I’m that little black girl whose parents moved from Hartford to South Windsor in the late 1960’s with the hope of getting  a better education for us.

I’m that little black girl who heard them say germ proof a nigger was sitting here,  before they sat any place I was sitting.

I’m that little black girl who was told by a peer, “my parents said I can’t talk to you anymore because you are a nigger.”

I’m that little black girl who threw up 🤮 in 4th grade when the teacher told us to put our heads down on the desk and be quiet.

I was so beaten down by oppression that I was too ashamed to ask to go to the bathroom so I quietly held the vomit in my mouth and quietly and methodically swallowed vomit back because I was too ashamed to ask to go to the bathroom.

I’m that little black girl who had a meltdown at the car dealership when my parents decided to buy a brown station wagon and it was more than I could handle. I cried as I said, “I’m brown, our house is brown and now you want to buy a brown station wagon.”

They finally realized the stress of the racial trauma I endured.  I finally felt heard as they made a decision to switch to the green station wagon instead to help me keep my sanity.

And because of that little black girl and all that she went through,

I am now the black woman who has the lived experience to understand the pain of racism, oppression, macro and microaggressions that continue in our culture today.

I saw a billboard advertised by a mental health clinic in our area that read, “their anxiety is real, so is our help.” I had an aha moment…Our anxiety is “their anxiety” I am part of “them” which is why I now realize that everything I went through was God’s purpose for shaping me into the woman that I am today.

Today

My mission is to heal, empower and  eliminate the stigma of mental health in our black & brown communities.

“All things work together for good for those that love ❤️ God and those that are called according to His purpose.”

Romans 8:28d