Latest / Good News To Go: Peace, Love & HOPE / Tezikiah (“Tez”) Gabriel is a visionary leader, peacebuilder, organizational development consultant and advocate for positive social...

Transcript

Tezikiah (“Tez”) Gabriel is a visionary leader, peacebuilder, organizational development consultant and advocate for positive social... · Good News To Go: Peace, Love & HOPE

• 0:04
  Speaker 1: Tenzekiah Gabriel. Hi, how are you?
• 0:08
  Speaker 2: I am well, Paul. It's so good to be here.
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: You've got some first name there. I think I keep
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: saying Teziki. But Tenzekiah, what kind of a name is that?
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: I mean, how?
• 0:21
  Speaker 2: It's actually ancient Arabic.
• 0:23
  Speaker 1: Arabic? Oh, wow.
• 0:24
  Speaker 2: Yes, Tenzekiah.
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: And you're beautiful.
• 0:27
  Speaker 2: Thank you.
• 0:28
  Speaker 1: And you're a visionary and you're a peace builder and
• 0:31
  Speaker 1: organizational development. And she's been doing this for like a
• 0:36
  Speaker 1: long time. Pathways of Peace is an organization she's the
• 0:41
  Speaker 1: executive director for. And our paths, pathways, our paths have crossed,
• 0:48
  Speaker 1: I would say, all the time we've ever known each other,
• 0:52
  Speaker 1: whether we had a conversation or not. but we've both
• 0:56
  Speaker 1: been in the world of peace and love and an
• 0:59
  Speaker 1: interfaith minister as well. So I don't know, you're my sister,
• 1:05
  Speaker 1: no doubt. So tell us a little bit.
• 1:08
  Speaker 2: Heart connected.
• 1:08
  Speaker 1: There you go. That's good stuff. I got a heart
• 1:10
  Speaker 1: behind me that comes up if I move my head.
• 1:15
  Speaker 1: So tell us a little bit about your background. When
• 1:17
  Speaker 1: did you grow up? Why are you doing such peace
• 1:21
  Speaker 1: work for such a long time? Yes.
• 1:24
  Speaker 2: Well, I feel like I've been a peace builder from
• 1:28
  Speaker 2: right out of the womb. And so I always tell
• 1:33
  Speaker 2: people that I was dedicated to service before I entered
• 1:37
  Speaker 2: the womb. So that's just been my life from the
• 1:42
  Speaker 2: time I was a young child. I'm an orphan. My
• 1:48
  Speaker 2: father was a pilot and was killed in war. his
• 1:52
  Speaker 2: own plane crash when I was almost three. My mother
• 1:57
  Speaker 2: died of a broken heart, a fatal heart attack at
• 2:01
  Speaker 2: 38 when I was 12. And so I spent some
• 2:05
  Speaker 2: time on the street. I spent some time trying to
• 2:09
  Speaker 2: care for my younger half brother. But through it all,
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  Speaker 2: I always felt connected to something greater than myself as
• 2:21
  Speaker 2: a young child I had no idea what to call it,
• 2:25
  Speaker 2: but I knew that I had information coming to me
• 2:29
  Speaker 2: that other people didn't have, even the adults around me.
• 2:34
  Speaker 2: And I knew things that others didn't know. And for
• 2:41
  Speaker 2: the most part, I was a free range kid. And
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  Speaker 2: I felt compassion for those that I felt that were
• 2:58
  Speaker 2: less fortunate than I was. So I was always the
• 3:02
  Speaker 2: kid from the time I was really young that was
• 3:06
  Speaker 2: standing up for others, that was organizing walkouts when I
• 3:15
  Speaker 2: was in fifth grade to injustice in the school system.
• 3:22
  Speaker 2: And for me, because of my circumstances, I ended up
• 3:28
  Speaker 2: in the foster care system eventually and then married at 16,
• 3:34
  Speaker 2: had three children by the time I was 21, and
• 3:38
  Speaker 2: a fourth by the time I was 25. And because
• 3:45
  Speaker 2: of my background, I always wanted a big family. And
• 3:51
  Speaker 2: so I'm now the matriarch of a huge tribe. I
• 3:57
  Speaker 2: birthed four kids, and I claim 10. I have 19
• 4:03
  Speaker 2: grandchildren and 22 great-grandchildren, and I got my first great-great.
• 4:11
  Speaker 2: So through my life, can you stand it, Paul?
• 4:15
  Speaker 1: Can you stand it? This is all new information for me.
• 4:20
  Speaker 1: And I'm like, you're balled over here. I'm like on
• 4:22
  Speaker 1: the edge of my seat. This is a thriller. This
• 4:27
  Speaker 1: is not just besides a drama, it's a thriller. And
• 4:31
  Speaker 1: a good one.
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  Speaker 2: And my activism started, I used to drag my little
• 4:37
  Speaker 2: babies down to the civil rights movement and the anti-war
• 4:41
  Speaker 2: movements when they were just really young. And then it
• 4:47
  Speaker 2: morphed into Those movements morphed into my activism in the
• 4:52
  Speaker 2: feminist consciousness movement, and that morphed into founding and directing
• 5:00
  Speaker 2: some of the early battered women's and sexual assault programs.
• 5:05
  Speaker 2: That morphed into establishing a movement a lot of new
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  Speaker 2: programs that were around justice and advocating for justice and violence.
• 5:21
  Speaker 2: And then I became a funder of those programs. And
• 5:25
  Speaker 2: then I became a consultant and founded my own consulting
• 5:30
  Speaker 2: practice in 1991. It's now called Gabriel Associates. And We've
• 5:39
  Speaker 2: been doing our work with mission-based organizations for 33 years.
• 5:45
  Speaker 2: And I'm currently the executive director, as you said, of
• 5:50
  Speaker 2: Pathways to Peace. And so it's been a rich life.
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  Speaker 2: I feel very blessed and grateful for the.
• 6:07
  Speaker 2: Opportunities I've had. I've always had people. You know, Paul,
• 6:12
  Speaker 2: none of us do this work by ourselves. So, you know,
• 6:17
  Speaker 2: I've been lifted and supported throughout my life. And now,
• 6:24
  Speaker 2: of course, I have language for what I felt from
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  Speaker 2: the time I was really young, which is unitive consciousness,
• 6:32
  Speaker 2: bringing love into all relationships and all interactions, and watching
• 6:41
  Speaker 2: the results unfold.
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  Speaker 1: I love you. Oh, boy. Oh, boy.
• 6:51
  Speaker 2: It's all about joy, isn't it?
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  Speaker 1: It is all about joy. You know, once again, I mean,
• 6:59
  Speaker 1: our pathways have crossed. but they never collided like this.
• 7:06
  Speaker 1: You're like unbelievable.
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  Speaker 2: Wow.
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  Speaker 1: That's marvelous. Well, my hat's off. My hair definitely is off. And,
• 7:19
  Speaker 1: you know, your reputation, what is it, precedes you? Is
• 7:24
  Speaker 1: that how that kind of goes? You have such a
• 7:26
  Speaker 1: major reputation in the world. And it's a blessing. And
• 7:36
  Speaker 1: I just realized, you know, I have a Save the
• 7:38
  Speaker 1: Children tie. I love it.
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  Speaker 2: I recognize that tie.
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  Speaker 1: I realize you have more children that are all the
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  Speaker 1: children on my tie.
• 7:46
  Speaker 2: And you know what? I just adore every one of them.
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  Speaker 1: I got to go to the back of the tie
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  Speaker 1: and maybe this side to keep up with you. Says
• 7:58
  Speaker 1: a grandpa of just two kids. Oh, well, I'm embarrassed.
• 8:02
  Speaker 1: All right. So how do people reach you for the
• 8:08
  Speaker 1: consulting work? And tell us a little bit more about
• 8:11
  Speaker 1: Pathways to Peace. Yes.
• 8:13
  Speaker 2: Well, Pathways to Peace has been a labor of love.
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  Speaker 2: At the time I was called into it nine years ago,
• 8:22
  Speaker 2: my consulting business was very robust. I love it. I
• 8:27
  Speaker 2: still love it. So I wasn't looking for a job,
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  Speaker 2: but I do know a calling when I get it.
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  Speaker 2: And this one took me to my knees and I said, yes, immediately.
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  Speaker 2: And so I had the incredible opportunity to work with
• 8:48
  Speaker 2: the beloved Ava Madison, who was the founder of Pathways
• 8:53
  Speaker 2: to Peace and who passed just five years ago. And, um,
• 8:59
  Speaker 2: and even, I mean, following in Evan's footsteps, well, you can't.
• 9:06
  Speaker 2: And like I said, because I'm now getting ready to
• 9:10
  Speaker 2: lead Pathways to Peace January 1st. And everyone says, you know,
• 9:17
  Speaker 2: those are big shoes to fill. And I say, they're
• 9:19
  Speaker 2: different shoes because I could never have filled even shoes.
• 9:26
  Speaker 2: She was so. beloved around the world. And no one
• 9:33
  Speaker 2: would ever want or choose to fill mine. Instead, it's
• 9:39
  Speaker 2: like it's time for different shoes. And it's time to
• 9:44
  Speaker 2: bring in someone who can take Pathways to Peace into
• 9:49
  Speaker 2: its next evolution. And so I'm delighted for Pathways to Peace.
• 9:56
  Speaker 2: I gave a two year notice to our council so
• 10:00
  Speaker 2: we're now in the throes of bringing on a new
• 10:04
  Speaker 2: executive director and she's so amazing and it's time for
• 10:12
  Speaker 2: me to pick up more of my consulting work again
• 10:15
  Speaker 2: and to see what my next assignment is Paul I
• 10:20
  Speaker 2: never know what's next until I get that down loan.
• 10:25
  Speaker 2: And I've always been taken care of. And so I
• 10:29
  Speaker 2: have no concerns about it. I know I'll have amazing
• 10:35
  Speaker 2: opportunities to bring my work out to whoever needs it.
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  Speaker 2: And it's just, it's an exciting time. And You know,
• 10:46
  Speaker 2: we look around at what's going on in the world
• 10:49
  Speaker 2: and a lot of us say, look at what's happening.
• 10:54
  Speaker 2: How can we ever, ever do enough to bring peace
• 11:00
  Speaker 2: to the planet? And certainly, certainly these are troubling times
• 11:06
  Speaker 2: for so many. And so many people are suffering. I
• 11:11
  Speaker 2: have pigs. compassion about that some of our programs at
• 11:16
  Speaker 2: Pathways Peace are really about eliminating that suffering as we
• 11:22
  Speaker 2: bring peace out into the world but more than anything
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  Speaker 2: what we're seeing is an indication of a new world
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  Speaker 2: rising and I'm excited about that and still being here
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  Speaker 2: to witness that to kind of bring that into being
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  Speaker 2: in whatever small way I can.
• 11:46
  Speaker 1: Well, you've done it in a big way and we
• 11:48
  Speaker 1: appreciate you and thank you. And there's a group of
• 11:55
  Speaker 1: dedicated peace. I still like to use the word peaceniks.
• 12:00
  Speaker 1: I don't know why.
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  Speaker 2: I like peaceniks.
• 12:02
  Speaker 1: I like peaceniks. I don't look at it as a
• 12:05
  Speaker 1: hippie word. I look at it as somebody that really, really,
• 12:08
  Speaker 1: I mean, we got Saint Nick, right? You got the Nicholas,
• 12:13
  Speaker 1: you know, Santa Claus, right? There's a figure that has
• 12:18
  Speaker 1: made many a child happy. And as well as the
• 12:24
  Speaker 1: adults who were able to make that child happy. It's
• 12:29
  Speaker 1: a win-win. So it's all good. What are some of
• 12:32
  Speaker 1: the websites or way that people can reach Pathways and
• 12:36
  Speaker 1: reach you?
• 12:37
  Speaker 2: Thank you, Bert.
• 12:38
  Speaker 1: We'll talk again. and I'm very honored to have a
• 12:43
  Speaker 1: few moments with you to share you with our community.
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  Speaker 1: We're working on 8 billion people pausing on September 21st
• 12:52
  Speaker 1: at 12 noon, which is the United Nations International Day
• 12:55
  Speaker 1: of Peace. Yes. It's not a, and everybody else, not
• 12:59
  Speaker 1: just the countries of the UN, it's just that all
• 13:02
  Speaker 1: of us trying to take a moment at some point,
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  Speaker 1: and there has been a indication of that this is
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  Speaker 1: the day that at least the people at the UN
• 13:11
  Speaker 1: had agreed to. So I've stuck with that date and
• 13:15
  Speaker 1: that time, and with the hopes that maybe we can
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  Speaker 1: really get a lot of people to take a moment
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  Speaker 1: at that time. There's other great days, but I don't know.
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  Speaker 1: I've stuck with this one.
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  Speaker 2: I love it, Paul. And you probably don't know that
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  Speaker 2: our beloved founder, Evan Madison, is credited to with leading
• 13:37
  Speaker 2: efforts to establish the International Day of Peace.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, I actually do know that. I know the history.
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  Speaker 1: I know some of the other involved people and they,
• 13:50
  Speaker 1: you know, and so on. And, you know, there was,
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  Speaker 1: it's a good idea. It's a good idea.
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  Speaker 2: Well, and like 3 billion people around the world, I
• 14:02
  Speaker 2: think agree with you now. And so we've done our work.
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  Speaker 1: Oh, you had a bigger number. I use McKinsey saying 1.6.
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  Speaker 1: I don't know. I'm going to go with your three.
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  Speaker 2: Those are the estimates. So, hey, I like it. And
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  Speaker 2: of course, one of the things that came through that
• 14:25
  Speaker 2: founding was our peace wave at 12 noon in every county.
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  Speaker 2: every time zone around the world to pause for peace.
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  Speaker 2: And so that still occurs to this day, established in 1983.
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  Speaker 2: So there are so many ways we can practice peace.
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  Speaker 2: So you asked about websites. And so the Pathways to
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  Speaker 2: Peace website is pathways2peace. org. And my website, Particular email is tez, P-E-Z,
• 15:03
  Speaker 2: at pathways2peace. org. Gabriel Associates, my consulting business, again, we work
• 15:14
  Speaker 2: with mission-based organizations, nonprofits mostly, is gabriel-consult.com. And so thank
• 15:26
  Speaker 2: you for asking, Paul. And thank you for doing your
• 15:30
  Speaker 2: amazing work in the world. I've been a fan of
• 15:33
  Speaker 2: that for a long time. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
• 15:37
  Speaker 1: A lot of people are part of that big fan
• 15:41
  Speaker 1: thing in the sense of helping. So the only way
• 15:44
  Speaker 1: it could ever get done. And you know a lot
• 15:46
  Speaker 1: of the people who have been involved with it. So
• 15:50
  Speaker 1: it's all good. Thank you so much. See you soon.
• 15:54
  Speaker 2: Yes. Much love. Bye.