Join the Blake community on Thursday, April 13 from 8:30 to 10am for Breakfast at Blake with special guest author Julie Lythcott-Haims. During Lythcott-Haims's three-day visit, which is made possible through the generosity of the Northrop and Blake Classes of 1955 Speakers Endowment, she will meet with students in classes and speak at a daytime Upper School assembly.
Lythcott-Haims believes in humans and is deeply interested in what gets in our way. Her work encompasses writing, speaking, teaching, mentoring and activism.
She is the New York Times bestselling author of "How to Raise an Adult," which gave rise to a popular TED Talk. Her second book is the critically acclaimed and award-winning prose poetry memoir "Real American", which illustrates her experience as a Black and biracial person in white spaces. Her third book, "Your Turn: How to Be an Adult", has been called a “groundbreakingly frank” guide to adulthood.
Lythcott-Haims holds degrees from Stanford, Harvard Law and California College of the Arts. She currently serves on the boards of Black Women’s Health Imperative and Narrative Magazine and is a California College of the Arts trustee. She serves on the advisory boards of LeanIn.Org, Sir Ken Robinson Foundation and Baldwin for the Arts.
She lives in the San Francisco Bay Area with her partner of over 30 years, their itinerant young adults and her mother.
In her Breakfast at Blake presentation, “What It Means to Be Black in White Spaces,” Lythcott-Haims will share her experience as a Black and biracial woman growing up in white spaces. She found that even as she accomplished so much, working as a corporate lawyer and as Stanford’s first-ever dean of freshmen—she still couldn’t escape the grip racism, discrimination and microaggressions had on her sense of self.
Listen as she shares how she found self-acceptance through the healing power of community. Her story is deeply personal, but its message is universal: people from marginalized communities will recognize echoes of their own experiences, and allies will learn how they can better show up, listen and advocate for others.
Breakfast at Blake will take place in the Bovey on the Blake campus. This complimentary gathering includes a full breakfast. Click here to register by Monday, April 9. An online option for out-of-town community members can be live streamed via Blake's YouTube channel. The link and instructions will be provided to registrants prior to the event. This presentation will be recorded and posted on Blake’s website.