Create out loud

with Jennifer Louden

29 | Navigating Creative Partnerships with Crystal Egli and Parker McMullen Bushman

Show Notes

Crystal Egli and Parker McMullen are two exciting voices in the world of female-founded Black tech startups. The two of them have navigated the very white and very male world of tech by following their north star – creating a business that focuses on diversity, ethics, and inclusivity.

Like their business philosophy, their company Inclusive Journeys is focusing on inclusivity by developing a digital green book to rate businesses on their ability to accommodate people of all races, genders, orientations, and abilities.

In this episode, we discuss:

1:55 – The history of the original Green Book travel guide as the inspiration for their business idea to revive it in an online platform

2:03 – Why Crystal took up hunting and how this made her think about her safety in rural spaces

6:02 – How Crystal feels about being called a snowflake and how talking up racial justice issues brings up trauma

10:15 – The criteria for how spaces are rated on the platform based on whether or not people of marginalized identities feel safe, welcome, or celebrated

13:15 – How they conceptualized capturing the experiences of individuals and ways for providing feedback to businesses based on those experiences

16:51 – Racial hurdles that Crystal and Parker face as founders

18:48 – Why shame is an ineffective motivator for moving forward

20:21 – Why they believe it’s the individuals who really care about issues that are going to shift the economy toward inclusion, and that one of the goals of the app is to provide a mechanism for organizations to see that there is an economic incentive for being inclusive

22:20 – How they’re managing the creative process and taking care of themselves while growing the business

25:35 – The mechanics of a creative partnership and the value of hiring an assistant

To support their GoFundMe, check out: https://www.gofundme.com/f/digital-green-book-website

Visit jenniferlouden.com/podcastkit to get instant access to a collection of audios that will

  • help you with some of the most common struggles we creatives have to manage including fear of choosing,
  • falling into compare and despair, managing the inner critic (s),
  • and feeling too exposed and vulnerable when you put yourself or your work into the world.

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