We Don't Die... We Build.


Hi Friend!!

We are halfway through the year. I wanted to pull up a chair and check in with you the way I have been checking in with myself.

I will be honest, because you didn't subscribe to this lil newsletter for me to lie. I have been navigating some things (plural) this season. Tender, emotional, real-life things. And here is what I know about myself, and maybe about you too if you carry any Capricorn (or earth sign placements): when we are going through it, we do not die. We build something. (I wish I were joking. I am not.)

But hear me clearly!!! I am not telling you to labor your way through your pain. I am not handing you the tired lie that you should hustle your grief into a side business and call it healing. That is exactly what All The Black Girls Are Activists was written to interrupt. You do not have to produce your way to okay.

What I am talking about is older and softer than that. Transmutation. Alchemy. The ancient, ancestral, deeply Black practice of taking what hurt you and making something beautiful out of it. Not because the beauty justifies the pain. But because you are someone who can turn one thing into another, and that is a magic they never wanted you to remember you had.

So that is my midyear check-in for you: what are you transmuting right now? What is being made in you while you are going through it? You might not see it yet. Build anyway. Beautiful anyway.

Speaking of building.

This month marks three years of All The Black Girls Are Activists, and I am spending all of July celebrating it with you on my IG and in my Patreon. Revisiting the pursuits. Sharing the revelations that keep coming three years later. If the book has been sitting on your shelf, consider this your sign to open it again. If you have never read it, this is your season.

I am also wrapping something I am proud of: 100 straight days on YouTube. One hundreddddddd. Currently on Day 92 today and baby boys and girls... WHEW! I'm not celebrating this because the grind is holy, but because I wanted to prove to myself I could build something in public, out loud, without waiting for permission or external validation, and I definitely did THAT. If you have been watching, thank you. If you have not, come find me before the challenge closes out.

And here is the invitation I am most excited about sharing with you today because it's been a MINUTE since I've shared a public lecture. On Tuesday, July 28 at 7:30 pm EST, I am hosting a live 3-year anniversary mini-lecture and Q&A, just for my Patrons. The room where you finally get to ask me the thing. Come join the LIVE by subscribing at any level on Patreon starting at the $4 tier, and your RSVP is waiting inside.

Halfway through the year, and we are still here. Still building. And still being soft about it. Tell me what you're transmuting (or dreaming of transmuting).

More soon,
EbonyJanice

EbonyJanice & The Free People Project Newsletter.

We center Black Women and Femmes' liberation, wholeness, and wellness. I am the founder and CEO of The Free People Project and the USA Bestselling Author of “All The Black Girls Are Activists: A Fourth Wave Womanist Pursuit Of Dreams As Radical Resistance.” My Spiritual Mentorship Program, entitled “Dream Yourself Free,” is designed to support Black Women to heal intergenerational wounds and prioritize pleasure. I created Black Girl Mixtape, a platform and safe think space that elevates the intellectual authority of Black Women. I speak from a Hip Hop Womanist perspective. I earned my Bachelors in Cultural Anthropology and Political Science and a Masters of Arts in Social Change with a concentration in Spiritual Leadership, Womanist Theology, and Racial Justice.​ Welcome.

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