Make It Awkward now has its own conference with an upcoming summit co-organized by the man who was right there at the start of it all.
When Jesse Lipscombe encountered racism in Edmonton in the fall of 2016, he really made it awkward for those who were hurling the slurs at him by approaching them and trying to engage them in conversation. It was all caught on video, since he was in the middle of shooting a promotional commercial. The tape went public, leaving many simultaneously outraged at how casually those slurs were issued and impressed with how Lipscombe handled it.
Shortly thereafter, he started Make It Awkward, a larger campaign aimed at social change by reminding everyone that they have a responsibility to speak out against racism and discrimination in all their forms instead of ignoring it or not giving it serious consideration.
“It’s awkwardly comfortable,” he joked about how busy he has been trying to promote it. “It’ll always be what it is. It’s definitely found a footing into our everyday world. It’s with us forever.”
Within half a year of the movement gaining attention and traction, he and his wife (journalist Julia Lipscombe) thought about taking the next step to further entrench the philosophy.
“We decided that we wanted to do something that would have as much impact as possible in the shortest amount of time. It’s no secret that everybody wants to help. People want to be activists but the truth is, the easier it can be for people, the higher the chance of them being a part of it,” he said.
“We thought, ‘Why don’t we get together the leading experts in different marginalized communities to come through and provide the tools that fit under our Make It Awkward banner that people can use to be everyday activists and be a part of the change that’s happening?’ One of the main takeaways from most of the time that I was speaking and hearing requests for help from people was they want to help but they just don’t know how to. We wanted to be able to provide them with real, tangible tools that they could learn and take back to their own environments and start to implement and make every space a safe place.”
Besides that, the recent inductee into Avenue Magazine’s Top 40 Under 40 list of young influencers added that he had been doing as much public speaking as he could on the subject but “there’s only 24 hours in a day and I only know so much.”
The weekend summit runs from Feb. 1 to 3 with the adult pass running at $445 while a pass for the concurrent Youth Summit is $299.
The itinerary includes keynote speakers, panel discussions, motivational speakers, Break-Free sessions, workshops, an intergenerational mingle plus other activities, concerts, and networking events, plus comedians and musical performances.
He avers that the summit is geared for all who are interested, but hopes to particularly find an audience with other leaders in different fields who all want to make more significant and lasting social change as well.
That, and he promises it’s going to be a good time too.
“This is going to be a fun, awesome, exciting event that is going to affect people on a visceral level. You can have a great time making positive changes.”
More details can be found at www.miasummit.com.
