Storytelling

Available for sessions with corporate, nonprofit, interfaith and community groups to build anti-colonial, anti-racist, broad social justice consciousness.

Many of us have taken DEIA trainings around how we treat one another, how we resolve conflict, and which legal standards govern our behavior. But this can leave people wondering why they’re being given this training and why things are the way they are.

I research and present custom-crafted talks that start with the color/gender divides within your industry or the place where you and your group live, work, or worship. Then I open the doorway to just how small our world has gotten, and how deeply shaped by five hundred years of colonialism. That larger history, tied to current trends and events can be used to inform your future training and discussion about how coworkers and clients, partners and neighbors want to be treated and what it takes to create a culture of belonging in a global society.

  • "Sofia Ali-Khan is amazing! Sofia gave the keynote speech at National Consumer Law Center's annual mortgage conference in Philadelphia, weaving local histories together to challenge the common narrative about how equity in housing, segregation, and who belongs, has progressed in America. It was especially compelling to the room of three hundred lawyers and advocates, like me, who have spent their careers fighting predatory lending and housing discrimination because Sofia brought  her personal experience as a social justice lawyer and her expertise as an author and researcher to the podium. In 20 mins, she delivered a talk that helped us understand how we got here, as a nation and as a people, and how our work fits into that picture. The people in that room were challenged and changed by her vision of what racial justice means and why it matters-- and we gave her a standing ovation to show it."

    — Monty Wilson, Supervising Attorney, Community Legal Services of Philadelphia

  • "I recruited Sofia to tell a story about love, faith, and wearing hijab for The Moth's MainStage in both Boston and Philadelphia. Then, years later, I worked with her on a story called "Slippery Liberty.” It was commissioned for House of Speakeasy at Joe’s Pub in New York, and it exposed the aftermath of several iconic moments in American history. Sofia is a warm and natural storyteller with a thoughtful, nuanced worldview. Her stories are smart, compelling, and unexpected, leaving her audiences transformed."

    -Maggie Cino, playwright and former Senior Producer at The Moth

  • "On behalf of the National Consumer Law Center, I invited Sofia to give the keynote speech to attendees of our annual mortgage conference in Philadelphia. I also suggested that her book, A Good Country: My Life in Twelve Towns and the Devastating Battle for a White America be offered as a book club read for conference attendees. We were SO grateful that she gave a book talk over breakfast and then delivered an amazing speech. Her talk was so on-point and relevant to our work. It was just overall an amazing experience having Sofia at the conference and I continue to get a lot of great feedback from attendees!"

    — Andrea Bopp Stark, Senior Attorney, National Consumer Law