In this episode, we speak with Dr. Zori Paul, a counselor educator and licensed professional counselor, about her research on microaffirmations and bisexual+ people of color. Dr. Paul explains what microaffirmations are and how they may provide potential psychological buffering against discrimination for individuals with marginalized identities, such as LGBTQ+ people of color. She also highlights her research journey and her research work on bisexual+ people of color and the ways that the bisexual+ community is often forgotten or misrepresented in both the heterosexual and LGBTQ+ communities. Dr. Zori A. Paul’s Contact:
Website - https://www.zoriapaul.com/
Instagram - @AmberInsights
BlueSky - @ZoriAmber
Research Gate - https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Zori-Paul
Research Papers/Resources:
Paul, Z. A., & Lewis, K. D. (2024). Psychometric Properties of the Bisexual Microaffirmation Scale: For Women in a Sample of Bisexual + Women and Nonbinary People of Color. Journal of Bisexuality, 25(1), 158–185. https://doi.org/10.1080/15299716.2024.2382770
Paul, Z. A., Isadore, K., Ravi, N., Lewis, K., Qisti, D., Hietpas, A., Hermanson, B., & Su, Y. (2025). Operationalizing microaffirmations for queer and transgender people of color. The Professional Counselor, 15(1), 32 – 51. https://doi.org/10.15241/zap.15.1.32
Paul, Z. A. (2025, March 13). How Mental Health Professionals Can Do Better for the Bi+ Community. Bisexual Resource Center. https://biresource.org/how-mental-health-professionals-can-do-better-for-the-bi-community/
Definition of microaffirmations: Microaffirmations are "small acts, which are often ephemeral and hard-to-see, events that are public and private, often unconscious but very effective, which occur wherever people wish to help others to succeed. Micro-affirmations are tiny acts of opening doors to opportunity, gestures of inclusion and caring, and graceful acts of listening." (Rowe, 2008, p.46)
Definition of bisexual/bisexual+: Bisexuality is the potential to be physically, romantically, and/or emotionally attracted to more than one gender, not necessarily at the same time or in the same way. Bisexual+ is an umbrella term that includes all people who experience any type of attraction to more than one gender (e.g., pansexual, omnisexual, fluid, etc.) (Bisexual Resource Center, 2023)
Rowe, M. 2008. “Micro-affirmation and Micro-inequalities.” Journal of the International Ombudsman Association 1 (1): 45–48.
Delston, J. B. (2021). The ethics and politics of microaffirmations. Philosophy of Management, 20(4), 411-429. Delston, J. B. (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40926-021-00169-x
Bisexual Resource Center: https://biresource.org/
Additional Articles:
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Music Samples:
Intro 1 by FASSounds - Daily Coffee
Intro 2 by Mikhail Smusev - Heroic Quest
Outro by Alex Kizenkov - Inspirational Cinematic Adventure
