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Who says a mixtape has to be just music?

On September 12 at The O’Shaughnessy,  co-hosted an interactive multimedia "Mix Tape" event that brought together documentaries, a panel discussion, and audience participation, all focusing on the role of women in leadership, civic engagement, and education. The evening was a partnership between TPT and ��ż���’s including the O’Shaughnessy, the Center for Community Work and Learning, and the Office of Scholarly Engagement, with funding provided by Sarah Rand, PhD, Endowed Chair in Women’s Education. 

“Mix Tape: Women’s Civic Engagement Then & Now” featured excerpts from four TPT specials that each explored activist issues through different women’s movements: , about two Twin Cities schools advocating for decolonized education; , reflecting on the life of African American freedom fighter Josie Johnson, EdD; , which profiles three Indigenous women fighting for recognition of their missing and murdered relatives; and , an exploration of Minnesota women’s suffrage history.

Daniel Bergin, executive producer at TPT, introduced the films. Brittany Wright, known as DJ Miss Brit, moderated a panel discussion that included President Marcheta P. Evans, PhD, adjunct instructor Kabo Yang MAOL’09, and Josi Aguilera ’25, a senior student majoring in political science and international studies. After each piece of footage, panelists answered questions, and DJ Miss Brit provided time for audience members to discuss the topic with their seat neighbors.

In their discussion, the panelists covered a range of topics:

1. Listening is an important way to make change.
When asked how identities can be expressed in institutions that often exclude marginalized communities, Aguilera emphasized the importance of listening. “Teachers, listen to your students; students, listen to each other — but I also want to acknowledge that space is not enough. We have many people with lived experience who can't talk about that experience for a variety of reasons, but that means that we as individuals have to become active listeners.” 

Aguilera continued, “I don't know that all of us can be teachers — that can be really challenging — but we can certainly all be learners, and I hope we will all be advocates for each other.”

2. Everyone has the power to lead and influence.
“In our mission statement we talk about leading and influencing, and sometimes we think as a young person that we don't have that capacity or ability to do it,” said President Evans. “[We think,] ‘I'm just 18 years old. I'm just 19 years old.’ But you do have that power, and you do have that ability if you have the passion to be committed to the work.”

3. Each generation paves the way for the next.
Yang shared that leaders from different generations can take action toward social change based on the wisdom passed down from the generation before them. When she didn’t know what advice to give the generation after her in her commencement address, her mother and mother-in-law told her, “We didn’t have a choice — these young women do. Tell them to make their choice.”

And in her commencement speech, “that was my message,” said Yang. “This intergenerational mentoring is the wisdom that we get from those before us.” 

4. Change requires many voices.
Panelists discussed the need to take concrete steps for change. They touched on tokenism, which occurs when people from underrepresented backgrounds are included in contexts such as politics, media, and the workplace to encourage diversity, but without actual changes to institutional policy and practice.

President Evans mentioned that she has often been used as a token for women and Black people, but has used those situations as opportunities to share her voice. “I’ve been a token so many times,” she said. “But — I’m not a quiet token.”

“Another word for token is ‘change,’” added DJ Miss Brit.

Attendees said they appreciated the focus on local history, which often flies under the radar.

“I was excited to see the local intentionality of the event and how the films themselves were focused on introducing individuals who should be household names in this region,” said Karen Wong, director of Career Development. “Although I’ve learned about many nationally recognized activists, it's just as important to learn about the local advocates who are an important part of the many movements that have helped get us to where we are today.”

In addition to The O’Shaughnessy main stage, several community participation opportunities were also present in the lobby before and after the event. Audience members engaged in interactive “democracy walls,” tabling by the League of Women Voters and Get Out the Vote, and fashion displays created by seniors in the Collection Development course and assistant professor Carol Mager.

D’Ann Urbaniak Lesch, assistant vice president for engaged learning and director of the Office of Scholarly Engagement, shared, “My hope is that those who attended learned some things about our Minnesota history, and women's profound impact across time and issues; felt motivated by the examples of women civic leaders; and left wanting to determine ways they can make change, in the present and in the long term.” 

This is only the latest event in the partnership between TPT and ��ż���’s. Students also had the opportunity to collaborate with Bergin and the film Citizen, which won an Upper Midwest Emmy in 2021, in a variety of ways over the past several years. In  and  courses, students worked with the Minnesota Historical Society (MNHS) to learn more about the suffrage movement's impact on Minnesota. From this project, students presented ideas for exhibits on women’s suffrage to the Minnesota Historical Society and TPT producers, which influenced Citizen.

Photos by Mia Timlin ’25