SAIN et SAUF, a methodology for
the practice of solidarity
Sustainable, Authentic, Inclusive, Nurturing Solidarity and Unity Framework. SAIN et SAUF means safe and sound in French, a reminder of what we can be.
Welcome into the Brave Sis Project Solidarity Lab!
Why SAIN et SAUF is not DEI
with a fancy new name
Over the past half decade, most organizations practiced DEI as either a liability hedge or a feel-good performance, an approach never built to withstand abrupt shifts in the social, political, and economic landscape. When those shifts came, the programs disappeared almost overnight.
SAIN et SAUF is the next phase, not the opposite of equity work but its evolution. It’s built to be practiced in your life, your relationships, and your sphere of influence, with or without institutional permission. Our praxis is rooted in the study of race because that is where American exclusion is most clearly documented and most aggressively enforced, but the isms are many, and this framework is made for the full complexity of them.
The Four Pillars and what they ask of us
S,
Sustainable. Preserve your energy.
Stay for the long haul.
BIPOC folks: rest is part of the work; boundaries belong here too. White friends: do your own learning instead of extracting from BIPOC colleagues. For everyone: prioritize collective care over martyrdom or saviorism.
A,
Authentic.
Show up as your whole self.
No code-switching, no respectability performance, no pretending you have it figured out. BIPOC folks: use your real voice; name harm even when it’s uncomfortable. White friends: admit what you don’t know; own discomfort honestly. For everyone: choose integrity over performance.
I,
Inclusive.
Honor voices historically pushed to the edge,
and redistribute power,
not just representation.
BIPOC folks: your voice is honored; your silence is honored as processing. White friends: monitor airtime, amplify without talking over, make space by stepping back. For everyone: design structures that change who speaks, who is believed, and how decisions get made.
N,
Nurturing.
Build the conditions for healing,
growth, and durability.
BIPOC folks: space for rest, mistakes, and bringing your full emotional range; our Foremothers’ legacy is ours to draw on. White friends: be a learner without needing praise; accept correction without crumbling. For everyone: normalize brave space over safe space and draw fortitude from the Foremothers, always.
Solidarity and Unity.
No code-switching, no respectability performance, no pretending you have it figured out. BIPOC folks: use your real voice; name harm even when it’s uncomfortable. White friends: admit what you don’t know; own discomfort honestly. For everyone: choose integrity over performance.
*About “BIPOC”: we know the acronym is evolving and can feel reductive and misaligned for many. We use it here as a familiar shorthand.
Inspired by Partnerism
SAIN et SAUF draws on many influences. We want to name one specifically: Riane Eisler’s Partnerism framework, which contrasts two models that shape how organizations actually operate.
Domination Model
Power OVER others
Hierarchies of domination
Fear-based control
Win-lose
Partnership Model
Power WITH others
Hierarchies of actualization
Mutual respect
Win-win
The practice in action
The life of Septima Poinsette Clark is one depiction of SAIN et SAUF in action.
In 1956, South Carolina passed a law barring state employees from belonging to the NAACP. Because she refused to renounce her membership, Septima was fired by the state, after decades as a classroom teacher, and stripped of her pension as well.
This is power OVER: a system using fear to force compliance or punish. But her next step shows what power WITH looks like: she went elsewhere in the South, establishing Citizenship Schools where adults learned to read so they might have a chance to pass the literacy tests that were keeping them from voting.
She trained other people to teach in turn. Citizenship Schools still exist to this day.
Septima Clark never positioned herself as the expert handing down knowledge to grateful recipients; she built a structure that handed the power to the people it was supposed to serve, and then she let them carry it forward.
Traditional DEI versus SAIN et SAUF
Aspect
Goal
Focus
Approach
Power
Accountability
Facilitator role
Comfort
Timeline
Traditional DEI
Representation and inclusion
Individual bias
Add diverse faces to existing systems
Leaves power structure intact
To organization / leadership
Expert delivering content
Centers white comfort
One-time training
SAIN et SAUF
Liberation and power redistribution
Systemic oppression
Transform the systems themselves
Redistributes power
To impacted communities
Co-creator holding space
Centers BIPOC liberation
Ongoing practice
Beyond race
SAIN et SAUF was built from the examination of race and racism because racism is where the foundation of American exclusion and discrimination is most legible,
most documented, and most violently enforced. But the same mechanics, labor extracted without credit, assimilation demanded as the price of belonging,
difference punished, dignity denied, run across gender, disability, class, sexuality, age, documentation status, and many other facets of identity and existence.
We don’t claim SAIN et SAUF is the antidote to every inequity of our times. We do claim that it offers a broader, open-minded lens for mindset growth and group and
community change. Wherever your identities and priorities lie, our hope is that SAIN et SAUF is a springboard to deeper awareness, liberation, celebration, and joy.
Foremother Wisdom, Twice a Month
Twice a month, on the 1st and the 15th, meet three to four Foremothers gathered around a theme, with reflection and action points that you can return to. No spam, no guilt, just inspiring women to discover and celebrate.
What Practice Partners Are Saying
“Rozie has a rare ability to design big-picture change strategies that honor where each person is starting from, bridging blind spots, biases, and differing experiences without losing sight of the mission. She translates complex and sensitive topics into frameworks and practices that are both accessible and actionable, helping teams move through discomfort toward alignment and trust. Her work doesn’t just improve conversations, it transforms not just relationships, but the systems that sustain trust over time.”
Chief of Staff
“Rozella offers an amazing framework for understanding and decentering whiteness and dominant cultural norms, pulling together rich source materials that connect past with present and personal with the political.”
Organizational Client
Questions about SAIN et SAUF
What does SAIN et SAUF mean?
SAIN et SAUF is French for “safe and sound,” an intentional translation on our part. The acronym stands for Sustainable, Authentic, Inclusive, Nurturing Solidarity and Unity Framework. Safety and integrity are foundational traits that build our praxis of solidarity across difference, through discomfort, and over time.
Is this the same as DEI?
We’d like to think it’s the next iteration of DEI. The way most organizations practiced it, “diversity, equity, inclusion (and sometimes belonging)” were mechanisms implemented to reduce liability, soothe staff, and boost the brand. When the social and political landscape shifted, the liability equation disappeared. SAIN et SAUF was built to be practiced in your own life and sphere of influence, with or without institutional permission.
Who is this methodology for?
It’s for anyone who felt the fracture and wants to do something about it. This can be a white woman (or any white person) who cares but finds themself struggling to find a sustainable structure to support their growth. It can be a Black or other BIPOC* woman who is tired of carrying the weight of other people’s learning, wants a practice that protects their energy as much as it advances the work, or desires to more deeply align and collaborate with other women of color in coalition. And this is also for organizations and teams who are ready to move beyond compliance into something that actually shifts culture.
Does Brave Awareness teach SAIN et SAUF?
Yes, the Brave Awareness course is the entry point into the SAIN et SAUF methodology. It introduces the framework through ten self-paced lessons, anchored in Foremother stories, practical tools, and reflection prompts designed to move you from awareness into practice. The two follow-on courses go deeper, building the full working vocabulary and praxis of solidarity and unity.
How does SAIN et SAUF connect to the Foremothers?
The Foremothers are the heart and soul of Brave Sis Project, providing historical context and case studies that inspire and encourage us today. SAIN et SAUF was developed by studying the accomplishments of Black, Brown, Asian, and Indigenous women across centuries of resistance, coalition-building, and community care. Septima Poinsette Clark built power with, not power over. Ella Baker built structures that outlasted her. Yuri Kochiyama built coalitions across racial lines that the movement said couldn’t hold. We also are including more she roes from the global sphere to help us contextualize our work in today’s interconnected world.
Can my organization adopt this framework?
Yes, the Team Edition of the Solidarity Lab is designed to bring the SAIN et SAUF methodology into organizational life through a structured cohort experience, a Solidarity Audit, and facilitations and engagements that support your goals.
What is Beloved Community, and what does this have to do with Brave Sis Project SAIN et SAUF?
Beloved Community is the North Star of Brave Sis Project, an aspirational vision for building a world with more trust and collaboration and solidarity across all vectors of difference. We do not interpret it as superficial, performative harmony or “niceness,” but rather as a justice-rooted practice where love, justice, and mutuality replace violence and oppression, and where real community is built through truth telling, repair, accountability, and shared responsibility.
The concept was originated by Josiah Royce (1855-1916), an early 20th-century American philosopher, and incorporated into Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s (1929-1968) vision for social change as the hoped-for outcome of nonviolent struggle, not sentimentalism, but a just peace. Buddhist monk Thich Nhat Hanh (1926-2022), a friend of King’s, extended the vision, incorporating teachings on “interbeing” and prioritizing radical interconnectedness.
A contemporary and pragmatic iteration of Beloved Community was articulated by Dr. Arthuree Wright, a minister and practitioner-scholar, in 2017. She proposed “25 Traits of The Beloved Community,” concrete, measurable attributes we can practice, notice, and build toward in real relationships and real systems. While Brave Sis Project is not a religious or spiritual praxis, this moral and values oriented approach aligns with our ultimate goals: trust, collaboration, accountability, and shared responsibility across difference.
Begin the practice
You don’t need to have done anything before. You need to be willing to begin.