Writer, Organizer, Diversity Consultant
Empowering communities to recognize and uplift the voices of marginalized people.
Areas of Practice
-Recruiting and retaining diverse people (race, gender, sexuality, socioeconomic status, and disability)
-Designing inclusive policies and accessible spaces
-Diversity training and group processes
-Self-directed learning/unschooling
–Power of Difference Assessment
Communities Served
-Intentional communities
-Non-monogamous and sex-positive communities
-Self-directed learning spaces
-Non-profit organizations
Biography
Crystal Byrd Farmer is an engineer turned educator from Gastonia, North Carolina. She is founder of Gastonia Freedom School, an Agile Learning Center for disabled children. She also serves as Interim Co-Director the Foundation for Intentional Communities and the Co-President of the BIPOC Intentional Community Council. She is on the editorial review board for and contributes to Communities Magazine. She was also the website editor and a contributor for Black & Poly, the largest online community for Black polyamorous people. Her book The Token: Common Sense Ideas for Increasing Diversity in Your Organization was published in 2020. Crystal is Black, autistic, polyamorous, bisexual, and from a low-income family, and she uses her life experiences to help others understand how to accommodate the needs of all types of people.
Appearances
See where Crystal’s speaking next on the Events page.
Contact
Reach out to Crystal through the About page.
The Token
Common Sense Ideas for Increasing Diversity in Your Organization
As a Black organizer, community, business, and organization leaders often ask: “How do I get diversity in my group?” The thing is, the work is real, but it’s a minefield out there. And even progressive leaders can still, perhaps unknowingly, be racist and uphold oppressive systems.
In The Token, your new token Black friend, Crystal Byrd Farmer, acts as the bridge between majority white organizations that are dedicated to social justice and “diverse” people in community they want to recruit, across identities of race, LGBTQ, education, socioeconomic status, and disability.
With a blunt style that pulls no punches, Crystal tells you how it is, calling you out on tokenism, while extending a hand to help your organization make real transformative change toward diversity and inclusion. Coverage includes:
-What marginalized people experience and what they need to feel safe and comfortable in order to succeed
-Doing “The Work” – how to have deep conversations with your membership about the reality of bias, privilege, and microaggressions
-Practical exercises and discussion questions
-How to choose appropriate meeting locations and establish ground rules, when to bring in outside help, and how to recruit support within your organization
-Strategies on how to talk to friends who are resistant to progressive ideas.
-This no-nonsense, provocative, humorous, and accessible guide is for all well-meaning people leading progressive organizations who acknowledge the need for diversity but don’t know where to start.
Available in print, ebook, and audiobook
If you’re outside the US, Canada, or Australia, you can purchase a copy here!
