UNDERSTANDING & BEING UNDERSTOOD
Lillian Roybal Rose taught her nationally acclaimed cross cultural leadership awareness seminars to academic, corporate, civic, and community groups, implementing powerful learning frameworks for long-term, effective cooperation and communication. Lillian's style is dynamic, personable, and sensitive. Her extensive experience and exceptional skills helped fuel mutual respect among people of all backgrounds, helping them reclaim pride in their roots through the exploration of shared experiences. Her unique high-impact seminars were known for supporting and releasing creativity, productivity, and efficiency among people working together.
Lillian was an educator and consultant in the area of cross cultural communication. She is Latina and grew up in east Los Angeles. Lillian received her B.A. in sociology from California State University, Los Angeles and her M.S. in education from the University of Southern California. She has also trained at the Stanford Institute for Intercultural Communication, and completed the Healing the Heart of Diversity® Facilitation Leaders Partnership Program.
As of September 2015 Lillian has officially retired.
A Note of Appreciation from Lillian
My work has been a collaborative effort. There is no way I can thank everyone, but I do want to note a few. Paulo Freire’s writings inspired me, and I deeply appreciate the late Natalia Delgado, University of California Professor Emerita Pamela Roby, and the late Dr. Erica Sherover-Marcuse who mentored me. I am grateful to those who organized my workshops. Their invitations and efforts were key to everything I did.
My workshop audiences and participants believed in and supported me even when I made an “oops.” I continually learned from them. My husband Mike Rose cared for our children while I was traveling, and once they were older, good humoredly accompanied me when I led workshops outside of the country.
Testimonials and Resources
Norbert S. Hill, Jr.
Oneida Tribe of Wisconsin
I met Lillian in Colorado in the early 1990s. I attended one of her Re-Evaluation Diversity Training workshops in Fort Collins, CO, and was blown away by her message, her power, and her presence. At the time, I worked as the Director of the American Indian Science and Engineering Society in Boulder, Colorado, and arranged for Lillian to present several workshops to the AISES community during the 1990s. Read more...
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Daniel Escalante
Director, Casa Taos Retreat & Training Center
720-987-8148
Years ago Lillian Roybal Rose conducted some workshops in Colorado that I attended and she made a huge, positive impact on my personal and professional life. My work as a trainer and facilitator was forever changed by Lillian.
Lillian has been such a positive influence in my life and I try to pay it forward as much as I can in my personal and professional life. Preparing for this workshop has caused me to reflect on the workshops she provided.
One of my favorite things she said was, “don’t expect/ask anyone to do something you aren’t willing to do yourself”. This has helped me to be more authentic in my relationships with everyone.
And the practice of saying “oops” at the beginning of a workshop. I can almost always feel the group’s energy change when we acknowledge that we are all just human beings and will make mistakes on the path to learning and growing.
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Linda Croyle
Consultant, Trainer, Professional Speaker,
Croyle Consulting
(805) 450-7125
"Hands Down the Best Diversity Workshop I've Ever Been To"
That's what I said 20 years ago, when my life was forever changed by a single workshop and the unique approach of its facilitator, Lillian Roybal Rose.
Because We All Need More Human Connection. Read more...
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John Foley
Director of Human Resources of the Los Alamos National Laboratory (ret.)
In 1986 I became the Director of Human Resources of the Los Alamos National Laboratory, the famous nuclear research laboratory located in the mountains of northern New Mexico. In this job I was responsible for the personnel needs of nearly 8000 employees. In addition, I was expected to champion the push for a more diverse workforce. My appointment to this position was a bit unusual as I am a white male with a Ph.D. in nuclear engineering, not a professional HR manager. Because the Laboratory had had a long history of unrest in the human resources department, the Laboratory’s upper management decided that maybe someone who understood scientists and the scientific culture might be better suited to the job. I was chosen for the position because I had the reputation of being a good people manager, as well as a good scientist.
I soon learned, unfortunately, that our diversity efforts were floundering. Read more ...
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Kathleen Rice
Associate, Luna Jiménez Institute for Social Transformation
It was Halloween, 1991 in the midst of a snowstorm, that I first met Lillian when she lead a workshop called “Understanding and Being Understood.” I have always remembered that workshop, but not much of the content except for a couple of life changing moments. One exercise she lead, helped me notice for the first time how frequently I made assumptions about myself, a situation, and others and how limiting and damaging those assumptions were. I can still picture crossing the line in the Power Shuffle. One time I chose to cross the line was particularly painful and liberating at the same time. It was the first time I publicly claimed some experiences I had as a young person that installed some intense feelings of shame on me. That experience allowed me to claim my story, realize I did not need to hide it, and notice that I was not alone in my pain.
Lillian’s teachings about the power of listening and being listened to, to heal from the effects of oppression, are a part of my life every day. She helped me discover and commit to my life purpose, and to allow myself to “enjoy eating an avocado” even in the midst of much struggle for a more just, loving, inclusive and equitable world. For that and more, I am and will always be deeply grateful to Lillian’s bold, brave, ground breaking leadership.
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Nanci Luna Jiménez
President,
Luna Jiménez Institute for Social Transformation
P.O. Box 11837, Portland, OR 97211
P: 503.281.5570 | F: 503.281.5571
“No movement you are a part of will be any healthier than you are.” Although I first heard Lillian utter those words in February 1994 when I participated in her public “Understanding and Being Understood” workshop in Watsonville, California, they have been a guiding principle in my life every day since. At that first workshop, she helped me see that I was reproducing my pain in every aspect of my activism and life. Lillian offered practices, frameworks and an invitation to end oppression that centered kindness, compassion, and justice: values that I was fighting for in my activism but I wasn’t able to stay true to because of unhealed and internalized hurt from oppression. At the end of that 2-day workshop, I approached her and asked if I could work with her.
Here is a link to the part of our website where we honor Lillian’s legacy: https://ljist.com/who-we-are/lillians-legacy/.
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