Intersectional Professionals

Who are we, why do we matter, and why do we need to organize?

Who are Intersectional Professionals? 

In the social sector, there is a rising tide of demands for systemic change, and for the integration of lived experience, but those calls have largely ignored a key constituency: “Intersectional Professionals.” Intersectional Professionals are people who work on issues related to or driven by their lived experiences. We refer to our combination of lived and professional experiences as our “dual expertise.” 

Think of the former foster youth who works in child welfare, or the formerly incarcerated person who works in re-entry. We are literally intersectional because our lives intersect with our professions, and we are intersectional in the tradition of Black feminism because our personal and professional identities, as well as our social realities, create complex experiences of interlocking oppression in a world marked by various forms of discrimination. Because of our unique set of knowledge, skills, positionality, and motivations, we are the best people to imagine and drive fundamental systems change, if only we can get organized. 

Why do Intersectional Professionals matter? 

There are plenty of folks who bring their lived experience to work, and while I think our value is clear, it’s worth articulating three specific aspects. First, we have tacit knowledge - the irreplaceable expertise of having navigated systems firsthand. Second, we have traditional forms of expertise because of our training and experience. And finally, we have the intrinsic motivation to do the hard work of systems change. Let’s consider these in order. 

Regarding tacit knowledge, lived experience is a clear asset in any program – the visceral sense of what it's like to experience something first-hand is something that can't be learned at any school. There's no degree in wondering where you're going to live tomorrow, there's no certificate program to teach you the experience of being hungry, and there’s no credential for juggling service provider forms and appointments. That knowledge is exactly what intersectional professionals bring to the table however, and it is irreplaceably valuable to any effort to improve systems and outcomes. 

Regarding traditional forms of expertise, we usually equate that with rigorous academic or on-the-job training, as well extensive professional experience. These forms are undoubtedly crucial, and while many people with lived experience don’t have them, by definition, Intersectional Professionals do. We’ve invested the time and energy to understand the ins and outs of an organization, an issue, or a sector, and that helps us navigate them effectively and pragmatically. 

Regarding the intrinsic motivation, the value should be obvious on its face – those of us who return to the systems that affected our lives do so because we know how much of a difference they can make – positively or negatively – and we are morally committed to making sure the folks coming up behind us get the best they can because we believe they need and deserve excellence. We will often opt to do difficult and thankless work not because we don’t have other options, but because we believe in serving our community.

What those three assets add up to are a recipe for powerful systems change. We understand the needs of our communities in a very visceral sense that can’t be replicated without having lived it. We have the training, the technical skills, and the professional savvy to navigate systems and get things done. And we have the motivation to pursue fundamental change, in full knowledge that it’ll be a long-distance race, not a sprint. 

Why haven’t we been organized before? 

Intersectional professionals aren’t a new phenomenon - we have always been there - so why haven’t we been talked about very much before? And given our clear value, why aren’t we already organized? 

Part of the problem is our mental model of what lived experience has to offer which implicitly elides our existence in the workplace, and part of the problem is the understandable reluctance for Intersectional Professionals to fly under the radar, making it hard for use to find each other, nevermind get organized. 

Lived experience is typically discussed in the context of things like advisory boards and focus groups that offer advice to systems from a non-professional perspective. The implicit assumption is that people with lived experience are best suited to give something like user-experience feedback, rather than more fundamental ideas about policies or services. That presumption pigeonholes the role of lived expertise into structures which don't necessarily have a lot of teeth, aren't necessarily embedded in the infrastructure, and frankly don’t always have a lot of traction in terms of what they suggest and whether anybody listens. By contrast, Intersectional Professionals are embedded as staff and leaders in organizations, and have the position and the authority (at least sometimes) to make change from within. So, given that positional leverage, why else haven’t we ever emerged as a clear constituency? 

Part of the answer is reluctance to self-disclose, which can in large part be explained by stigma. It can be challenging for people to raise their hands and volunteer the fact that they were in foster care, or accessed the social safety net, or are in recovery. All of those things carry stigma and shame in our society, making people reluctant to talk about those experiences, even outside of work. In the workplace, the stakes go beyond shame and stigma - you also risk undermining your own authority because of co-workers’ biases, or increasing the likelihood of tokenization if people start seeing only your life experiences, and not your skills and training. Many Intersectional Professionals will recognize this dynamic. Maybe you have an advanced degree, but that training takes a back seat to your role as a poster child for public relations or fundraising. Maybe you are regularly asked to speak on behalf of entire communities or populations that you have no exposure to because your lived experience is seen as a reasonable stand-in for anyone in your client pool. Maybe your direct reports take your guidance less seriously after learning some aspect of your life story. Maybe your dissertation advisor implies that you are veering away from “objectivity” and toward “me-search.” The examples are manifold. For someone who has worked hard to gain credentials, experience, and a professional reputation, those potential costs may seem prohibitively high. 

Why do we need to organize now? 

Despite these challenges, we think now is the time for us to get organized and mobilized. Most basically this is because of the social moment we are in. Since the summer of 2020, there have been increasingly pervasive calls for lived experience to drive systems change, so the time is ripe to deploy our “dual expertise.” 

Doing this raises some questions, however, and the primary one that has come up in our planning that led to the birth of the Network is centered on our well-being - how can we take care of ourselves and each other so that we are more likely to succeed? While we started from the end goal of fundamentally-improved policy and program design, our theory of change led us to two precursor outcomes: building our influence, and increasing our well-being. Of those two, well-being has emerged as our primary focus for the short-term, since without it, we cannot sustainably build our influence or create the kind of change we want to see.

So what does well-being look like for network members? It starts with community. Given how low-profile many Intersectional Professionals are, it can be challenging to find professional peers. Many of our members describe feelings of professional isolation. Even when they aren’t experiencing marginalization or tokenization, it can be “lonely to be an only.” And if they are struggling with some of the troublesome workplace dynamics described above, feeling alone and unable to access supportive peers who “get it,” that isolation is exacerbated. The network is helping mitigate those feelings for many members by providing a venue for people to find support, advice, commiseration, fellowship, mentorship, and a basic sense of belonging. 

On its own, that sense of community - rooted in shared purpose and common experience - would be a huge benefit. That said, it also has knock-in effects as well, the most important of which so far is that our members are finding a sense of replenishment. Our members tell us that their emotional and cognitive cups are being refilled so that they can continue the hard work they have committed themselves to. To understand this, consider the cognitive load borne by Intersectional Professionals at work: managing impostor syndrome, code-switching with co-workers, or managing perceptions of professionalism. This stress is amplified when lived experience isn’t the only identity that affects the way you show up at work. Since people of color, queer folks, immigrants, people with disabilities, and others who have experienced marginalization are over-represented in human-serving systems, we are also over-represented among Intersectional Professionals. And therefore, the risk of burnout among Intersectional Professionals is concomitantly higher. Thankfully, the network is proving to be a salve for some of these effects - while we can’t make any of the -isms go away, our community provides affirmation, belonging and a chance to safely be ourselves and recharge our batteries. 

To do this work effectively, we have also found that being values-driven is key to the Network’s cohesion. We are clear about the kinds of changes we are working toward, and they are rooted in a shared vision of the principles that should animate any future worth fighting for. We believe all people should be free from coercion, and free to make autonomous choices because they have resources and power. We believe in dreaming big rather than binding ourselves to incremental pragmatism, and think that’s the only way we’ll get systems that actually help people thrive. We believe our collective well-being relies on us standing together, regardless of our differences. Along with the knowledge that everyone in the Network brings their own form of lived experience to work, our collective commitment to these values enhances our ability to form community since we know we share some basic moral commitments. 

What’s next? 

Since launching the Network, we have become convinced that Intersectional Professionals are key to meaningful and fundamental change in our society. Our combination of “dual expertise” and intrinsic motivation make us powerful potential change agents. That said, we won’t be able to imagine or actualize change if we are burned out, marginalized, tokenized, silenced, ignored, or working in isolation. If we attend to our collective well-being, that will help us expand our influence, both of which are prerequisites to building our collective power for change. Building community around those priorities creates a home base that is “for us, and by us” because nobody else will get it right, even if they were motivated to try.  If we succeed, the network will give Intersectional Professionals replenishment, a sense of belonging, and a path to power - moving us toward all our goals at once. 

Our aims moving forward are to continue growing our membership, so if these ideas resonate please spread the word. If you know an Intersectional Professional, please send them our way, and if you are an Intersectional Professional, please join us.