Hey Reader, Reclamation is easier to proclaim than to live. 😅 I came home from the retreat glowing, naming stillness and no longer fighting. This week's Chase Center Watch Party Joy! Then, the mamaverse tapped me on the shoulder and asked, "Are you sure?!" And honestly, that's how it goes. You get tested on whether you mean it. My test showed up this week as a big change for my kid all while getting sick: a house move, and a new person moving into the other home. Shifting dynamics. What I'm...
6 days ago • 1 min read
Hey Reader, By the time you read this, I'll be at a Rest + Reclamation Retreat for 4 days with 14 fellow Black women activists, sponsored, held, resting on purpose. Here's how I got here. The same dear friend who thanked me for my authenticity a couple weeks back is the one who nominated me for this opportunity. In fact, I found out about it and the next steps while I was in bed with COVID, and my first thought was… 💭 How am I going to be sick and out of commission for ten days and then go...
20 days ago • 1 min read
Hey Reader, Last week's email felt intense looking back at it, and this week I want to talk about something quieter: temperance. How I've been tempering what I'm building next, and a lot more of the behind-the-scenes than usual. Turns out, I really stepped into my Temperance energy by being honest with my kid about my need and why it was important to do so. The details are less important than the lesson that parenting is reminding me of the countless opportunities to temper all the elemental...
27 days ago • 2 min read
Hey Reader, I want to name something before I dive in... This space, Justice & Joy, is becoming something a little more specific. It's your weekly message from the laptop of yours truly, the behind-the-scenes of what you see me sharing publicly. The connective tissue between the polished post and the actual journey underneath it. This week that journey includes a video I just put up on YouTube about 8 months of therapy and what it taught me. If you've followed me a while, you know I don't...
about 1 month ago • 1 min read
Hey Reader, Last week on part 2 of my artist’s date, I found a bracelet at the Creative Reuse store in Oakland that said "joy and justice." 🤩 Not a metaphor or something I manifested on a vision board, an actual bracelet, sitting there like it had been waiting on me. I bought it because it named the thing I’ve committed to for years now. 🤩 Yet, here’s the thing, even when you know what anchors you, sometimes a wink from the mamaverse acts as confirmation. Let me back up… For 9 days I ran...
about 1 month ago • 3 min read
Hey Reader, I did something bold last week. You can see the reveal here 👀 I will wait. New hair. New season. New founder energy. I am back in the saddle after the unexpected deep rest and recovery from COVID. Turns out sometimes the fastest way back to yourself is to cut what feels heavy and that was my crown. 👑 Here is the other thing that has been happening underneath the haircut. For the past few weeks, I have been noticing a small still voice. The one who asks me to stop pushing a boulder...
about 2 months ago • 1 min read
Hey Reader, The last 7 days knocked me sideways. Last week, I wrote you a message that I planned to send after taking a nap. That nap ended up being 3 hours long and I accepted that rest was the priority. Then by Monday, I was not feeling any better and decided to test for COVID. Welp, this mama tested positive!! 16 days into the new school year, and all of my plans got smaller out of necessity instead of choice, including parenting my daughter this week. Eclipse season asked for surrender,...
about 2 months ago • 1 min read
Hey Reader, I planned to send this to you on Friday, I even attended a co-working sess for accountability. And instead of pushing, I allowed the day to be one of collaborative synergy that turned into an afternoon in the sun, drinking an adult slushie along with chips and gauc! 🥑⚡️😎 Even so, I’ll be honest with you—my heart has felt heavy ❤️🔥 Between Nolan Wells heavenly birthday 🕊️and the seventh Black individual found hung from a tree. As a Black mama, my heart breaks to type that sentence,...
2 months ago • 3 min read
Reader, from community, collaborators, and conversations with potential clients to some low-tech family time in one of my favorite spots in the world. Here’s a photo from the past so that you can imagine where I am today as this lands in your inbox: Wherever you are in this moment, let this be a moment to take a deep breath and center on what’s in your sphere of influence. Feel your feet on the ground. Or in my case, the sand in my toes. Ask yourself 🪄 What do you need now? Water? A hug? A...
3 months ago • 1 min read