This is part nine of Beyond The Magic. The purpose of the Beyond The Magic storytelling project is to highlight the full experiences and humanity of Black women; beyond our magic and beyond the expectations of others. Interested in contributing to this project? Let’s connect!

How do you define Black Girl Magic?

Black Girl Magic is the power that exudes from Black women and girls being unapologetically ourselves. It manifests in small and large ways, but it is the extra something special that we can bring to anything.

How do you define "Black Excellence" ?

Black Excellence is whatever Black people do to persevere.

Describe a time when you felt the need to shrink yourself or code-switch to mentally or physically survive.

The last time I had to shrink myself was in a past job, where I did not have capacity or power to speak about the ways in which illness, trauma, and white supremacy had my livelihood in a chokehold. I tried desperately just to make it through, but it did not result in me holding onto the job or doing well in my own health. I learned then that I will always speak up, always do my best to get out of circumstances that harm me, and never let my fear of judgment get in the way of protecting myself.

What does it look like to hold space for grief?

I'm a big Marvel fan, and in the mini-series WandaVision, a character says that grief is "love persevering". Holding space for grief requires that I allow myself to fully embrace that whatever I'm missing now, I had the benefit of having at one time. As such, tending to this loss means that I need to be gentle with myself, I need to surround myself with those who will be tender with me, and I need to allocate time and resources to ensure my safety. I am working on creating a grief plan and I would love to share it with other Black women and girls when it is complete!

What does it look like to hold space for joy?

I've come to understand that joy is something that comes from within me. Giving myself the space to get to know how I can cultivate joy, identifying what threatens to disturb my joy, and holding onto the optimism that is innate within me are all ways in which I hold space for joy.

Pause and think about all the stereotypes, expectations, or assumptions placed on Black women. What do you want to say to counter those stereotypes/expectations/assumptions? What's your truth?

I don't believe that I need to counter the stereotypes, expectations, and assumptions. I didn't create them, so it's not my job. My truth is that there is no one who can live my life better than me and all I care about is moving all of us towards a world in which we are most free.

"I am home when..."

I am surround by love, including my own love for myself.

"Justice is..."

when accountability and action lead to our collective freedom.

"Love is..."

the ultimate purpose of my life.

What words of wisdom would you give to your childhood self?

Relax. All the things that you think you know about the world now are things that you should be open to challenging. The foundations that you've been given will be helpful, but you cannot cling to that. You have to be bold and unafraid to explore and try new things. Even in the chaos, things will come back together. Or they won't. And that is okay too. Life is a journey, so please venture down all the paths that you can.

What songs do you have on rotation now?

Right now, I'm listening to WILLOW's new album, "telepatía" by Kali Uchis, the new Syd song "Fast Car", always listening to Magdalene by FKA twigs (on vinyl only), and Giveon.