Weeknotes #2: Family Reunions and Celebrating Sisterhood

Welcome to the second installment of my weeknotes. With Black History Month in full swing, last week was inspirational events and meaningful connections. From discovering family at Capita's Black History Month events to empowering conversations in social housing and beyond, and a speaking engagement at Certitude, it was a week of enriching experiences.

I finished up with my latest read of Jada Pinkett Smith's "Worthy" - (headline - it's a thumbs up from me👍🏾).

Black History Month

Capita - There have been a series of events this month at Capita , exploring the contributions of Black Britons to society that I have attended. They included a debate on cultural appropriation vs cultural appreciation, and a webinar acknowledging Black women in STEM.

Imagine my surprise and delight to find one of my family members – that I didn’t know about, was mentioned – Courtnae Bailey, PhD !

We connected the same day and met for the first time in person last week! It was beautiful to connect and to hear stories about our family in St. Vincent and across the world. The next step is for a family reunion where I get to show off my mac n’ cheese-making skills – if you know you know! 😉

Courtnae is originally from St. Vincent and the Grenadines and has recently completed her Ph.D. research at the Imperial College London . She holds two master's degrees in Hydrology and Water Resources Management as well as Climate Change Management and Finance. Her research focuses on boosting private finance for climate change adaptation in Small Island Developing States.

HACT - I attended the empowering ‘Celebrating Black Female Leaders in Social Housing’ event hosted by the Racial Equality Group at HACT . Leading the way were the talented Yvonne Phillip and Carmen Simpson from Phoenix Community Housing , Heather Thomas , of Sapphire Independent Housing , and Tracey Gore from STEVE BIKO HOUSING ASSOCIATION LIMITED .

Comfortable in my skin, (cosy with who I am 🐝)

I spoke at the Certitude ’s staff Black History Month event hosted by Notting Hill Genesis . The speakers included Onyekachi Wambu, author of “Empire Windrush Reflections of 75 years, and More of the Black British Experience”, Violet Tariro Pugh ✨ , Yinka Balogun , Parris Litchmore-Bell, Nicholas Campbell-Watts , Rhys Pert, Damien Ching, and Lavern Dinah .

My talk focussed on identity and belonging. The two aspects of which are how others perceive you, and how you perceive yourself.

We can control how we perceive ourselves but can only influence how others perceive us. The narrative for people like me with multiple protected characteristics is one of being 'other'. The goal is not to internalise other people's perceptions and to recognise that I have something meaningful to contribute because of who I am not in spite of it.

Being comfortable in my skin and taking up space, allows me to have an authentic & and more representative voice and a role in shaping the sector for the better.

(It was great to catch up with another shero of housing Oyindamola Sosanya - pictured above. She is a force to be reckoned with and we have bonded over recent years in our desire to see meaningful change and outcomes in our sector.)

What I'm...

Reading - Worthy by Jada Pinkett Smith (audiobook). I enjoyed it more than I was expecting to. I can't lie, I've been very over the whole thing but I'm glad I pushed through.

I compare this book to what it was like experiencing the first season of the Red Table Talks on Facebook.

Jada describes her life through the relationships that have shaped who she is today. She shares beautiful and precious memories about Tupac that help to bring to life the nature of their relationship and why it was so important to her. The Tupac nuggets were worth it for me. I'm old enough to have been very much around for his rise and tragic murder so I appreciated them.

Each chapter asks the reader questions that offer the chance for self-reflection and offers love and gratitude to the people concerned - very Red Table Talks.

She provides a bit more clarity to some of the long-standing rumours about her & Will;

• No, she and Will don’t/didn’t have an open relationship, (don't care)
• No, they are/were not Scientologists but studied with them and embraced the teachings they found helpful, (I can relate)
• No, she didn't cheat with he who shall not be named and he wasn't her son's best friend but it wasn't her finest hour (entanglements/lapses in judgement... surely we can all relate😅)
• No, she didn't encourage Will with the "Holy Slap" as she calls it, and was as shocked as the rest of us - but she wasn't mad. If you read between the lines you might say Will was on a mission to win back his wife and demonstrated that he loved her enough to put his entire livelihood and career on the line - proactively. Chivalry will never be dead and the girls that get it get it (I could write a very lengthy think piece on this).

While she has shared many very personal things, she has been careful to protect people around her. I noticed the book was very light on details about her mum, for example.

The biggest thing for me with this book is Jada’s courage and commitment to living authentically and refusing to let anyone define her path. If you enjoyed the early seasons of the Red Table Talk you will enjoy this. I recommend!

 À Bientôt

#bhm #salutingoursisters #worthy #jadapinkett #willsmith #bookreview #scientology #worthy