This Month’s Creative Woman Spotlight goes to Danielle McDonald, an illustrator from Birmingham, UK!

Many book nerds of color, trans book nerds, and our allies were heartbroken recently when novelist Chimamanda Adichie confirmed her status as a TERF by calling the 3500-word transphobic tirade J. K. R*wling released this summer “a perfectly reasonable piece.”

This post is dedicated to the Black woman owned businesses that inspired me this year. Shop Black owned this holiday season! ✊🏾

Originally from Caracas, Venezuela, Valentina grew up with a love for nature. As she traveled to various regions of Venezuela with her family, she learned about Indigenous, Latin American, and Afro Caribbean cultures. She became passionate about documenting the stories of women through photography and design.

The fall season comes with an overwhelming sense of gratitude for life. Even through the many shocks and traumas of 2020, we made it this far. I know my heart has been heavy all summer over the death of Breonna Taylor. I have a niece is named Breanna, so every time I hear about the case, it’s a stinging reminder that there is a system of white supremacy that does not value the lives of our beautiful Black girls. It has made me even more passionate about my business. Our voices matter. We matter. I

Videos and pictures of protests in New York City circulate telling one side of the story, but there are things that pictures can’t tell you. This is the work of sitting in hope rather than sitting in hate, the work of clinching our hearts to resist against numbness, and the work of healing through action. And it is, in fact, hard work.

Our next creative spotlight is Mia Raye Smith, a playwright and actress, born in Detroit, Michigan and grew up in Queens, New York. She studied acting at the William Esper studio before developing her own solo play, “I Am Hope.”

We are all connected energetically; our individual experiences become shared attachments that shape the community we create; So if we all stay in the present moment and listen to our intuition,  together our collective consciousness can vibrate not only to the daily people in our lives but to the larger world around us.  

Your journey is exactly that: yours.  A lot of times, I think, it can be discouraging when other people don’t see your vision or back your project, but nobody has to believe in you more than you. 

When I heard the term "mental health" for the first time, it was an aha! moment. I had always focused on my mind and soul as a part of my overall well-being but never knew the correct way to describe it. It wasn't obviously discussed in my home. But I will acknowledge that my parents always emphasized that their children never do anything that decreased our peace of mind.

July is Minority Mental Health Month, and as a mental health advocate of Caribbean descent, I'm acutely aware of the deep stigma around mental health in my culture and community. This July, I want to shine a light on mental health stories that often go untold. I’ll start with talented writer Talia Leacock-Campbell, who hails from Barbados.

The first feature is of a woman I’ve known and admired for years now, Mari Corona. Mari is the creative mind behind Living in Mommywood, and she’s also a photographer with her first artist reception coming up on July 6th. I had the pleasure of interviewing Mari about her creative life and she shared some #MommywoodGems with me below!