Esther Triggs

About Esther

Triggs co-founded Journey Theatre Project (JTP). JTP works with non-profits, corporate entities, educational, religious and community organizations to create a brave space for necessary conversations. As Director of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion there, Triggs challenged traditional power structures and disrupted unconscious bias, through the use of theatre, dialogue, game, and data.

Triggs has dedicated her career to educating communities in anti-racism, diversity, equity and inclusion practices. Triggs’ unique experience in both theatrical and corporate settings allows her to bridge gaps in facilitating conversations which leads to empowerment of individuals and groups toward equitable solutions.

Triggs is an alumnus of Cornell’s Diversity and Inclusion certificate program and a graduate of CUNY SPS’ master of arts in Applied Theatre program, that utilizes theatre for social justice work. She supports organizations in understanding the perceptual, institutional, and psychological process which impact the bottom line of an organization and how we, in community, interact with each other and create a culturally competent workplace.

Triggs’s work is rooted in Paulo Freire‘s Pedagogy of the Oppressed. Freire believed not in leading others but rather in supporting folx to get where they want to go. Triggs supports people who want to learn about themselves and the world they inhabit in order to transform it. “…the word is more than just an instrument that makes dialogue possible; accordingly, we must seek its constitutive elements. Within the word, we find two dimensions, reflections and action, in such radical interaction that if one is sacrificed-even in part--the other immediately suffers.” Paulo Freire.

I believe in meeting students where they are at within their work of becoming an intricate part of a diverse, equitable and inclusive community. Through the use of dialogue, reflection and action, we work toward transformation