Fear. Avoidance. Division.

When it comes to hard topics, effective communication skills are an asset, vulnerability is necessary, and forgiveness is vital. In Let’s Talk About Race (And Other Hard Things), communication expert and equity consultant Dr. Nancy Dome provides you with a framework to recognize feelings, interrupt flawed patterns, and repair relationships.

Utilized in business, education, and communities throughout the country, Dr. Dome’s process makes space for vulnerability and helps participants engage in empathetic dialogue. Conflict is normal and survivable, and you don’t need special skills or experience to navigate it—you just need practice.

Complete with extensive qualitative research and case studies, this step-by-step guide shows how to lean into difficult conversations, recognize the role emotions play when we are not in control of them, and create a solid foundation for change, progress, healing, and resolution.

Let’s face it: we encounter division and differences of opinion more than ever these days. It’s not always clear how to move forward in a way that is both healthy and feels good inside, in a way that strengthens our systems, relationships, and selves . . . not erodes them.

The Compassionate Dialogue Journey (CDJ) teaches us how to do that. This workbook is a testament to the transformative force that education, activism, and empathy can have on our lives and communities.

Here, through thoughtful guidance and a series of journaling prompts and activities, best-selling author, speaker, and equity expert Dr. Nancy Dome teaches tools we can use to bolster both our self-regulation and relational skills.

You will walk away knowing, “Others don’t control my feelings or my actions. I am open to making mistakes, giving grace to myself and others, and trying my best to stay engaged each and every day. When I do that, I not only see better outcomes and feel more comfortable solving problems, but I can take better care of myself in the process.”

It sounds transformative because it is. And through this workbook, you can have it for yourself.

In this powerful memoir-in-essays, Dr. Nancy Dome traces her journey from a childhood in West Hollywood influenced by poverty and molded by fierce love, to transformative experiences in education and abroad. Along the way, she explores the relationships, challenges, and moments of beauty that shaped her understanding of herself and the world.

With honesty and insight, she invites readers to reconsider their own lived experiences, not with shame, but with reflection and compassion. Rather than promoting forced forgiveness or ignoring injustice, this book invokes the spirit of Sankofa and offers a way to release the hold of the past and move forward with greater awareness, intention, and choice.