I can distinctly recall a critical moment on January 3, 2020, arriving at the Ghana International airport, checking in the front desk to see a crowd of folks headed to the security gate. I had seen Dozens of people slowly trickle in ahead of me, however, for some reason when I entered the beginning of the line, airport security had me stop to check my temperature. I thought, “That’s weird,” but honestly I didn’t think anything of it. Heading to the gate I awaited the arrival of my plane to head back into the states. I arrived home within the next 24 hours, and went back to my normal routine, not having another temperature check.

Fast forward to March 2020, I had no idea how the world would shift forever. Everything was normal one day, and then “BOOM” it happened. A global pandemic. Offices for work would shut down, schools would shift to virtual learning and the world literally had to figure it out, differently.

Today, all everyone talks about is getting back to normal, but normal is the furthest thing we should ever even want to see again. when I think back to all the layers that the global pandemic unveiled, I also think about the buzzing reality of all things diversity, equity, and inclusion. Over the course of two years, we have experienced 3 pandemics, health with regards to COVID-19, economic disparity, and racial reckoning on a global scale.

I had to get comfortable with the uncomfortable in 2021. Working for a non-profit battling its own foundation of institutionalized racism, while simultaneously building my own business and brand. I had to work twice as hard to begin to think differently. When you are constantly being exposed to what is right and what the world is used to as a way to make change, you can fall victim to an old way of thinking. Our minds have to challenge these ideologies and thoughts that have for so long perpetuated inequity, and have kept us on a constant cycle of reinventing oppression.

Becoming a part of the inaugural class for the Kanada Fellowship has challenged me to become more inward-focused and allow that to exude outward. It’s funny because before this fellowship I was already reflective, artistic, and creative which naturally made me go inward, but I realized I was doing it wrong. I was only bringing the things out that I wanted others to see. I had been wearing a mask. Not wanting to be too out the box, or too critical, or too hype in some instances, but what I learned about my values, having a seat at the table and being a unicorn is that I am there to be EXTRAordinary. It’s the out-of-the-box thinking, the tough love, and my energy that shifts the room, and I have to know when to activate and use each.

This fellowship has helped me to shift my mindset, and guided me to being more authentic and true to myself than I have ever been. During the fellowship, I had the opportunity to be partnered with a life coach that I met with monthly. During one of our discussions, Monica Marie Jones said something to me that lives in my head for free. She said “Our filters are our values.” I have carried that advice in every space and place I’ve entered not only seeing my own values show up but seeing others as well.

Our values truly shape our destiny and guide us in life. Think about it, have you ever found yourself doing something you know you shouldn’t? It begins to weigh on you. I’ve come to realize that those things that are meant for us usually don't feel off, they feel right. I am learning to embrace that sense of assurance when it peaks in and not ignore it, because those are my values showing up and leading the way.

I entered 2020 abroad in Ghana, immersing myself into a culture that was preparing me for things I had no idea were to come. I think about how much my experience in Ghana foreshadowed 2020 and beyond. I faced the “Point of No Return,” and “Assin Manso Ancestral Slave River,” to be met with the spirits of my ancestors. I leaned in anxiously, yet attentively, to this experience in 2020 which would become the last time I would gather and interact among strangers passively, yet so intimately. I would return back to the very land that those who had traveled before me went without their own will, and unknowing to what lay ahead. I, too, would travel and not know what lay ahead, still I carry their spirit of resilience in me.

The spirits of my ancestors felt so near. It’s as if when I started to look I found the answers, and not necessarily those I expected, but those I needed— answers lie in our history, whether you want to hear it or not. The James Kanada Fellowship has taught me that it’s up to us to make use of what we know and be different. The way things have been are not the way they should stay, and I believe becoming comfortable in the uncomfortable is what will shape a better future. Aligning with like-minded and differently minded people for a common cause. Having a seat at the table isn’t enough, it’s now time to pioneer, engage, and lead in the names of our ancestors, and bring our vision for a better future into reality.

Ashé and thank you.

- Kenya Abbott Jr.

Pivotal Mindset: Embracing Change in an Ever-changing World