Pollen

For months, the remaining team at Pollen has been imagining a more healing and restorative response beyond the examples we experience or expect. Before we moved forward by sharing more programming and stories, we knew it mattered to close this chapter properly — that’s what Ruby deserves after her many contributions to the work we’re all proud of from the last three years at Pollen.

Ruby first joined our team in 2020 as Pollen Studio Manager after being chosen from a pool of 300+ applicants, she later became the Director of Narrative Change and was eventually promoted to Executive Director. In her piece, she offers resources that have provided clarity for her about what more can be done to prevent an all too common outcome for too many Black leaders. She ends with gratitude for her time with the Pollen team, our community of artists, and all of you who attend our events and read our stories.

This won’t fix everything or heal everyone but that’s not the goal of hiring Ruby to share what she wants to be shared. The goal is to invite more imagination for what’s possible. We know from social justice movements that when we center the most marginalized, everyone gets free. In fact, it was Ruby who first taught us to imagine more for our own freedom. The collective story of her time at Pollen is what we want to end on — not why she left or how — so before we start our next chapter, please take a moment to read Ruby’s last word.

The Last Word Imagination is the gift and ability that marginalized leaders have to offer. It is also what we must protect most fiercely.

Though Pollen has evolved over the years, we are what we’ve always been — an organization that uses stories to help create a more kind, just, and loving world. This year has been a difficult one for us, but we’re facing that difficulty the only way we know how — by sharing more of our story, and inviting you in new ways to be a part of it.

Something New From Pollen Let’s imagine 2024. Get your own copy of our wall calendar, the first of many new ways that we will bring our art and storytelling to you. We’re excited for you to join us in reflecting on Pollen’s past while we dream of who we want to be in the future.