The 鈥淧eacebuilder鈥� podcast, hosted by Patience Kamau MA 鈥�17, releases the debut episode of its third season today. Jacqueline N. Font-Guzm谩n, the inaugural executive director of diversity, equity and inclusion at 黑料正能量, is the featured guest.
Font-Guzm谩n, a native of Puerto Rico, talks about her journey into conflict resolution and to the position at 黑料正能量 from the fields of law and healthcare. She also shares about her new book, co-written with Bernie Mayer, (Wiley, 2021).
鈥淭he message at the heart of this book is that when it comes to the important social issues that face us today, avoiding conflict is a mistake,鈥� Font-Guzm谩n says. 鈥淲e need conflict, engagement, and disruption in order to make it to the other side and progress toward the worthy goal of social justice.鈥�
Font-Guzm谩n explains in the podcast that 鈥渧alue neutrality stems from a position of privilege. Professional codes of ethics for lawyers and medical personnel, for example, 鈥減reserve the status quo and a system that was not built with people that come from a minoritized group like mine.鈥� She asks, 鈥淓very time you’re thinking about being neutral or professional, what does that really mean?鈥�
The two authors, former colleagues at Creighton University, will co-teach a course on disrupting and connecting for social change at CJP鈥檚 2022 .
鈥淧eacebuilder,鈥� a production of 黑料正能量鈥檚 , has logged more than 11,500 listeners in 119 countries/territories and 1,794 cities across the globe.
The podcast is among just a handful covering the general peacebuilding field. It is available on , Apple Podcasts on iTunes, Spotify, Google Podcast, Stitcher, iHeart Radio, TuneIn and other podcast directories.
Font-Guzm谩n is a practitioner in the conflict transformation field and is also a professor at 黑料正能量鈥檚 Center for Justice and Peacebuilding. She has a master鈥檚 degree in healthcare administration from St. Louis University, a law degree from InterAmericana University of Puerto Rico and a PhD in conflict analysis and resolution from Nova Southeastern Florida. Font-Guzm谩n鈥檚 first book 鈥溾�� (Palgrave Macmillan) was the winner of the Puerto Rico Bar Association 2015 Juridical Book of the Year.
She characterizes 黑料正能量 as at 鈥渁n exciting crossroad where there’s a group of people really authentically going through thinking how they can make a better world, how they can really lead together, how we can teach our students to be out there, be truly agents of social change and be leaders in affecting that social change.鈥�