Jenae Tien On Helping Educators And Parents Spark Conversations Around Diversity
Jenae Tien is the founder of Expand Your Library, a social enterprise that is dedicated to promoting cultural diversity and inclusion in the early learning and primary school sector. By creating safe and immersive spaces for children to explore Allyship, Diversity, and Belonging, Jenae is normalising conversations around these topics in a fun and engaging way. She is a published author, media professional, and multimedia producer. Jenae is also a cultural, structural and behavioural consultant. Using data to drive initiatives, Jenae creates innovation by fostering an understanding of the benefits of cultural diversity.
In 2023, Jenae has accomplished a lot. She is pursuing a postgraduate diploma in Education with a specific focus on Autism at QUT. She has won multiple awards including First Nations Media Awards, AusMumpreneur awards & the People's Choice award for the 2023 Impact Boom Female Founders Forward Accelerator program. Jenae is also working with ABC Kids in the development stage of creating teacher-focused resources around cultural diversity and allyship for the early years learning sector.
Jenae discusses how she is equipping educators with the tools to spark meaningful conversations around diversity and inclusion with children in hopes of fostering a more equitable future.
Highlights from the interview (listen to the podcast for full details)
[Sarah Ripper] - To start off, could you please share a bit about your background and what led you to work in diversity and inclusion focused enterprises?
[Jenae Tien] - I'm a journalist and multimedia producer at heart. I've been in the media industry for almost six years now, and I never thought of myself as an entrepreneur or that I would work for myself. Being a journalist was what I thought I would be living and breathing forever I do love it. However, I'm African American and Australian, so cultural diversity is something constant in my personal life. It was popping up a lot in my professional life as well around creating strategies and initiatives to help guide employers and organisations around inclusivity within workspaces. I then became a mum, so this spilled over into my personal life within schools and kindergartens. Still, I was never thinking about cultural diversity unless it was very naturally; I didn’t think it could become anything formal. When my daughter was about three, something popped up for us around cultural diversity, negativity and comments being made. I felt that if I'm experiencing this and not knowing how to tackle this issue for my little one, I wonder if other parents and educators were also facing this issue? A few years passed, more things were happening, and then we had the big break in 2020 as lots of things happened globally. I started taking myself seriously around diversity education, equity, and inclusion, things that I've been doing my whole life which built up to now. With my children, I decided I need to formalise this idea into something, even if it's just doing something as simple as sharing inclusive books. Expand Your Library was born, and I started sharing inclusive books, having book clubs with people, and highlighting that on social media.
It just grew from there, and my friend said I have great ideas which I need to formalise and make happen. I created a Deck of Diversity, which is an educational tool to help parents and educators talk about cultural diversity, inclusion, allyship, self-love, and give guidelines on how easy this teaching can be. That's how I fell into entrepreneurship, I began realising I was giving all my IP (Intellectual Property) to people within organisations. I realised this could be a job, this could be something I could do. I launched Expand Your Library in 2022 officially, and it all started with me thinking about how I can help others with the knowledge and experiences I've had? It's been an interesting journey, and my focus is on allowing children and the next generation to realise they have the power to do great things and belong.
As the founder of Expand Your Library, can you share how your day-to-day operations address bias and celebrating diversity and the impact you've generated so far?
Bias is everybody's business, because we all have bias, even me. We all wake up every morning and have bias; that is our brains way of processing vast amounts of information and deciding how to navigate our world. For me, when we truly understand bias and its impacts both positive and negative it can have on the people around us, that's where the true work begins.
With children, teachers might walk into their classroom and say they need to understand their biases, but we are breaking it down for them further so they can understand how their actions, thoughts, and beliefs negatively or positively affect somebody else.
Regarding bias in general, we know as adults when we're working in diverse teams, we are more successful. There are statistics and data out there showing more diverse teams have more strength bases and experience more success. This is not just from a human but also a business standpoint; it drives innovation and creativity. When you think about it, you only can do so much with your own experiences and knowledge. You need others with vast amounts of different experiences to diversify your thinking and elevate yourself, whether it's personally or in your business. We take a positive approach to teaching children about bias and cultural diversity because it's the natural world around them. Australia's one of the most multicultural countries in the world, so this is their fact and reality. If they don't know how to positively navigate their environment and their first thought around cultural diversity is fear, negativity or confusion can stay with them their whole lives and reduce opportunities in their future.
Diversity is fact, but we know equity is a choice, so making equitable learning spaces for children is a choice we need to make daily. Inclusion is the action, so we teach educators how to act, and then belonging is the outcome.
We want to make sure we take our educators, children, parents, and community through all these four stages and remove the fear. Scientists say it takes about 400 repetitions to create a new synapse in the brain when you're learning something. However, when it's done through play, it only takes 10-20 repetitions. We take our children through play teaching them cultural diversity and allyship, so it becomes a normalised part of their every day. What you'll find is this concept isn't hard for children to grasp, especially when it's done through play. Kids love being little allies, and it’s important because it's an easy thing to grasp when it's taught in a fun and engaging way. This is a lifelong skill, and we want our next generation to be inclusive.
As a recent participant in the Female Founders Forward Impact Boom Accelerator and recipient of the People's Choice Award, can you share any of your key learnings with our audience?
The program was incredible and there were so many learnings; it would take another 400 podcast episodes to be able to explain everything! I first want to acknowledge the absolute need for a program like this. It was a five-month intensive program that took me through removing doubts I had within myself. I know there's something good in what I'm doing, and I know we've had great impact, but it took me to the next level of understanding how far I can go and how much more impact I can have on children and within organisations. I want to acknowledge that it is a worthwhile program, and it’s amazing that is been taken seriously and invested in for women like me. It was amazing to meet other founders, and I know it sounds corny, but we developed a sisterhood. Sisterhood is needed in this space, because sometimes you feel so alone in the entrepreneurial world. It helps not only with friendship, but accountability, growth and having lifelong supporters. It's something I will always hold close to my heart as well as all the mentors we had. One of the biggest learnings I came out with was you don't have to be a multimillionaire to make impact. I was doing a lot of comparison between myself and the other founders.
I would think about how they're so much further along than I am and question whether I am any good at this profession. I'm okay with being vulnerable and saying that while I am experiencing much success and creating positive impacts, I still have underlying doubts. But, if your impact is five children, that's great. If you're doing good in the world, you don't have to be creating huge revenue. In saying that, on the flip side, I also learned you don't have to feel bad about making money while having a social enterprise and doing good work. That money goes back into the business to create more impact, so it's a flow on effect. The financial part for me was interesting to grapple with, because as much as you want to grow financially, there can be a lot of doubt you're not exactly where you think you need to be in your business, but that's irrelevant. Learning about business structure, theories of change and getting back to the basics was great also.
A lot of times we skip ahead of ourselves, and I remember in one session the mentor basically said you might have a great idea, but if you haven't got your ducks in a row and business structure organised, you can’t grow because when you do, you're not going to be prepared.
Preparation as well as doing extensive market research is key. You think you know your audience and what you're doing, but for me it was lovely to go back and question that while I know I'm making an impact, how can I do more? What do teachers and parents need versus what I think everybody needs? Revisiting market research was vital for me to tweak and make real changes that are going to help in the future. The last thing (this is more a message which was reinforced to me) is don't wait until you feel you have all the skills or confidence to start your project or business. That confidence and skill will come as you go on that journey, and wherever you're at, embrace it and keep pushing.
What inspiring projects or initiatives have you come across recently creating a positive social change?
Now I'm fully in the social enterprise world I'm coming across more projects. I first want to shout out all the female founders who were a part of the Female Founders Forward program, because they've covered everything from mental health to children, resilience, homelessness, and equitable jobs for women. There are many amazing founders in this cohort, and a few projects come to mind. I met with the founder of Roots TV, and he had started a Get Lit program, which is short for get literate. I love it because if anybody knows me and Expand Your Library, we all started with and still love books and resources. His initiative involves providing inclusive books for barbershops in multicultural communities within Australia. For every child who reads to the barber or at least shows an interest in the book (because there are different levels of literacy involved, so we're not forcing children to read), you get a free haircut. Instead of picking up or getting on a video game, if you pick up a book, look at and explain the pictures, or show some interest in a book, you get a free haircut. We're not only getting kids to read, but we are also helping parents.
We want to keep our kids looking nice, and barbershops in multicultural communities are very important, but it can be expensive when added to day to day living expenses. Your kids must look smart to go to school and be out in the world, so you can get a free haircut if you read a book. This is every time you go to the barbershop, and it's great because not only are kids being encouraged to read, but we’re also helping parents with the cost of getting haircuts. Also, the books being provided are inclusive, so children can see themselves reflected in the pages, which is something I'm very big on. Another initiative is Deadly Coders. It's a not for profit running STEM programs for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students in Australia. I just love it because it’s allowing Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander kids to be exposed to STEM and access amazing opportunities. They can explore other possibilities which they can take in their life through entering these careers or starting an innovative project. Those are two initiatives which come to mind, and it’s so inspiring. Being around people doing good work in the world makes you keep going.
To finish off, what books or resources would you recommend to our audience?
This recommendation is for educators or parents, so I'm going back to the kid frame. I love books, and if you're on Instagram booksandyarns_ is a First Nation social media page sharing First Nation books and resources for kids. Then there's also Koori Curriculum, which is teaching First Nation perspectives in the early learning sector. Also, First Conversations on Instagram have a lot of children's books and talk about how your first conversations around cultural diversity should be. They cover a lot of different topics, such as consent and grieving and loss, those tough conversations you don't think about until it happens.
In these tough situations, you often don’t know how to speak about it with your little one, and these resources provide great insight. The statistics are data driven and there are lots of resources available which are heavily researched and backed by science.
If you're into neurodiversity, neurowild explain these concepts through fun graphics and pictures for children, parents, and educators. They show how to tackle conversations around neurodiversity, which is important especially for parents who have neurodivergent children. You might've gotten your first diagnosis and need to figure out how to talk through that. I can speak from experience and say those resources are helpful. Once again, it's a celebration of your brain. It's a positive, and there is nothing to be feared. For adults, if you're into learning about women in leadership, the Sisters in Colour Podcast is great. I’m not trying to get you off the Impact Boom Podcast by any means, but the Sisters in Colour Podcast features migrant multicultural women in the leadership space for you to learn from. Finally, a shameless plug, Expand Your Library is on Instagram and Facebook. On Instagram @expand_yl we have inclusive books and resources. We also sell a Deck of Diversity, which are large flashcards helping teachers and educators talk about cultural diversity, allyship, self-love and other fun things.
