Coffee with Colber Prosper

Colber Prosper and I met at the inception of the Wild Goose
Festival's LEAD NOW! program in 2015. We both returned as
contributors in 2016. LEAD NOW! applied his teaching and
leadership skills while I joined the first-ever GooseCast, a
stage dedicated to podcasters. Colber is an author and the
founder of Prosper & Partners.


Colber's first book, No Entry: Examining the Powers that
Undermine Our Full Potential, is a unique breakthrough book. It
is accessible like Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi
Coates and has substance like The New Jim Crow by Michelle
Alexander. First, as any work of art it draws from unique
combinations of sources.  It synthesizes material and ideas
from many wide-ranging sources, including hard sciences, music,
poetry, social sciences and life experience. Second, No Entry is
useful! Concepts discussed have lists, steps, or categories. You
can identify what you have or what's missing in your circumstance
and move to affect change in your life! And if you ever find
yourself without clear direction then you can contact the team at
Prosper & Partners!


A third uniqueness is the code switching that takes place. By
"code switching" I mean changing dialects or registers, or, in
the extreme, actually changing languages. To a reader, like
myself, who only knows "proper English" to be "the Queen's
English," all of the content is still completely accessible. A
reader might, again like myself, initially perceive there to be
typos or grammatical errors. The error, however, is with the
reader. The purpose of Colber's code switching in No Entry is to
remain authentic to as many parts of himself as possible in
the span of a short book. In our interview he says, "We need
to start being able to share our full selves and not pieces of
ourselves."


Beyond the book, Colber is the founder and senior consultant
for Prosper & Partners, an international consulting firm that
specializes in professional and organizational development.
He is an innovative and compassionate leader who has been
recognized for his ability to educate youth and adult
professionals on various topics. Colber is an experienced
facilitator that has led a plethora of presentations and
workshops. He has done extensive research on issues of inclusion,
social justice, organizational change, middle management and
higher education. He has also provided trainings in coalition
building, substance abuse prevention and organizational
development around the world in places such as Port-au-Prince,
Haiti, Cape Town, South Africa, Nairobi, Kenya and several more.
His extensive background in strategic planning and implementation
has made him an asset to various higher educational institutions
and non-profit organizations. Finally, Colber teaches at the
University of the District of Columbia where his research is
being used to increase student engagement.


Links:


No Entry: Examining the Powers that Undermine Our Full Potential
 by Colber Prosper


Prosper & Partners


Twitter: @ColberProsper


United Faith Leaders


Wild Goose Festival


LEAD NOW Cohort at the Wild Goose


University of the District of Columbia