THE OPS ROOM

Founder

THE FAFF SLAYER | Systems for changemakers, rebels & impact-focused folks to unlock ease+joy in a world that needs you most | Speaker | Author of Paradigm Playground 🖖🏼

I bring together your people, processes, and platforms (tools) to create a beautiful symphony rather than something a bored/cranky toddler does on pots and pans. 

[The verbiage is a work in progress. I outgrew what I was and haven't yet replaced it with what I am. However, I'm also not keeping boxes I don't need/want "just in case." Watch this space!]

Asmara Kazmi

Last night at Sophie Jane Lee’s book launch, Kemi Gates said:

“Take what blesses and ignore what vexxes.”

And being in that room with so many LEGENDARY women, I felt hella blessed.

(And this morning… slightly vexxed when I saw all the tags and realized how many amazing women I would have loved to squeal-hug but did not because I was too engrossed on the dance floor. Where is a TARDIS when you need one!)

From hearing the magic of Yinka, whose wisdom is always like a nutrient shot to my spirit, to seeing Sophie looking radiant, surrounded by love, admiration and support so visceral it could have been bottled.

From Laura lending me her power bank when she saw me charging my phone by the coat check and thus reminding me that those who are seen are also helped by those who care.

To walking into the library of the Royal College of Physicians and joking that I ended up there anyway. Just not the way my parents imagined, and without the debt or the burnout.

And to all the brilliant women I spoke with, laughed with, and danced alongside last night, please know the admiration was very much mutual.

Something about seeing someone else’s vision come to life so beautifully is incredibly healing.

And it got me thinking about the vision I want to materialize too.

That vision has been running in my consciousness like a permanent subroutine for years. Some parts of it decades old.

For a long time I would do “flash-forward meditations” to borrow resolve from the future-me who already knew how things turned out.

But something clicked for me today.

That moment is not a beginning.
And it is not a return either.

It is a continuation.

The woman in my vision with salt-and-pepper hair is not that different from the one writing this post.

She is just doing the same work with more of the system built around her.

And that realization did something unexpected.

It removed the pressure to “arrive.”

Because continuation does not require perfection.

Just the next step in the sequence.

So thank you, Sophie, for being so fully yourself that you help others see themselves too.

Kemi was fiercely correct when she called your work a mirror.

I have lived the beauty of it.

PS - Thank you for blessing my life with rooms like this Yinka Ewuola, Louise Blackburn, Nicola Crooks-Ramgeet, 'Ronke Kokoruwe, Vicky Quinn Fraser and Sophie Blackmore

Interventor | Correcting load misallocation in systems that intend to endure.

Founder, Writer, Social Entrepreneur, Creative Ops, Biz Dev, and Content Strategy Consultant, working to achieve gender parity+ inclusion one business at a time.

Now: I strive to be engaged, authentic and conscious of the world and people around me. I believe creative work is about moving the needle towards equal opportunity, shared voices, safe spaces and economic empowerment for all. I manage multidisciplinary project teams on a huge range of creative work. I fuel them with donuts, gifs, emojis and celebrating the wins. 

I believe in a growth mindset and have never met a problem I didn't want to solve. I focus on the strengths of my team and leverage my own strengths as a driven leader, risk taker, straight talker and trusted advisor on all projects. I’ve managed through more reorgs than I can count and always come out smiling, happy that my team is where they should be: change is a great way to grow. 

———

Then: I have worked in design for 25 years with nearly 20 years experience managing people and projects. I’m most fulfilled when facilitating creative work that causes positive impacts in people’s lives, but find joy in working on behemoth brands. I’ve partnered with CCO’s and Principals to drive change in their agencies and studios.

In Grad school I began my journey with social justice issues around gender, race and economic disparities. While at W+K I had the opportunity to produce several important platforms addressing issues of inclusion,  opportunities for women of color and gender equality, supporting and executing on the strategic and creative visions of strong female leaders and creators.

Emily O. Weltman, M. Ed.

Post about a woman I admire? Sure but who would even see it? Be so for real. LinkedIn inviting women to celebrate each other is so on brand. Why?

We already do celebrate and boost and uplift each other, every single day.

We do it in spite of a platform that continues to hurt our ability to make income, get funding, get investors, get donors, get subscribers, and be financially and creatively independent.

We persevere on here despite the math.
Some pretend to be men.
Others tag LinkedIn leadership or the help desk.
Black women end up leaving altogether, and who could blame them?

If you celebrate Women's History Month, or International Women's Day, or Black History Month, or Pride month...while actively ignoring the fact that your bias Uncle Algo is currently suppressing the content of Women, Black people, and LGBTQ2S+ creators, writers, speakers, artists, and small business owners...
do you really value them? Or do you posture and perform as if the company cares to keep users hooked?


Data doesn't lie.
In NA 51% of social media users are women.

BUT on LI:
56.9% are men
43.1% are women

AND “Men aged 25-34 dominate the platform's ad audience, showing up 30% more often than women in the same age group” per botdog, and yes that’s the name. 🌭

30% is not a small number.
So, tell me again how LI wants to celebrate women this month?

Seriously, I would love an answer.
We all would.
Signed the 43%.


#AlgorithmicBias
#BigTech
#SmallBusiness
#WomensHistoryMonth
#IWD2026

Emily R. Goldenritt, M.Ed

Founder, Writer, Social Entrepreneur, Designer, Brand and Strategy Consultant, working to achieve economic inclusion and ACCESS FOR ALL. (neé Emily O. Weltman)

🚩Red flag: When the obvious is framed as a hot take, it’s propaganda. It’s clear their time is up. In other news…


Water is wet, ice is cold, and fires are hot. 

You know what else is hot? My rage. Because this is who people pay to read. This is who gets amplified. These are “professional” journalists.

Be so for real right now.
The GOP is lead by a person who took out a full page NYT add calling for the execution of 5 Black teen boys. So he could keep property values up, and keep raising rent in NYC. 

If that isn’t a plantation owner in plain site, what is?

The GOP has long embraced the Confederate flag and fought to keep monuments to confederate leaders. 

They white wash history and are run by a group of far right religious politicians and eugenics-pedaling billionaires. Please come the eff on.


This cannot be news.
It isn’t news.
It’s not an opinion.
It’s not even well informed. The imagery and slogans are NOT new. Your own magazine editor wrote about it years ago.


In the past decade the federal government has published multiple reports that the biggest threat to national security is domestic terrorism by white nationalists. 

A headline like this is basically doing their bidding for them, amplifying and repeating the slogans. Spreading their terrible gospel.

Your feigned outrage speaks volumes about the power you pretend to ignore, the privilege you hold and fail to leverage, and the platform you waste to actually create change.

Miss me with your shock, bro.😎 

I’d say do better, but it’s Black History Month and your not worth another ounce of attention.


My CTA to all of you:
Subscribe to #NewMedia. (Link ⬇️)

Support Black, Indigenous, Latina, and global majority authors, researchers, writers, and journalists.

Support women, nonbinary, trans, and queer designers, artists, musicians and performers.

Support disabled and neurodivergent creators, independent consultants and coaches. 

And when you see headlines like this: call B.S.





#CaptainObvi
#PublishingJustice
#BanBillionairesNotBooks

Screenshot of the Atlantic quote the Republican Party has a Nazi problem. How did the GOP become a Haven for slogans and ideas straight out of the third Reich? By Tom Nichols February 23, 2026 “

🔥If you found your way to my blog, or my LinkedIn page you already know I am VERY outspoken. IYKYK.

I am clear AF on my stance on human rights and social justice.

While every issue is political, and our bodies have been politicized, I "do politics" selectively.
Despite how it might appear, I do hold back on social media, instead keeping my posts more humanity focused than politician centric whenever possible.

On LinkedIn, people get downright pissed when you discuss elections; I already bring enough heat to my page. (My posts about stopping billionaires makes men FLIP out. But, I digress...)

But, I do go there. 💯
And when I do…
It will be long form.
It will be heavily researched.
It will be fact checked and thorough.
If I can't lay out my position fully, I won't bother.
If you won't listen to it in full, please don't bother either. 👋🏻

I curate the goods so you make better choices. I aim to inspire you to take action to ignite change. 

I want to work with you. To break the hegemonic stranglehold will take all of us, working together.
To fix the patriarchy, and change systems, sadly, we must respect the facts of the system we have. It does NOT mean we have to respect the system itself.

I do not believe in limiting the boundaries of our political imagination. We are limitless.

And still, I'm a pragmatist. We have to work within the confines of reality, replacing the systems we have and working with in them as we transition.

So what does a JUST TRANSITION even look like? Let's put a 📌 in that.

I can tell you it won't be in tonight's SOTU. It wasn't in the last, or any of the ones prior.

These speeches—all pomp and circumstance—rarely say anything ground breaking or of substance. When they do, they usually betray half the country.

The most memorable moment for me of the last decade was when Nancy tore up the speech of 🍊🚽 his first term, and her subsequent clap back meme.


So for tonight's SOTU, I MIGHT do a followup analysis, as. I've done before. That's IF I listen later, but no promises. 

Since BOTH my OR Senators AND my OR State Representative in the House are boycotting the shenanigans, I will likely skip this year. And save my energy.  I'll need it for the midterms…and so will you.


Make his ratings 💣.
Tune him out. 🙉

In 2026, attempts to erase Black History continue, but The Powers That Be keep losing. Meanwhile Black women keep showing us why they're #1.

I posted part of this post in Feb 2022…
Before the DoD book bans. 
Before a racial slur at BAFTA was aired by BBC.
Before SCOTUS ended affirmative action.
Before B.S. put Agent Orange back in the Oval Office.

Progress still happens, and when it does, I celebrate the ish out of it.

So what if Black History Month is almost over. Our history is not confined to a month, nor is the movement to ensure #BlackLivesMatter.
Last month was Sex Trafficking month. Holocaust Remembrance, a few weeks back. Next month, Women's history.

Is one day, week, or month enough time to celebrated or study groundbreakers or martyrs, to honor human trials of tragedy and triumph?
Or do we work everyday to dismantle white supremacy, patriarchy, and colonization?
Do we do actual things in our jobs and communities to shift wealth to Black families, when white families have 10x the generational wealth?
Do we talk about pay equity every day?
About accessibility and climate change every day, both of which impact Black people more?

ALL intersecting problems impact Black women's lives most. They keep paying for it.

What WE do about it matters.
Do you call out white supremacy everywhere, on every thread, in every meeting?
Do you use every privilege and platform at your disposal?
Does it inform every product you buy or brand you boycott
Does it change what you talk about it at dinner or drop offs?
Do you CELEBRATE their wins too, not just losses. Do you share about their lives, not just deaths.

Small things matter...not the way you show up for 1 day or 1 week, but always.

If there was a switch we could flip to undo the economic and social impacts of 450-650 years of systemic racism we would do that. If only!

No post will solve it, least of all this one. But you have to start somewhere and #KeepGoing

Step 1. SHOW UP. 

Start by saying:
I see you, I hear you.
I will work to see your struggles as my own.
I commit to the safety of your children as I would my own.
I value your insights, your experiences.
I am listening, learning, and acting accordingly.
The actual work to close the wealth and wage gaps comes after the above.

STEP 2. EDUCATE YOURSELF.
You do NOT have to be #1, and in allyship or advocacy there are NO medals. There is no finish line there.

"Do not participate for the gold medal in the “Oppression Olympics.” (You don’t need to compare how your struggle is “just as bad as”…)- Guide to Allyship, amélie L..

No one wins when anyone is held back. But when people break past the barriers put in front of them, take a minute to CELEBRATE their win. They deserve the flowers, and we need to know their names.

STEP 3: MOVE THE MONEY.
4 great ways to do just that on pg 9.

Act "local" and "support small..." means spend with intention.
PAY Black women. Period.

BHM Black women 1sts FTW_2026

🔥 A Bush-appointed federal judge called B.S. on POTUS and his attempts to erase OUR shared history...on Presidents' Day, during Black History Month. Faith in humanity briefly restored. READ THIS! ⬇️

After POTUS issued Executive Order 14253, "Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History"—the irony is not lost on ANY of us—in January 2026, the National Parks Service removed exhibits from "The President's House" that honored 9 humans enslaved by the 1st U.S. President, George Washington. 

⚖️ The brief (see PDF) methodically shows that NPS had no reason (beyond a racist interpretation of the EO) to take down the story of Oney Judge, who escaped to freedom from that very house — a designated National Underground Railroad "Network to Freedom" site.

The EO stated only "solemn and uplifting" stories of our shared history be told— no "disparaging" past leaders or "indoctrination." If this story of a kidnapped and enslaved person escaping to live their life free isn't an uplifting American story, I don't know what is.

Quoting George Orwell, the judge called it unlawful and egregious—and ordered the immediate restoration of every panel and video. IMHO, mic drop.

The judge's rebuke was clear: an agency "cannot arbitrarily decide what is true, based on its own whims or the whims of the new leadership, regardless of the evidence before it."🎯

I cannot think of anything more fitting on Presidents' Day 2026 than ensuring the truth of OUR nation be told in full at "The President's House" by restoring the 34 panels and videos in the Philadelphia NPS site.

Read the full court doc to restore your faith in justice (even if briefly-pun intended).📃


#PresidentsDay 
#BlackHistoryMonth 
#CivilRights
#BlackHistoryIsAmericanHistory

Memorandum_Motion for Preliminary Injunction Granted 2026

I have posted on LinkedIn over 3,200 times in 6 years. Can you guess how many times I've posted since January 1st?

Besides reposts and comments, 11 times. That's it.

Why? Because, reasons.

Because I am completely re-working ALL of my content, across 3 brands and 4 websites.

Because like many of you, I got sick of writing for Uncle Algo, and having to feed him in a certain way in order for my words to show up in your feed,

Because I am working with people who are full time caregivers, and I am a parent, partner, and human with care needs too. I have a body and brain that will not cooperate and like the rest of me, marches to its own beat.

Because I run a business, blog, and a nonprofit community...all of it needed revamping  under the current economic, political, and social constraints.

Because I am a designer, and I have been LOVING ME SOME CREATIVE TIME.

Because I am redefining not only what I do, clarifying who I do it for, and how, but I am redefining myself, all the way down to my name.

Because I need sleep, and like reading my colleagues work, and want to help my kids study for tests and seeing the doctor.

Because I care about congruence and insist on walking the walk. I refuse to do push myself or those I work with to the breaking point. Capitalism and the U.S. govt. already does this plenty.

But the real truth of why I lapsed...
I haven't had the spoons nor the strength to care. I just dngaf.

Fighting to be seen amongst Ads, AI, and a$$ hats...it's not motivating.
You know what is?

YOU. All of you who keep DMing me, hiring me, working with me, joining my community. Clients, colleagues, collabs...that I *do* care about, a lot. 💙 AND I need you to know what I am doing to make an impact.


So consider this weekend my soft launch... 
I am slowly getting back to my regularly scheduled programming of telling Uncle Algo and the rest of the bros to go to suck a lemon. 🍋 

I look forward to keeping you inspired and informed so you can take action on a more regular basis. Cause goddess knows, from what we're seeing...

...the patriarchy is sure AF not going to fix itself.




#AccessForAll
#FundTheFuture
#StartHere

Biff Tannin in Back to the Future 2. Gif "There's something very familiar about all this."

I do not know how LC manages to encapsulate my every thought into a post, unprompted, so quickly and consistently...but once again... 🎯 🎯 🎯 

I have so much to say on this video. I watched it earlier today and was going to post it, but LC beat me to it...and I am SO GRATEFUL they did. I don't have much to add that they didn't cover in the post below... But, I will add my 2 cents.

Watch this video. Consider why it's uncomfortable and why you may not want to. Then after you watch it ask yourself some important questions.

Do I avoid being around or interacting with 
person with a physical disability?
in a wheelchair?
an aging person?
a terminally ill person?
a person in the hospital?
a person in assisted living?
a chronically ill person?
a person without speech?
a person with scars, burns, or skin differences?
a person with tubes or hooked up to IVs or machines?

Do you prefer to communicate with "ease" and avoid challenging conversations?
Do you judge others for being "debbie downers" and avoid "negative" people?

Do you avoid people who look different? Who have tics, make noises, are shaky? Do you avoid people or judge people who make unexpected movements, who can't stop moving, can't stop talking, who are repetitive? What about those who are still, barely moving, or not visibly connecting to others?

If you answered yes to any of the above...consider why.
Do you find it uncomfortable? Unfamiliar? Sad? Scary? Difficult?
Something else?

When you've unpacked that...then consider this. Do you need to fear being next to care? Do you need to see yourself to empathize, to connect, to co-exist?

Undoing ableism is the same as undoing any other learned bias. We should not have to know that it could be us at any moment to drive us to see someone else's humanity. We just need to know that EVERY BODY is worthy. Period.

LC is right. Disability happens eventually to most of us, even if temporarily. But we can make Access happen NOW for us all. You have the power to give others access. Start by seeing them, in their full humanity, and getting over your own discomfort to honor and love and care for them while they are still with us. 

Time is precious. How we spend it matters. Spend it caring more. 


#CareMore
#AccessForAll
#DisabilityJustice

Disability is Inevitable, Therefore Access Must Also Be

One thing is for certain & two things are for sure: sickness, injury, & incomplete bodily function are an inevitable part of mortality. It is a delusion that borders on cruelty then, that we go through such great lengths to undermine, question, downplay, & ignore not only the existence of all types of disability, but the support they demand & the inevitable grief that accompanies it.

Whether -miraculously- not until your last breath or parting word on your deathbed, or for extended decades throughout all your life, not a single one of us will escape this world perfectly physically, mentally, emotionally or socially whole. 

While it is my pleasure& privilege to work with people like Emily R. Goldenritt, M.Ed, for whom part of her expertise is design access policy & procedure, it is in turn my responsibility to in turn, as a reproductive migratory advocate + journalist, to advocate for & amplify issues with the processes that make or break our ability to survive the unavoidable difficulties of life; behold, the human unifier: grief.

There is no molecule of ones existence that grief & loss do not impact. In the greater scheme of things there is precious little advocacy to be found in terms of access, support & continuity for those navigating the pain & despair of grief while trying (as this capitalist hellscape continues to cruelly demand) the continuity of a professional career. The only thing more universal than sexuality— & the relationships, probable family ties, partnering changes, & offering that result from it— is losing that which we love while we are alive, & somehow being forced to economically continue to survive. Wether the timeline of loss is determinable or completely without definition, where are the Human Resource experts in this woefully overlooked field? 

One might say that it is a gift of sorts- some existential consolation prize- to know when you are going to die; what greater insight is their in life than the ability to prepare? However, in cases of what are currently still incurable, degradative diseases such as ALS, one could also be experiencing the inevitability of love lost as an unspeakable burden— both on the one facing transition, & those who remain.

I want you to watch this video— difficult as it may be— & ask yourself: 
Why do we not include grief in the health support & professional infrastructure of mental health and emotional disability? It could be challenged that since we barely support the conditions that lead to loss, it is hardly a surprise that we ignore the greif that results from it. How do we solve this? 

Some research on the matter: see the comments 

RIP Eric Dane. We are sorry that your life was taken from you so young & so quickly. We must all respond to these losses as reminders of all we have to do to accomplish universal health care, human rights, & relational support needed to ease the burdens of suffering on relationships + humanity.

How many products do you test and think, why the BLEEP does it work this way? Is it just inconvenient or something more?

When you test a new app, or try a new tool and it FAILS, does it prevent you from doing your job or do you find a way to work around it?

People with disabilities find work arounds every single day. It's why we make great designers, UX, and product people. It's also why we're great strategists. Because we think 15 steps ahead at what will and won't work.

Accessibility Cannot Be an Afterthought. PERIOD.

It has to be baked in. From the start. So when Meta or Musk roll out something because they want to "move fast" they DO break things.

This is why if you care about doing business differently, you have to partner with and hire more people with disabilities, and not just for a quota.

The same bros claiming AI is the #FutureOfWork are chasing fixes that are not baked in. They claim to be solving social problems but they're not including all humans in the creation of their tools. And here in lies the problem.
 
Trying to increase your social impact (aka focus on humanity and the earth) while operating a business in capitalism is tough.

BUT they sold us a false dichotomy. Money OR inclusion.

They don't want us to have either. 

Access for them or Access for All.

Accessibility is profitable. It's sustainable. It helps the bottom line. And your work (content, product, service, ideas) will reach more people and work better if you design it right the first time. 

We have to stop saying someday, and redesign HOW we work now.

Access is a Human Right; it’s time we act like it. Human rights must be universal, or they’re not worth the paper the U.N. printed them on.

This is why Accessibility is not one person's job. It should not be stuck in only one department. We don't need to talk it on to DEI. It IS DEI.

It's on all of us to put it in our jobs. Think of Access not as an add on, but an active removal of obstacles that prevent your information, or you, from reaching everyone else equally.

When we look at ACCESS—Who has it. Who needs it.—it reveals a lot about a workplace and company culture. People need to have access to something (an event, a service, a product, a place, a file, a drive, even the thermostat) in order to have the same opportunities and experiences.

In order to increase access, everyone must work to remove barriers. We got this. To build sustainable, supportive companies, we have to work together.

How can you ensure that anyone and everyone has the same opportunities, tools, experiences, and privileges as you do? ACCESS.

One way to create #AccessForAll is better communications. Clarity helps increase understanding...and when people use inaccessible language, concepts, or overly complex ideas to talk about their work, it puts up walls.

What can you do right now to increase access to YOUR BRILLIANCE, your ideas, and your work? Because YOUR IDEAS matter. Make sure people can ACCESS YOU TOO.


#DesignOnPurpose

"Access is the Future" on a glowing ball with robot like hands on a black background.

⏳“EXPECT DELAYS.” It was the title of my first blog post. After 7 years as a self-employed designer, writer, and community founder, I KNOW there will be delays. I also know...

IT WILL BE WORTH IT.💯

Why did it take years to make 1 report, and months to post about it?

It’s not my process. I am a fast designer and thinker (h/t to my neurodivergent brain). 

It’s not my project management. I ran 9 multimillion dollar projects at once back in my studio days.

It’s not my lack of content. I have STUFF to share for days.

It’s because launching—a community-turned non-profit without funding, with chronic illnesses and invisible disabilities, while caregiving, and running a business and leading projects, while self-publishing 70+ articles, creating 4 brands, designing 5 websites (not including my clients)—and dealing with (waves hands) ALL OF THIS is not something that happens over night. 

It takes time to build, to connect, to gather, to be present, to amplify, to support, to honor, and to truly listen and be heard.

I left a 9-5 to work differently. I have to walk the walk, and I do...by giving myself the grace to take longer to hit GO.✅

A Creative Director at Nike described me like this: Em is like a bullet in the chamber. You don’t pull the trigger unless you're ready to shoot.

There’s no going back once I'm off and running.

So, this is me, FINALLY pulling the trigger on years of work, years of growth, with all the struggle and ALL THE FEELS.

FLOWLab is here, ready for members, for sponsors, for donations. 
We are READY FOR FUNDING.💰

We have the proof of concept, and documentation for our community-led, participatory research.

We figured out our programs, got clear on our value prop, and clearer on who we serve and why. We know what we are doing; we know it’s working!

And we have the data and reviews to back it up.

What do we need now? YOU.

ASK OUR MEMBERS WHY THEY STILL SHOW UP...
Join Office Hours every Tuesday–this month's Info Session starts at noon pacific.

Read the full report via link ⬇️.
Learn more on our site.
And of course, AMA. I 💙 talking about "community." 


#AnnualReport
#FL5
#CommunityBuilding
#DisabilityJustice
#CreatorCommunity
#AccessForAll

taplio

The Battle

Asmara Kazmi

Emily O. Weltman, M. Ed.

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taplio

The Battle

Asmara Kazmi

Emily O. Weltman, M. Ed.

Followers

Posts

Engagements

Likes

Performance Score.css-goub6s{font-size:var(--chakra-fontSizes-md);font-weight:500;color:var(--chakra-colors-gray-600);display:block;margin-top:var(--chakra-space-1);}Asmara Kazmi's LinkedIn Performance

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