Empathy in Action
Session Description
Cultivating empathy in challenging times requires us to identify foundational behaviors that center us, even as we navigate complex or adversarial environments. During this facilitated session you’ll discover how the practice of Storytelling for Bridge Building can promote active listening and respectful communication—skills needed to effectively build organizational empathy and resilience. Participants will engage with a template, prompts and each other as you explore your “story.” This session holds space for those library workers who want to better understand how to effectively engage in empathetic conversations—but haven't yet been given the tools.
Presenter: Christina Fuller-Gregory
Christina Fuller-Gregory is a librarian, writer and equity-centered facilitator and practitioner. She is Founding Principal of Fuller Potential Consulting, a firm that focuses on strategic planning through an equity lens. Fuller-Gregory is highly active in the organizations of the American Library Association and has participated as a committee member and chair of numerous library committees including the ALA Emerging Leaders Program, ALA Committee on Diversity, and Public Library Association's EDISJ Committee. In 2023, Christina worked with ACRL, ARL, ALA, and PLA to lead the development of the Cultural Proficiencies for Racial Equity Framework--a first of its kind guide for developing personal, organizational, institutional, and systems-level knowledge and understanding of the nature of racism and its many manifestations.
Recognized as a Mover & Shaker by Library Journal for her work in the equity space, Christina’s writing has been featured in publications including PLA Magazine, Voya Magazine, and Library Journal. In 2025, Fuller-Gregory published her first book, A Library Worker’s Guide to Saying No to White Supremacy Work Culture with Bloomsbury Publishing. Led by Fannie Lou Hamer’s belief that ‘Nobody’s free until everybody’s free,’ Christina's research, writing, and engagement as a facilitator is driven by a desire to see Libraries develop strategies for weaving equity, diversity, and inclusion, and belonging into the very fabric of their organizations.
