I am an artist, writer, facilitator, and emerging filmmaker. I began telling stories on film in 2014, starting with three powerful Black women. I launched my YouTube channel @freedomnarratives in 2019 and have talked to dozens of people about activism, racial equity, belonging, and decolonial scholarship over the last several years. I am also a leader in the Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging (DEIB) space. Through this work, I’ve had transformative conversations with Rhonda Magee, Monica Guzman, Yung Pueblo, and Tricia Hersey. My graduate studies, in Social Justice and Community Organizing (at Prescott College), inspired me to make this film. Watching documentaries like Enslaved, 13th, and True Justice have seeded this idea. I agree with Bryan Stevenson, we “lost the narrative battle.” It’s time to reclaim it. I am making this film to “claim a different future” through counter-narrative storytelling. (Stevenson, 2020).
My Spiritual Journey
I am the grand-daughter of a Christian minister who was raised in a largely Christian household (my father and step-father were not religious people). My maternal grandparents were Methodist and Catholic. My paternal grandparents were part of the Disciples of Christ Church. When I was 13, I was confirmed in the Anglican Church. Very early on, I questioned Christian-based ideas that made it clear that some people were going to hell, etc…. When I think back, I questioned just about everything. In my late teens-early 20’s, I explored the Nation of Islam. In my mid-late 20’s and early 30’s I was Rastafarian, I later completed a Yoruba rites of passage, and have long participated in a Buddhist community. I have had a rich faith-based journey and in 2013 finally found a spiritual home in Oakland, at Heart and Soul Center of Light (HSCL). I am member of Heart and Soul (an affiliate of Centers for Spiritual Living). I served on the HSCL board for five years. I am currently a licensed Spiritual Practitioner and serve as a prayer facilitator (i.e., a practitioner is kinda like a deacon). I am the daughter of Jamaican parents. I happened to be born on American soil. I am a product of Jamaica and America. I am a culture keeper and questioner, who is also a person of faith.