
I’ve been advocating against oppressive systems and conditions for over 20 years. I've advocated personally on behalf of loved ones ensnared in carceral systems, and professionally as a defense attorney. As an educator, I worked with organizers to teach students, lawyers and community members to interrogate and challenge injustices ingrained in the legal system. I collaborated with colleagues to contest inequitable conditions as a worker; increased diversity, equity and accessibility as a recruiting & hiring director; and challenged convention to center care as a supervisor.
As a Managing Director and consultant, I developed training, policies, processes, programming, strategic plans and entire departments designed to challenge institutional oppression while promoting equity and wellness.
I eagerly entered positions at purpose driven institutions, inspired by their stated commitment to justice, and excited to do impactful work in communities like my own. But that inspiration and excitement eventually became exhaustion and resentment as many of those organizations upheld the same oppressive conditions that they claimed to oppose.
I became so consumed with creating containers of care for others that I lost the capacity to care for myself. After experiencing debilitating burnout, I began studying herbal and somatic healing to aid in my recovery while being nurtured by nature and community care. Insight from each of these experiences are intuitively integrated into my offerings, and inform my holistic approach. On my road to recovery, I’m reconnecting with my most intuitive and easeful forms of creative expression, including poetry, crafting, jewelry-making, as well as clothing and esthetic design—all of which are featured here in my digital home!
MY EXPERIENCE IN NUMBERS ✼
MY EXPERIENCE IN NUMBERS ✼
13+ Years
As an attorney specializing in holistic defense and employment law
10+ Years
in People & Equity Strategy, Organizational Development, Management, and Consulting
85+ Hours
Training in Equity-Informed Mediation & Conflict Navigation
600+ Hours
Training in Yoga, Meditation, Breathwork, Somatic Healing & Herbalism
FEATURED FREEBIE :
The Equitable Workplace Policy Playbook
Advance equity in your institution with this free toolkit, replete with insights, instructions, templates, checklists and reflective prompts to create custom policies rooted in care.
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