Employee activism as a spiritual practice - Tessa Wernink, Undercover Activist

Impact Journey with Julia S

I’ve noticed that activism is having a moment in places I was not used to seeing it - inside companies. Back in my corporate days, I kept your head down and did my activism at home. Serial rebel Tessa Wernink has been shaking things up since co-founding Fairphone. I met her in her new role at The Undercover Activist. We get deep into employee activism: the dissonance about staying in a job and staying true to values, the role of power, and activism as a spiritual practice.

THE IMPACT. Tessa Wernink:

-leads The Undercover Activist, an education and research platform that coaches and emboldens young professionals to take constructive action to change their organisations from within

-was part of the founding team of Fairphone, turning a campaign for fairer electronics into an impact-driven business model

-is co-founder and host of the podcast series, What If We Get It Right?

-studied English Literature and International Development, Journalism, Deep Democracy, Non-Violent Resistance and Communications

-grew up in Hong Kong, and now lives in Amsterdam with her partner and their three boys

THE JOURNEY. In our conversation, we explore:

-Tessa’s international upbringing: “there is more than one truth”

-Starting Fairphone: a rebel questioning systems

-Roots of The Undercover Activist: action research, a learning hub

-Befriending conflict: “resistance is the energy, not the enemy”

-The dissonance: “Should I stay in this job and try to kind of be that person I want to be”

-A learning journey: knowing our rights, safe spaces to be uncomfortable, making it personal

-Activism and power: the “power shadow” of leaders, “do we need power to have influence?”

-Activism as a spiritual practice: “how we get there is where we’ll arrive”