Innovators & Disruptors: Nikki Dinh, Iman Mills Gordon & Ericka Stallings: From Equity to Liberatory Leadership
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Innovators & Disruptors: Nikki Dinh, Iman Mills Gordon & Ericka Stallings: From Equity to Liberatory Leadership
In this episode, Kristine Michie sits down with Nikki Dinh, Iman Mills Gordon, and Ericka Stallings from the Leadership Learning Community (LLC) to explore the shift from equity work toward a broader vision of liberatory leadership. Together, they discuss why equity can sometimes mean making an unjust system slightly better, while liberation asks a deeper question: how do we build systems that are life-giving, joyful, and just?
The conversation explores LLC’s approach to leadership development through experimentation, network-building, and collective learning. Nikki, Iman, and Ericka share stories that shaped their commitment to liberation, from immigrant and neighborhood organizing roots to traditions of community care and collective leadership. They also discuss how joy, play, trust-building, and shared experiences help leaders sustain the journey toward collective liberation.
Key Takeaways:
Liberatory leadership shifts the goal from improving unjust systems to building new systems rooted in freedom, justice, and collective flourishing.
Equity work remains important, but it is reframed as part of the pathway toward liberation rather than the final destination.
Leadership Learning Community operates as a learning organization that prioritizes experimentation, curiosity, and collaboration.
Network thinking, including practices like “closing triangles,” helps connect people working toward shared goals who might otherwise never meet.
Play and joy are not distractions from justice work but essential practices that help activate creativity, connection, and resilience.
The current moment includes a crisis of trust across institutions, communities, and within ourselves, making relationship-centered leadership more critical than ever.
Spaces for collective learning and shared experience help leaders remember they are not alone and reconnect with purpose.
"Our hope for the world is more human-centered connections - and more joyful human-centered connections." — Nikki Dinh
"Even in hard times, that practice of dreaming and building together can feed us and move us toward the world we want to see." — Iman Mills Gordon
"If you take something crappy and make it less crappy, it’s still crappy. Liberatory leadership shifts the goal—we’re not just making things less harmful, we’re working toward a liberated future." — Ericka Stallings
Episode References:
Leadership Learning Community – https://leadershiplearning.org
Network Weaver – https://networkweaver.com
More About Nikki Dinh:
Nikki Dinh is a leader at the Leadership Learning Community focused on community-driven solutions and liberatory leadership. Raised in a Vietnamese immigrant community in California, her background in legal aid, philanthropy, and nonprofits reflects her belief that communities are best positioned to solve their own challenges.
More About Iman Mills Gordon:
Iman Mills Gordon, from Oakland, California, brings a lifelong commitment to collective liberation shaped by family, community, and generational wisdom. At LLC, she helps strengthen liberatory leadership through collaboration, experimentation, and the principles of love and joy.
More About Ericka Stallings:
Ericka Stallings, from Queens, New York, developed her commitment to justice through observing inequities across communities. At LLC, she cultivates spaces for leaders to grow and align their work with their values. She previously supported organizing and advocacy efforts across New York City.
Connect with Nikki Dinh, Iman Mills Gordon, and Ericka Stallings:
Website: https://leadershiplearning.org/
Connect with Kristine:
Website: https://www.impactfullinc.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/impactfull_inc
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kristine-breese-michie/
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