Hello
My name is Esher Williams and I am the founder of Ok To Be CIC. I'm an anti-racism educator and practitioner. I have been a qualified trainer for over twelve years, a qualified further education lecturer for around 8 years. I have been a foster carer and am an adoptee, an adopter and a school inclusion governor. All of which has given me the tools, knowledge and insight to be able to offer well informed, structured, engaging and effective training, education and resources.
My Journey
I became aware of race, or differences in skin colour at round five years old when I moved from multicultural London to a small village in East Anglia in the early 1980s. It's fair to say we weren't given a warm welcome by all of the locals. As a mixed-heritage child with a Black father I was subjected to racial slurs and racist behaviour by some school students and my teacher at the time (Shout out to Mrs White, yes her real name!). I remember it being a shock and my parents having to have 'that' conversation with me about holding my head up high and being the bigger person.
Upon leaving that school at around twelve years old I was gifted (by a very cool teacher, Mrs Passant) the first three books in Maya Angelou's autobiographical series, beginning with 'I know Why the Caged Bird Sings'. This was eye-opening for me as I learnt about the Civil Rights Movement in the United States and realised that the issue of racism is world-wide and deeply engrained in society. It lead me to explore the lives and writing of people like Dr Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X, amongst others.
Since then I have built a wealth of learning and life experience in terms of racial matters. I'm committed to taking the necessary steps to do the deep work to interrogate the privilege I hold as a light-complexion mixed-heritage person and ways in which I have, and still do at times, uphold racist systems and ideologies.
It's a journey that will never end, I'm not here to give you all of the answers. I'm a practitioner sharing my practice. If you are open to learning and receiving then great, let's connect. If it's not the right time for you that's ok too. Everyone is on their own journey and path. This is not something to master. There is always more to learn.
Contact
We're always looking for new and exciting opportunities and like-minded people to connect with.
(+44) 07833 254132