“I believe there is power in words, power in asserting our existence, our experience, our lives, through words.”
— Jesmyn Ward, The Fire This Time: A New Generation Speaks about Race (2016)
4am in Vegas
So now, here I am at 4:00 am now officially glued to CNN and the projections. No matter how hard I tried, I simply could not fall back asleep and had a feeling that I was going to need a strong coffee to get me through the day. I had also decided on another whim that I wanted to extend my time in Vegas and forfeit my original plans of being in Los Angeles on Friday so that meant I had to switch hotels. I was exhausted but on adrenaline, because I felt like things were finally starting to happen.
“For such a time as this…”
Well friends, the day is here. The day we have waited for since Midterms 2018. Election Day 2020. I have been feeling so many feelings and trying to process my thoughts while not spiraling because elections remind me of my godfather. I distinctly remember him taking me to Springside (a school) to vote with him and sometimes lil’ me even got to hit the voting button even if I wasn’t supposed to. I remember how since he had three TV’s in his bedroom (yep), CNN was always on one of them. So here I am, decades later, in my own fight with my community to help our people get out the vote.
My October Surprise
After 2.5 years since I last wrote on Thirty30Courtney, here I am finding myself “officially” back on some sort of writing journey. For those of you that know me, know that I suffered an incredible loss 4 months ago (more about that here) and ever since then I have been slowly trying to pick up the pieces and rest. My FMLA journey from my 9-5 is starting to wind down and while I am processing many feelings about that, I do have to give praise to the blessing that I was able to take a step back from my “normal” day-to-day.
#LoveYPandJerry
On Monday, June 29, 2020 I felt like my world stopped, and that's because it did. One of my very first role models in life, my dear godfather Jerome "Jerry" A. Johnson, passed away in New Jersey. It has been a long summer of healing and trying to resume this new phase of my life without him, especially because grieving during the time of COVID and a racial pandemic is not easy at all.
Confessions of a Habitually Frustrated Black Professional
These last few days, weeks, have exhausted me. I have gone through bouts of mood swings and anxiety like none other. I have sat in digital communities strategizing, consulting, laughing through pain, and I know for a fact I'm not alone. I watch my community on the front line while I still deal with anxiety of being in crowds because Covid-19 is still a thing. It's a wild card. But the feeling that sits with me the most upon this new week is my frequent disappointed as a Black professional.
3 Things On My Mind As I Celebrate My Birthday
Well friends, it's my 31st birthday! Happy Quarantine Birthday to me and so many others. Who knew things would turn out this way, right? But I am whole, healthy, and feeling all of the love in the early hours of today already. I'm grateful. I'm blessed. I'm also feeling a tad reflective.
So what have I learned about myself, leadership, or the world during the last 365?
60 Black Women In DFW To Book For Your Next Event
As we close out a very wild March, I wanted to do something special and necessary to close out Women's History Month 2020. As our community has adjusted and responded to the Covid-19 pandemic, I kept finding myself incredibly frustrated and appalled at the lack of color on panels and "community conversations". While reflecting I simply asked myself was I going to keep complaining about it or would I help tilt the trend. In true CJ fashion, I chose the latter.