Why AskDeedra

After many years of sharing my stories as a diversity speaker to companies and organizations, I decided to record them and share them publicly.  When choosing a name for the blog, my chosen platform, I originally decided on "Dee Conversations" because I have always shared stories as a means to create communication and understanding. I liked the play on words "Dee" for "The" and the stories I share are intended to create conversations. Unfortunately, "Dee" is not a name for which I am known. Only my very close family members call me that, so it did not really reflect me.

As I played with different ideas over time, I received various calls from my friends to ask me questions. My friends often say they like to call me for my perspective. They say it is because I have a gift for seeing various perspectives, multiple possibilities, and rarely believe there is only one answer.

These are gifts I work very hard to cultivate within myself. One thing I have learned over the years is that people are diverse. Though I can be very passionate about my own opinions, I understand others have different experiences that cause them to have different opinions. It is all about the filter - what filter, from our experiences, causes us to come to different conclusions. Because of this perspective, I can and do have very interesting conversations on so many topics, even with those with whom I do not agree.

As I spoke with my friends, the theme "I wanted to ask Deedra" kept coming up. I realized that is who I am. Even when I am out running errands, complete strangers will come up to me to ask questions. Sometimes it will be something about Islam or Muslims, but often it is just for directions or my opinion on a food purchase. I seem to give off some "vibe" that I am approachable - and I hope I can keep this "vibe" going because it is a blessing too.

So I decided "Ask Deedra" reflects who I am and what I do in life. People ask me questions and I try to give a perspective. Sometimes my perspective is my own and sometimes it is perspectives that I have learned from others. I by no means believe I have all the answers, or even that I know all the questions. I constantly strive to learn more - whether from books or people. I believe the more I experience . . .  the more I share . . .  the more I listen . . . the more I learn . . . the more I can contribute to making the world a better place through conversations and mutual understanding.