​Stories and Practices Weaving Care - from the Ground, Up!

​Rooted is a live series of high-voltage gatherings exploring care as a radical act, a way of reclaiming agency, resisting apathy, and reorganizing communities from the ground up. In an age of burnout, loneliness, and failing institutions, we ask: what happens when people stop waiting for permission and start building what they need together?

​This year, the Amsterdam Organisational Transitions and Transformations IDG Hub is flipping the script. Across three events at Equals, we’ll spotlight local pioneers - activists, artists, social hackers, community rebels, and people who care - who are shifting paradigms not from above, but from below.

​What to Expect at Each Event:

​Connection

​- Meet grassroots organisers, rogue entrepreneurs, civic designers, and cultural workers who are rewriting the rules of care and connect the dots between their worlds and yours.

​Practice

​- Drop into hands-on sessions to sharpen your inner development tools, practice community-rooted leadership, and learn how to build systems that feel like belonging.

​Reinvention

​- Join live dialogues that challenge dominant narratives of success, scale, and value. Expect brave questions, unusual voices, and unapologetic honesty about what care really demands.

​Together, we’ll challenge how we measure value, and dream louder, act caringly, connect concretely, about what truly matters

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​Why you should attend the event

​Discover and contribute your agency to the Amsterdam we love, made of tightly knit communities of local action, cultural melting pots, and vibrant counter/thinking.

​Change the narrative of what economical, ecological and societal sustainability look like, from top down to ground up.

​Stop complaining about what a guy is doing on the other side of the ocean, and see what we can do to stop the crap going on here instead.

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​Speaker Bio

​💥 Event 1 – June 24 Equals Amsterdam we’re honored to welcome four visionary guests whose work bridges art, activism, healing, and systems change:

​🎤 Shailoh Phillips – Artist, hacker, researcher & co-founder of Salwa Foundation and Reschooling With, she is currently working on arts in palliative care. Her work lives at the intersection of protest, performance & community organising.

​🔗 reschooling.org | artbasedlearningincare.com

​🎤 Monika Stepak – Underground activist, yoga instructor, therapist, circus artist and teacher, youth mentor, researcher and DJ. Founder of Movement Academy, Youth Circus, and Life for Life based at OT301.

​🔗 monikastepak.org | ot301.nl

​Moderated by Sofia Mourato and Maria Grazia Testa, with the coordination of Marietta Benkhoff.

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​​About Equals:

​​We strive for equality and diversity in the workforce by actively supporting women* in the growth and development of their careers. By uniting our efforts and celebrating and championing our members and partners, we unlock the full potential of everyone involved.

​​Joining Equals means more than being part of a community; it means integrating into a dynamic ecosystem designed for connection, growth, and empowerment.

​​We believe diversity enriches us all and together, we can forge significant change. Whether through engaging workshops or a supportive networking space, Equals fosters a community for collaboration and professional growth.

​​Sign up at www.equals.nl and join our mission towards a more inclusive and equitable world.

​​Because only by joining forces can we truly make a difference.

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