My name is Juliana Tafur. I’m the producer and director of the award-winning documentary “List(e)n” as well as the founder of Listen Courageously, a movement and workshop with a mission to show people how to navigate our differences, through listening.
As a Colombian-American who came to the United States as a political asylee at age 15, my identity has always been defined by ‘a mix of things’. While in college at Northwestern, I spent a considerable amount of time in Egypt as an exchange student, and produced a student film about the Sudanese refugees in Cairo. On any given day you can find me speaking English, Spanish and Portuguese, and being equally comfortable in the U.S., Latin America and Brazil – where I lived and worked for six years. I also married a Norwegian, to add one more variant to the mix.
The friendships, lived experiences and family ties around different corners of the world have made me strive for a world where we see others in their full capacity, regardless of ideology, gender or sexual orientation, socioeconomic status, ethnic or cultural background, and race. This is also why I’m passionate about creating genuine human connection, amidst the extremely polarizing times we’re living in. My workshops are breaking down these silos, by guiding people on how to have heart-centered conversations that lead to understanding.
My journey with “List(e)n” began four years ago, in January of 2017. I was sitting at my desk at a Discovery Networks, intending to work, but videos circulating the web of people at odds with each other — yelling, cursing, labeling, finger-pointing and “othering” — were too daunting. Feeling saddened and questioning my own place in our American society, I took action, in an attempt to heal the divide I was seeing and feeling.
I was in for a wild ride. Transitioning from a network executive to a social impact entrepreneur was the first step. Without any time to spare, I held talks with cable networks about my idea, and realized quickly that their attempts to “spice up” my vision to make it more “appealing” and “ratings-driven” wasn’t going to work for me. I was determined to produce a film that wouldn’t exacerbate our divisions, but invite us to see our shared humanity, instead. After a few months, I was able to secure funding from an angel investor and get to work.
List(e)n features participants on opposite sides of hot-button political issues – gun policy, abortion and immigration – with the intent to have them connect at a human level and transcend their differences. You can watch “List(e)n’s” trailer here: http://listencourageously.com/thefilm/
The film toured the country at respected film festivals – including the 37th edition of the Miami Film Festival – and has been a recipient of multiple industry accolades, including a humanitarian award. Described by festival programmers as “a knockout” and by viewers as “riveting, moving and timely”, the 80-minute documentary is wise to the ways we sometimes hate that which we don’t understand. It is also brave enough to ask: Can we at least try to listen those with whom we most disagree?
Listen Courageously was born after I identified the need for a workshop to complement my film, which could show participants what happens when we stop, to listen – and how when we learn about others who might look or think differently from us, and understand their lived experiences – the fear and/or hatred we might feel for them dissolves.
I am proud of how far I’ve come with Listen Courageously. Our program has already positively impacted hundreds of participants in more than 15 leading corporations, organizations and academic institutions in the U.S., Canada and beyond – such as Salesforce, the United Nations Foundation, Coca-Cola Scholars Foundation, Ohio State, Michigan State and Northwestern University, among others.
We keep going, inspired by reviews from our clients, who are saying things like: “This should be a “must view and participate” for everyone. If you have the chance, do it! You will learn a lot about yourself and will likely be moved by the experience. We might make even the world a little better, too…. one conversation at a time.”
Since I am working to eradicate the labels that we so often place on people, today I will tell you ‘I’m a citizen of the world’ with a message: “our perceptions don’t identify us and as humans we can strive for meaningful connections, regardless of what we think separates us.” Like our mission? Join our movement at www.listencourageously.com
