In this week’s virtual meeting of the Sloss Center’s Feminist Fridays, Jahmai Fisher will lead a discussion titled “Wellness So White.”

During the virtual event, Fisher, a training and development specialist for supplemental instruction at Iowa State, will focus on how and why it is challenging for certain groups of people to see themselves among popular wellness culture. Fisher also said many who struggle with this issue have minority-based identities.

“The world is constantly changing and growing […] Unfortunately, a lot of major industries are not very inclusive in their practices,” Fisher said.

Fisher also notes that while researchers predict the U.S. will continue to grow racially diverse within the coming decades, representation of minority identities still has a long way to go.

“Representation [of minorities] is still sorely lacking. Wellness, as a concept and construct, is one of them,” Fisher said.

Fisher works at Iowa State’s Academic Success Center (ASC), whose slogan is “We support. You succeed.” The ASC offers many resources that are designed to help students succeed in their learning experience, such as academic coaching, supplemental instruction, tutoring services and Psych 131, an academic skills course. 

According to the Academic Success Center’s webpage, the mission of the center is to provide opportunities for students to develop skills that promote success, practice leadership and become self-directed learners through the delivery of centralized, high-quality academic support services that are responsive to the needs of the campus community.

The Academic Success Center’s webpage also states that the ASC staff recognizes that a student’s well-being plays an important role in their academic and personal success. Due to this, the ASC staff considers the student as a whole when providing them with support.

This week’s Feminist Friday will begin at 1 p.m. and is available to everyone. You can register to attend the event here.