Being Named a WayMaker Top 50

I learned a long time ago that you do not begin the work because you expect applause. You begin it because there is a silence in the room that feels dangerous. You begin it because there are gaps in the story of a people, and if no one dares to step into them, the lie becomes permanent.

But I am grateful when my work is seen. And this is why I am honored to have been included among WayMaker’s Top 50. A list of Black leaders creating change in culture, business, and community. I am specifically on the list under the category of Cultural Storyteller, along with one of my favorite directors and showrunners, Mara Brock Akil.

Writing, for me, has never been separate from community. The page is only one kind of gathering. A classroom is another. A mutual aid drive is another. A conversation that refuses to look away is another still. Each is an attempt to close the distance between who we are told we are and who we know ourselves to be.

This sort of work demands too much honesty for obsession with recognition. But I would be lying if I said it does not matter, even a little, when someone does see you. When someone recognizes the labor, the risk, the insistence on truth. It is not about spotlight. It is about confirmation that the effort is reaching beyond the noise.

So I am thankful. Thankful to be named. Thankful to be read. Thankful to be in community with people who believe that stories can repair what systems have fractured.

We continue, not because we are watched, but because we are needed. And still, it is good to know that someone, somewhere, is paying attention.

Original photo by Mai Nguyen.

You can view the list of all 50 Waymakers here.