The Brief – June 2022
JUNE 2022 CONTENT Other-wise The Forum featuring Attorney and Gallerist Sonya Pfeiffer Sizzle Reel from The Festival of Ideas 5 Questions with Deepa Naik of Merancas Foundation A Word Other-wise We do it intentionally, and sometimes unconsciously. We subject strangers, acquaintances, and whole swaths of people, even so-called friends, to it. We are just as prone to be subjected to it as well. It is Othering. That is “to view or treat a person or group of people as fundamentally different from and alien to yourself.”
Criteria for disqualifying people from our full and fair consideration can range from the evident to the esoteric. Age, ability, complexion, body type, surname, political affiliation are among the slew of things used to sort people, lump and label them, and then too often close off ourselves. In Charlotte, these determinants might encompass church-affiliation, zip code and employer.
That’s the thing, when we fail to be open and curious and to see value in all people, nearly anything can be summoned to relegate fellow humans to other status. Wherever you find yourself in this equation, the us-vs-them mindset is harmful. It is the microaggressions, invisibility, neglect and blatant hate that “othered” people experience. And, too, the people who are inclined to othering find themselves in a suffocating bubble.
Wise up and embrace the wondrous and surprising world of individuals around you. Dare to venture beyond your comfort zone and perchance find unexpected and profound connections. You’ll gain new insights on the richness of humanity and also yourself.
“Nothing disrupts dehumanization more quickly than inviting someone over, looking into their eyes, hearing their voice, and listening.”
American novelist, playwright, gay activist, and AIDS historian Join us for our June Forum featuring Sonya Pfeiffer! "Confessions of a Civil Rights Attorney: Everything I Needed to Know About Life I Learned from Buying an Art Gallery"
Sonya Pfeiffer is an attorney, art gallery owner, and award-winning former journalist. Don't miss out as Sonya explores how we might make our community a bit better for all! 
Watch a Recap Video of our Festival of Ideas 5 Questions • Deepa Naik An Interview with the funder, fashionista, and fun mom
BY VALAIDA FULLWOOD
Deepa Naik serves as Director of Philanthropy at Merancas Foundation. She previously cultivated external relations for Upstream USA to expand contraceptive access across the state and has worked as a consultant to nonprofit organizations throughout the Carolinas since 2012. Early in her career, Deepa gained knowledge and expertise from program and development work in a substance abuse treatment center and in domestic violence organizations.
Born and raised in the United Kingdom, Deepa came to the United States at age 16. She earned an undergraduate degree at UNC Charlotte, double majoring in Criminal Justice and Sociology, and holds a Masters of Law in International Criminal Justice and Armed Conflict from the University of Nottingham in England. She is an alum of Leadership Charlotte – Class 39. Deepa currently serves on the YWCA Central Carolinas Board of Directors. Outside of her day job, Deepa follows the fashion industry and styles clients for special occasions.
Much like The Charlotte Center, the Merancas Foundation aims to see people flourish. Tell me more about your work there.
Yes, we definitely want to see people flourish. We have a 33-year legacy in this community. We have been giving to organizations that provide opportunities for community members to change the trajectory of their lives, whether that is housing or moving from paycheck to career. It also can include a child who has been missed and is under the radar for various reasons. We provide opportunities for them to propel—socially, emotionally, academically. We are always leaning into those spaces to provide opportunities. We recognize that the situations families find themselves in are related to systems not people.
I play a role of external relations for the Foundation. I engage with our current grantee partners, coordinate site visits, and create transparency with our partners. I’m also the grant evaluator for the Charlotte area, so when the grant proposals are submitted, I make recommendations to the board. My other hat is in relation to how we grow and work to make a deeper impact in the community. That can entail adding new sectors to our portfolio or thinking to do differently and shake things up.
You’ve worked in philanthropy, with a variety of community-based organizations and currently serve on the board of YWCA—all of which aim to help people thrive. What do you find most appealing in this work? And what do you find most challenging?
What I find most appealing are the individual people and stories and accounting for the uniqueness of everybody’s situation, background, history, and perspective. Unless you stop and have those conversations, you don’t know. You really don’t know. Everything is an assumption until you are told straight from the source about the situation.
For me it is about the relationship. Sometimes, unfortunately, we cannot have those relationships directly with constituents, stakeholders and those we’re trying to serve. In these instances, we look to our partners to help be the messenger and connection point.
I started in frontline work and every single day had that direct connection to many, many clients who were struggling with substance abuse and in another situation with domestic violence. My approach is to be open and receptive and listening to those unique stories and what their goals are in that situation. Sometimes their goal is to be left alone. Sometimes it is to make a change in the safest way possible. Sometimes it is to be informed so they can think about things and revisit it at a different point in their life. That has resonated with me in every role in philanthropy, whether in fundraising, or service, or strategic planning, or as a funder.
Merancas works across several sectors, and the struggle for me is that the knowledge acquired is powerful, but it also can be a curse. I have yet to come across a system that is working well. It can feel like we are climbing Mt. Everest with no training, no ability to breath, and no equipment. It is hard to be a funder and to be a community member. It is hard to you feel like you are part of any system when the systems are so broken. So, I have to think about the individuals. I focus on the individual people we are able to support in improving their lives. As a whole, it feels insurmountable to tackle—whether social services, or the government, or education, healthcare or housing or food. I feel the weight of that, and I’m not sure what to do with that.
What’s your happy place and why?
My happy place is snuggling with my four-year-old. I try to be super present with her innocence and my knowledge of the opportunity she has ahead of her. I’m also happy with my seven-year-old, but she’s becoming so much more practical now. [Laughter] She challenges me in different ways. But my four-year-old, she still oozes the young, innocent cheekiness that makes me smile and giggle. It makes me happy to grab her up and give her lots of kisses.
You moved to Charlotte from London, which is widely known as one of the greatest cities in the world. What do you find attractive about living in Charlotte?
It is the people…people I have known from 20 years in this community. It’s the people that draw me in.
As a city and as a community we have a tremendous amount of work to do and in some ways it can feel overwhelming. I live in the suburbs where there’s a lot of diverse thought but not a lot of diversity, so there are challenges there. I do love Charlotte as a city because we can come together. We can work together. And there is hope. When we hear bad news and rank low in studies, it is taken as an opportunity to be better as a community and for our families. I love that. Now I work for a family whose assets have come from this community. To see how those assets are coming full cycle and being a part of this cycle is rewarding. Our city has good people doing good things. We do, however, need to be more mindful of the impact. I struggle with Charlotte. There’s good, and there’s bad.
After graduate school, I lived in London. What I immensely enjoyed about that city: It was a sheer melting pot. You could be on the train and hear five different languages before you found a seat. I feel like Charlotte and our community here in the States is becoming better, but we have a long way to go.
As the mother of two young daughters, what is one life lesson you hope they take away and apply in their lives?
For the age they are now, I would say appreciation. That is, to truly appreciate what they have and how they have it; how others don’t have the same things because of no fault of their own. Appreciation…that word stands out to me a lot, and perspective would be a close second. Those two things go together closely, hand in hand.
I’m trying to figure out how to build out my seven-year-old’s perspective right now, because her world is so narrow. Perspective leads to appreciation, so maybe it is even more important. Those two things are top of mind for me. Learn more about Deepa and her work!
Welcome to Being Human! ABOUT THE CHARLOTTE CENTER
Our mission is to help people and communities flourish. The Charlotte Center accomplishes its mission by bringing people together to explore human flourishing through the lens of the humanities and civic imagination. We seek to deepen
The more we know about ourselves and each other, the wiser we are in what we do.
JOIN THE MOVEMENT gratitude to our sponsors 
Thank you to all of our generous donors and sponsors that make our work possible. A WORD 
The opposite of Othering is not ‘saming’, it is belonging.
JOHN A. POWELL American law professor and expert on civil rights and civil liberties 
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Word to the Wise is compiled and edited monthly by Valaida Fullwood Design by Goldenrod Design Co. |
