ABOUT ME
We are all many things
I am a true believer that the many identities I hold within my single existence are pivotal in contributing to the perspective in which I view the world, and do my work.
As Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie shared in one of her famous TED Talks on the Danger of a Single Story, we are all many things.
Here’s a glimpse into the many things that have led to shaping me.
I was born and raised in the Bay Area of California, and also grew up in the California Central Valley, Nevada and in Atlanta, Georgia. I went to college in Alabama, and I currently reside just outside of Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
Growing up, I had a unique childhood where I was exposed to vast diversity in cultures, religions, ethnicities and gender expression. I was raised by a Muslim father and Catholic mother. We attended the liberation theology church of my childhood best friend’s father every Sunday, where we learned Swahili and African rites of passage, and Jesus was a social activist at heart.
My father integrated his elementary school and taught me very early on how to face and channel my anger from witnessing injustice into meaningful action. My mother, an only child raised by a strong single mother, introduced me to bell hooks at 13 and taught me how to take up space for myself, to always be myself.
I’ve always been an insatiable autodidact and started reading at the age of three. During the peak 90’s as a young, “gifted and talented” Black girl with some distinct processing differences, I struggled to find my identity in mostly white spaces I just never seemed to fit in to. I poured myself into school, read every edition of Encyclopedia Britannica of my parents obliged to, and became the librarian’s lunch buddy.
At a young age, I devoured politically provocative books, and loved summers on the east coast with my Great Aunt Bernyce and Uncle Arthur in Washington D.C. where I got the living history stories to accompany whatever latest political story I was into at the moment. Model United Nations in high school crystallized my longtime interest in politics, and attending Alabama A&M University, a historically Black college/university, was one of the most impactful chapters of my life in terms of shaping my identity.
When my family moved to the midwestern United States, I was introduced to a brand new side of America I hadn’t met yet. I learned about the segregation and inequities that reached beyond the Jim Crow south, and the redlining and socioeconomic oppression that would have a lasting effect on marginalized communities into the new millennium. The activist spirit I was born with reignited, and I dove into community social work through organizations like Milwaukee Urban League Young Professionals, Ex Fabula and Tosa Together. There was, and still is, work to be done in the place I now call home.
The layers of my social identities and lived experiences shape the perspectives in which I view the world. I’m a Black, cisgender woman. A mother and bonus mom to 3 beautiful, Black young men. I am neurodivergent, living on the autism spectrum with ADHD. I’m a native English speaker who has had access to formal education. I have white, opposite-sex spouse, who is a veteran and has served in law enforcement.
My varied identities give me both close proximity to social privilege, and push me away from it. These are all aspects of my identity that are important to know because they add perspective to the lenses in which society views me, and how I interact with my lived experiences.
I have a deep, deep sense of connective empathy to the human experience that we all share.
I believe it comes from the seeds that were planted in me from my own live experiences, the personal and social identities I inherited, and my ancestors who have come before me and blessed me with the lessons of their paths lived.
Thank you for seeing me.
Things that light me up
aka - “my special interests” to my fellow autists 😉
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Before I’m a woman, I’m a Black woman.
Before I’m a mother, I’m a Black mother.
Before I’m a wife, I’m a Black wife.
I am, and will always be, interested and will prioritize the liberation and freedom of Black people in the diaspora across the globe.
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I love to cook and I love to eat! Check out my instagram for more plate pics than selfies 🍽️
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As a 90’s kid with echolalia raised on jock jams, I can recite almost every R&B Billboard Chart topper from the 90’s! And, I’m also a loyal member of the BeyHive 👑🐝