How To Transform PR With Trauma-Informed Practices with Kahshanna Evans

That Solo Life Episode 263: How To Transform PR With Trauma-Informed Practices with Kahshanna Evans


Michelle Kane [00:03.545]-[01:21.266]: Hello and thank you for joining us for this episode of That Solo Life. Join us for another episode of That Solo Life, the podcast for PR pros and marketers who work for themselves. People like my wonderful co-host Karen Swim of Solo PR Pro, and me, Michelle Kane with Voice Matters. And today, we always love when we have a guest. Today we are joined by Kahshanna Evans. Kahshanna brings her passion for community building through communication strategy, corporate social responsibility, and uniting people through stories to her many roles, including senior strategist at Kissing Lions Public Relations, as a trauma-informed resilient communities consultant, and as an advisory council member for the New York State Trauma-Informed Network and Resources Center. Kahshanna has been a leading strategic thinker in various industries, including wellness, communications, nonprofit and professional services, and it is her work in trauma-informed communications management that brings her here today. Welcome, Kahshanna. So nice to see you and hear from you.

Kahshanna Evans [01:21.266]-[01:28.255]: My new ringtone. Awesome. Hey, this is my intro.

Michelle Kane [01:28.255]-[01:30.336]: Happy to do a special cut.

Karen Swim, APR [01:30.336]-[01:48.922]: You are fierce and such a force in such a positive and uplifting way. And every time I read about the things that you're doing, I'm a little fatigued, but so inspired to just keep pushing to make an impact. So we're so delighted to have you here with us today.

Michelle Kane [01:49.728]-[02:05.038]: We are. We are thrilled. We are thrilled. So tell us a little bit about how you arrived at working in, you know, the trauma management space.

Kahshanna Evans [02:05.038]-[02:05.619]: Yes.

Michelle Kane [02:05.619]-[02:07.500]: Trauma-informed management, rather. Forgive me.

Kahshanna Evans [02:08.426]-[03:20.368]: Yes, it is. The spaces intersect. So I almost feel like there's no wrong way to frame it. So I got my start. I kind of started out in fashion, film, television and the entertainment industry after a very kind of turbulent start during my early years. And it took me in lots of different directions, but really made me look in the mirror with, hmm, what is this baggage and luggage I'm dragging around? So after I got a little burnout, I studied transformational well-being, including things like shamanism, Reiki, and voice dialogue. And I finally had a light bulb moment when I took a program, I want to say a two-level program that was trauma-informed outreach through the Connection Coalition. And this light bulb stayed on. So it was a really wonderful entry into learning about trauma-informed awareness eventually, and trauma-informed practices, which can really support us in various ways. So I'm really looking forward to chomping into the day's chat.


Karen Swim, APR [03:20.368]-[03:50.667]: I love it. Well, Tashauna, you've been such an advocate, and you've centered your work in the trauma space. So tell us a little bit more about the communications aspect of, you know, talk about trauma-informed communications and tell us about the role that it really plays in, you know, because sometimes maybe we think of it as being relegated to a certain sector of an organization or to certain people. So tell us about your belief in, you know, why this is important.

Kahshanna Evans [03:52.167]-[05:41.649]: Absolutely. And I do want to help paint a picture for the audience here. So I, you know, I got the sort of dream role, right? Once that light bulb went on, I became the director of creating resilient communities at a nonprofit called Paces Connection. And this, although that was not a role in communications, I took that role while I still was an indie consultant. And the light bulb, again, it just stayed on. and it got brighter and it expanded. What I was not yet able to do at Pace's Connection, other than just foundational work, was really starting to understand the role trauma-informed narratives, trauma-informed storylines, right? Trauma-informed practices can play across public relations, communications, nonprofit and for-profit organizations. You know, it really kind of embodies historical and generational trauma and introduces resilience building practices that are from the inside out, right? Deeply focused on things like repair, acknowledging historically targeted and harmed communities, and really, anyone who could benefit from learning about the short and long-term impact, Well, in particular, the short and long, long term negative health outcomes from toxic stress and adversity. That's why that light bulb stayed on, because this can be applied to every sector, every area of our lives. And I just never got unexcited about it.

Michelle Kane [05:41.649]-[05:49.710]: That's incredible. And just, you know, thinking about the crisis comms work, we may or may not do how this could be such an incredibly vital part of that.

Karen Swim, APR [05:51.220]-[07:34.007]: Yeah. I saw this really interesting insight from, there was an article in the Journal of International Crisis and Risk Communication Research in 2021, and we'll share the link in the show notes. And while it very specifically focuses on crisis communication and crisis communications paths, I love that it says that we tend to focus on reputation management and protecting brand value as primary goals of crisis communication efforts. But because crises affect rural people, that crisis communication theory needs to be adapted to include their needs. And to ensure that those needs are met, it means that there should be an integration of business ethics and psychosocial mechanisms in the field of crisis communication.

So it's talking about this victims as stakeholders. And, you know, to me, I know sometimes we shy away from that word victim. But what that says to me, it's much how we preach person-first language, referring to different abilities with people. It's person-first communications, because you're looking at those that may have been impacted by trauma. And you're not pushing a narrative, but you're focusing on the human being and you're using language that really puts them at the center of it. And sadly, we don't often do that across the board. Would you, have you seen that in your work, Kahshanna?

Kahshanna Evans [07:34.007]-[13:02.225]: So, well, now this is very interesting, you know, so in response to some of the things you just shared, Just to clarify, because I think this is such a powerful opportunity to connect things like crisis comms, or even those of us who are integrated marketers, strategists who kind of bring it all together as the chief cook and bottle washer for different organizations, right? So the first thing that I'd like to share with your audience is that let's take the term, PACES and resilience science, right? Beyond historically targeted communities, right? And the focus of utilizing language that empowers historically targeted communities.

Adverse childhood experiences are something that are a deep part of trauma-informed practices and trauma-informed awareness that hopefully can lead us to determining to be power trauma-informed organizations, right? So the idea is that It's a little bit more complex, so I'm going to say a yes and, to your comment. Yes and, ultimately, understanding the evidence of adverse childhood experiences, which really looks to see what happened within the household that were extreme adversities that are toxic stress that would shorten the lifespan or increase the disease mechanisms.

That becomes very important because it's not simply corporations and organizations to communities, people, and families. It's all of us, right? So to those listening, we are a community together right now, right? We don't have to be an impacted community. But importantly, trauma-informed awareness is helping us understand the evidence.

So for those of us listening who are women, We are a historically marginalized community, even if you're doing really, really well. The importance about that is that over time, those disparities, lack of access can actually impact us. It can impact our nervous system. It can impact our ability to feel well and to function at our full potential. Of course, in extreme circumstances for those that have intersectional issues, I'm Black, I'm a woman, I'm LGBTQIA, I'm not able-bodied, right? So if someone has all of those things, trauma-informed awareness is seeking to ensure that it completely embodies that understanding and has that focus on repair, restoration, and resilience building.

You're absolutely right, Karen. What we can do through crisis comms, through communication strategy, is incredible. How we can contribute, you know, apply this concept to corporate social responsibility, instead of sword fighting over acronyms like DEIB, because it's an election season, right? We want to kind of just retire that out. This is so much bigger than just one sector, just the United States. And trauma informed awareness, you know, at PACE's connection, this is referred to as PACE's and resilient science. I didn't make the phrase up, but I do want to introduce that language to your audience because we will be giving some links and helpful info.

I think the beauty of this, though, is to really understand that Imagine a world where your journalists and writers are trauma informed. So it's not just that Black guy was the boogeyman, and he's such a bad guy, and when will they get it together, right? I'm paraphrasing here, but these were kind of how people felt about the narratives when I was growing up in the 70s and 80s. What if those narratives were trauma informed to say, well, this happened, a person of African descent, you're phrasing people in a way that humanizes them. And you're also saying, you know, hey, robberies have increased, but this is a disproportionately impacted community. So to still have the focus on the true and accurate news and reporting, and how that might impact communications professionals who adopt the same practices, how that may in turn impact communities we serve. And while all that ecosystem is potentially expanding, how that may empower us to move forward with the shared language of PACES and resilient science so that we can actually resolve and change policies. So we don't have to, one person by one person, speak out against adversities and atrocities that are impacting folks that have really contributed to not only the globe, but specifically also to the United States. Black communities, Black African-American, First Nations, and Indigenous. Also, women as a huge subculture here, which aren't even paid equally. That's why we're solos. That's why a lot of us are solos, because statistically, we can be more happy, et cetera. So I know that was a mouthful. I'm going to pause there.

Michelle Kane [13:02.225]-[13:10.952]: No, but it's so true. And within our current environment, how can professional communicators protect against this politicization of trauma?

Kahshanna Evans [13:11.827]-[17:01.340]: You know, absolutely. And, you know, I really like that. I like that angle, Michelle, because I really feel that that's the opportunity, you know, in conventional business. I think we are, you know, conventional business practices. We are encouraged to silo and mimic patriarchal structures, capitalistic structures that mean that we are almost de-centering our intuition, our instincts, and our humanity. And ultimately, to what avail?

We should be able to expand what is working, to permanently retire what is not working, in order to not only transform the industry as we know it, you know, solos have a lot of, a lot of knowledge, a lot of power. Imagine if we were working in unison in a movement, utilizing shared language, imagine the mountains we can move. And when that's what the cool kids are doing, because that's what communications professionals and strategists are, you know, things that other people don't know.

When that becomes something that's deeper than a trend, when that becomes a pattern, when that becomes the way forward through the election season that can become a way forward to really transform our economy, transform our health, and also the ways that we collaborate with one another in support of knowing this type of work. So becoming a trauma-informed organization, for example, is a great goal. We can have solos. And I mean, listen, if I'm dreaming out loud, let's unionize while we're at it, right? The whole important part of what I'm carrying from my time at Pace's Connection is that we are now in a time and an era where it's, we can't simply rely on just business practices that have kind of pushed us outside of ourselves. right? This is a time that we have to unify in order to mobilize and organize to transform systems. So it's not just meditating at work. There's something so much more powerful about it that can help us, you know, respect our elders, for example, who are struggling with different issues surrounding social security. It can help us enact policies that support historically targeted communities that are, you know, knocking on door to door, just looking for minimum wage jobs to have a living wage. This can transform health. So, I think it's really exciting that some of the most powerful historic moments we've shared as a nation have been through things like the civil rights movement, the labor movement, the Me Too movement, to say, hey, guess what? I'm blowing the whistle on you, and I am going to publicly let everyone know this is not OK. And the more we unify, the more we use the language of trauma-informed, which I wanna specify to the audience is evidence-based, that's why it's so powerful and so special, the more we will, I think, be able to have that humanity again and circle up and use those instincts that we have instead of always being coerced to not protect others, to not be protective of historically harmed communities and peoples.

Karen Swim, APR [17:03.102]-[18:24.595]: Yeah, I love so many things, but two things that you said. One was talking about getting beyond the acronyms, because we do. We get really hung up on acronyms. And acronyms sound great on the campaign trail, whether you're for or against a particular set of them. We recently had a lovely, very bright person on our podcast, Anitra Henry. And she talked about the evolution of the DEIMB and how one day we won't call it that. But I love how that intersects as a subset, but the bigger picture could be exactly what you're talking about with the paces and this different approach that's more encompassing. And it goes beyond just DEIMB, but it really seems to encompass the whole organization. So I love that. I, you know, you've been so passionate and you talk a lot about community and you've been so instrumental in building those communities and I know that you've developed this community building communication strategy. Would you walk us through that so that we can learn from you and adopt this into our own practices?

Kahshanna Evans [18:25.162]-[28:25.708]: Yes, please. So I'm really excited about this. So this community building through communications framework I currently have in development. It is in its infancy, but it really brings together things like trauma informed, the evidence of trauma informed awareness and the practice of utilizing the evidence for policies we create in organizations, practices that we utilize when we are representing others, when we are collaborating organization to organization or organization to, you know, journalistic organization.

And also, it holds a piece of media literacy, literally bringing communities together rather than just marketing to us, right? So I can speak to you all today now as a solo myself, but I'm also marketed to routinely and constantly. And I'm thinking to myself, wow, you didn't even take $160 training to learn that if you're just performative during days like Juneteenth, for example, I'm not only going to lose interest, but you're going to be on my radar of people to decenter, you know, to not support. So I think that, This framework plays that type of role.

But I think more importantly, because oftentimes I think as professionals, we're not always thinking of ourselves as a community. You know, and I think the important thing is many communications professionals now are not only solos because, you know, you can have a better lifestyle for yourself, more time for loved ones and family, or to take care of loved ones who can no longer take care of themselves. a lot of us are from historically harmed communities, right? And I don't consider myself a victim. I don't utilize that word to describe myself. It can be a little bit of a I think that it can kind of represent a division between people and sort of make a savior a little bit more bold and then the victim like a little bit more low, just to kind of exaggerate the relationship. And I think what's really precious is that historically harmed and marginalized people are doing really well often with bringing the economy up. We have our own businesses.

There's a lot of amazing statistics, um, about how, uh, women are, you know, the next leaders in, you know, being solos or being independent contractors. But the idea here is that even among ourselves with no need for a label, Oh, did you, you did the trauma thing, or that's you beyond the blame, right? Beyond the label. It is a deep acknowledgement of the evidence of what is happening in the system that we are a part of and that we are bound to.

So things like, you know, when I first kind of became a solo, I was super nervous and I was in these like new communities and I'm like, okay, I'm going to ask really goofy questions. And I was kind of just terrified, but I was also equally excited. And there's something that happened to me a few different times in a few different ways. And I'm absolutely sure I was completely goofy, didn't really have a mentor until I, you know, thankfully, you know, discovered solos, and then I was experiencing relief. And, you know, I'd already learned a lot from my mistakes by then.

But we even have this attitude sometimes among one another that is exclusive, it is It's the meanies, it's dominant caste supremacy culture asserting itself as being protective of an industry it loves, but in actuality, if you have had the privilege and the benefit of the way that you appear to dominant caste supremacy culture, which means pretty privileged, or you look or appear to be of European descent, or have that type of favor, You have grown up with parents. Maybe you grew up not getting beat up like I did. You make a very hostile space when you're like, oh gosh, that person's so terrible. Look at how trashy they are. They're bringing the industry down. And I just think there's a better way.

So while, hey, feedback is feedback, right? You can always find the neutral in it and try to pull some wisdom out. There really is a special opportunity. If we can do it as an industry and become a trauma-informed industry, we can change and transform the United States and the globe. That's how powerful communications is.

And media is just as powerful, right? I know they're like sort of identical twins there. Media is just as powerful given the amount of foreign powers routinely purchasing our major media platforms as other major media platforms that are owned by the U. S. Are collapsing. It's very important that we step out of concern about labels and get very clear about our civil liberties and our human rights that are on the line as we speak. No matter how comfortable we are, we must understand the impact of atrocities, including things like genocide. There's no sidestepping it. There's no sidestepping 500 years of extremely cruel chattel slavery and then not delivering reparations. It's things like this, you know, shaming people who are full bodied, constantly pecking at them and selling, you know, products in insensitive ways instead of addressing a lot of dysregulation of our nervous system does create increases and influxes and changes in our body weight. So beyond those little spats that maybe I was at the brunt of or I felt overwhelmed by at some point, that's also really motivating what I'm doing right now.

We need frameworks to really understand the full capacity. But we have to want it, and we have to want it in unison. And we have to agree that this is not about sanitization. If you're having policies, so right, crisis comms. And there's always somebody in Black Twitter who's a perfect case study for crisis comms. I'm like, well, you're crying now. Where's your trauma-informed programming? You still haven't done it. You still haven't And I get it. The larger the products are, you know, we scale it. But even, you know, I've partnered on a scalable product to educate on trauma informed awareness.

But folks have to understand what it is and the ways that it can directly benefit things like corporate social responsibility. Now, that's an acronym. It's not going anywhere anytime soon because it directly relates to how we are able to scale companies. including those things that are corrective measures, right? So Karen, to your point about crisis comms, I know there's an intense set of things that deep crisis communications professionals have to really focus on. But imagine if part of that was, hey, we can't fix this thing in the way that you hope. We can do these three things off of your list of 12, but you're going to have to do these three things within this timeframe and educate yourselves, your leaders as a part of the repair.

And I want to encourage folks listening. I know what you're thinking. It's a punishment. I don't want to be punished anymore. I don't want to be on Black Twitter. I'm sorry. I apologize. Apologies are not nearly as impactful as putting equity into practice and evangelizing that practice, right? So we can seem sorry and actually authentically be sorry, but unless we are action oriented, utilizing things like helpful frameworks, learning the importance of, you know, as a kid, we would say, don't be a jerk, right?

But as adults, we say, hey, you've been insensitive to several communities of employees that work for you. That's why you're on those social media streets getting exposed. So the way to solve that is to understand the role historical and generational harm has played in the system we're in and also to the communities that we market to. Like I'm not buying another pair of $85 sneakers until I see some changes. And I like, you know, younger generations because they are coming in saying, Hey, guess what? We're, we're divesting honeys. So this is the least of our worries. You know, I think it gets more intense from here. So while we are at this kind of balancing point where we simply can't keep scaling the old things that don't work, you want to really equate. your divestment strategies with trauma-informed practices so that you don't end up the person doggy paddling in dark water that you cannot see through?

Michelle Kane [28:25.708]-[28:29.030]: Yeah.

Karen Swim, APR [28:29.030]-[30:55.847]: You touched on our role, and you touched on media literacy. And it's interesting, I think, that sometimes we look at problems and we think, that's overwhelming. I can't solve that. But you also pointed out that some of the biggest wholesale changes in our country have really begun at a grassroots level where people cared about something enough to act.

And one simple thing that we as communicators can do is something a previous guest talked about. Go to her website, Eat Project POP. She doesn't just make fabulous popcorn, but Major is also a PR pro. And she shared how she has a sheet what for all of the media when she's preparing for interviews or preparing for stories to be written where she gives them the language to use. So she's directing them with not only the information on the brand that she's representing and the story and the story itself and the background information, but specific language and how to talk about that.

Imagine if we took that step in every media interaction to provide the media with a document that told them how to talk about the communities that we're targeting and gave them very specific language that considered trauma. And then we become a part of the solution because, as you pointed out, the media unfortunately often re-traumatizes the communities that they're reporting on with the biased language and the harmful language that they use. And it continues to reintroduce those biases to the public rather than looking beyond that and really treating people as people. So I love that you are essentially issuing a call to action for all of us too. And we know that solo PR pros, I can't speak to everyone, but solo PR pros, We are little activists. We see problems and we will get it done. We will make change. And I think that you have given us all a new mission to take this into our own practices to really not just consider it, but to act upon it and to create our own frameworks and make sure that we are creating change. And I love that.

Michelle Kane [30:55.847]-[30:57.468]: Yeah, it's so true.

Kahshanna Evans [30:58.420]-[32:21.462]: And you know, I do want to add that one of the reasons I iterated a few times that we are, we solos, our community, because you don't have to start by yourself. The whole point is that you're not doing it by yourself, right? So, for example, I have a couple of trainings, I will be giving some trauma-informed trainings in the coming days. And it's, it's a really perfect opportunity for folks to say, hang on a second, I know I've got these really unique ideas. If I just take that basic trauma-informed training, that's where we can really sparkle as an organization. So I'm, I'm just inspired. You know, I've seen, you know, like you said, Karen, Folks are showing up to make change. For those of you who are listening who are not part of Solos, join them, support them. These folks are really leaning in to kindness, empathy, connecting with each other authentically, solving problems, providing solutions. that's really what it's all about. So the idea is that we can completely step out of having to save the day without the wisdom, the knowledge, the tools, the framework, and we can say, OK, I'm actually ready to connect and partner so that we can be shoulder to shoulder as we move forward.

Michelle Kane [32:24.271]-[32:59.752]: That's wonderful. And it also points to the notion that we are educators, whether we like it or not. We do educate our publics. We educate our clients on all of these fronts. So my goodness, Kahshanna, we can't thank you enough for sharing all of your wisdom with us. It's been amazing and to our listeners if you have any follow-up questions

Certainly check out the show notes for this episode because there will be links galore on how to connect with Kahshanna actually Kahshanna, let us know what if you had to say your number one point of contact for our listeners. What would that be?

Kahshanna Evans [32:59.752]-[33:16.589]: Absolutely, you can visit kissing lions calm and Or you can just link up with me on LinkedIn and I'm really looking forward to seeing you all especially also Seeing you in the solo communities, which is for members Fabulous fabulous.

Michelle Kane [33:16.589]-[33:33.234]: So yeah, you can find out more about that at solo PR pro.com Please do share this episode around if you got value out of it, which I'm sure you did my goodness And again, once again, Kahshanna, thank you so much for joining us and until next time. Thank you for listening to That Solo Life.