Ryan Takemiya | SpeakerHub

Personal Details

Bio

Ryan Takemiya is a writer, community leader, and storyteller who provides bottom-up, humanist DEIB solutions for orgs of all sizes. Specializing in AAPI identity, culture, storytelling, and career development, his mission is to empower AAPIs and their allies with the agency to transform themselves, their workplaces, and society at large in order to overcome what he calls "Toxic Invisibility". To learn more, please visit www.ryantakemiya.com

Current position (1)

Executive DEIB Consultant

Degrees (1)

Liberal Arts

Sarah Lawrence College

2001 to 2005

Presentations

Presentations (4)

Overcoming Toxic Invisibility for Asian Americans

AAPIs are more represented than ever in media and society, yet we are still rendered invisible through external forces like racism and xenophobia; through internal forces like guilt, shame, and self-criticism; and our cultures are sometimes erased as well, through assimilation or intimidation. This creates an all-encompassing, ‘toxic’ invisibility that permeates our entire lives, following us wherever we go, making us invisible even to ourselves. Ryan Takemiya combines healing, storytelling, and a radical new way of looking at culture to help AAPIs and their allies be seen and heard in the workplace and beyond.

Participants will be given tangible tools to heal, be seen/heard, and change the culture around them. Including physical, vocal, and somatic exercises developed from therapy practices, public speaking techniques, and psychological research, and can be tailored to fit the specific needs (length, content) of your organization.

The Asian American Renaissance

What does it mean to be Asian American?
...Stop asking the question and start answering it.

With more AAPIs than ever involved in the arts, sports, culture, politics, entrepreneurship and beyond, we are poised to create a distinctive identity, rooted in our unique experiences, that sets us apart from other communities but also brings us together in our shared experience as marginalized peoples. But the big question is, what will that identity look like? What IS AAPI culture?

This workshop will cover the history of AAPI culture and introduce the revolutionary notion of "cultural synthesis". Now, more than ever, we need more than just cultural competency - we need self-determined individuals who are armed with cultural agency to be able to change the culture around them.

Workshop presentation includes tools and exercises developed from cultural research, and can be tailored to fit the specific needs (length, content) of your organization.

Storytelling for Success

How can you influence others, speak your truth, AND boost your self-esteem at the same time? TELL YOUR STORY. Our brains are wired to use stories to navigate the world and to understand ourselves and others. But so often we are discouraged from using our gifts, to the point that many of us have forgotten how. Ryan Takemiya has developed a curriculum that will help you find your voice and learn how to use it. This multifaceted workshop touches on story structure, mythology, and even neuroscience to help you understand how stories engage the mind (and even change our brain chemistry!). Vocal and psycho-somatic exercises will help you strengthen your voice, and you will learn how to engage an audience of any size. Amplifying your voice with the power of storytelling could unlock your potential in all aspects of life. The world deserves to hear your unique voice. So…what's your story?

Workshop presentation includes physical, vocal, somatic, and written exercises.

Altering The Narrative

Every day, AAPIs are triggered by toxic invisibility and sent into cycles of shame/anxiety. This creates a negative personal narrative that lowers our self-esteem, making us less likely to take risks, speak out, and become effective leaders. Changing that narrative requires constant internal work.

This workshop will teach participants how to regulate their nervous systems and rewire their brains to tell a different story about themselves. Using concepts from neuroscience and techniques from therapy/psychology participants will learn how to deactivate their stress response, craft their stress experience into a story, and then share that story with others for emotional validation, all for the purpose of positive identity formation.

Presentation followed by interactive physical, vocal, and somatic exercises developed from therapy practices, public speaking techniques, and psychological research, and can be tailored to fit the specific needs (length, content) of your organization.