21 questions

an impromptu q&a

all photos taken by Analise Grace. Wearing Hara x Snakes and Shanti

Last week on Instagram, I asked my community if we were in conversation, what would they ask me. The questions were too good and deserved a longer lifespan than the 24 hours that IG stories would give them. So, here I am, opening myself up for strangers on the internet to take me in. Aside from learning more about who I am, I hope you’ll discover fragments of who you are, or hope to be. I also hope this dialogue helps humanize us all beyond faces on screens.

1. If your life had an intro song, what would it be?
   Admittedly it was difficult to choose ONE song. If I had to choose an album, it would be Jagged Little Pill, but since I’m stuck with just ONE song from said album:

2. How are you, my love?
   The dust has finally settled from the series of bombs life dropped that almost destroyed me. How am I? I am alive. I am present. I accept who I am. I am very well and very good.

3. How do you know when your intuition is speaking to you?
   The very real answer to this is also annoyingly elusive: you will just know. The way our individual bodies and minds experience this may be vastly different. But what I believe is more certain than not is that the more you lean into your intuition—and if what you feel aligns with the truth you’ve experienced—the more you learn to trust your gut. The only way to know when anyone is speaking to us is to listen.
   

4. How do you move so silently, yet so loud?
   I don’t know that I would say I move silently. I believe I’m making noise, but in a soft way.

5. How did you find your purpose?
   I’m still unsure if I’ve arrived at it. I’m starting to think that purpose is situational. How I impact one person or space may not impact anyone or anything else in the same way—or at all. I’m more interested in focusing on what fills me with passion, trusting that I’ll find a way to make those things purposeful.

   

   

6. Where do you see yourself in 5 years?
   Happy with wherever that is and whoever I will be.

7. Can we smoke? I want to talk to you about a few things…
   If you ever make it to a Black Girls Smoke event….

8. What inspires you to be the type of creator you are. What’s the tea?
   So much of what we offer the world creatively is rooted in something we’ve seen, heard, or experienced. I allow myself to experience life fully, and this has expanded my creative palette—whether through physical travel or cultural exploration via other mediums like films, photographs, books, art, music, or food. I also come from a family of artists: both of my maternal grandparents were artists, my dad is an artist, and my parents collect art. My life has always been filled with and surrounded by creative people and things.

9. You’ve been a muse to others. Who’s your muse?