Motherland
Interview with Nyabingha Zianni - Transforming Communities through Self-Love, Healing, and Sisterhood
What if we told you that healing is a journey, not a destination? That the act of authentically caring for oneself can revolutionize entire communities? This is exactly what we found out in our riveting discussion with Nyabingha Zianni, the founder of Sistaaz Heal Network LLC and the SistaaHood Show - both dedicated platforms for black women and girls. Naya, a transformational speaker, dives deep into her own journey of self-love, and how it catalyzed her mission to create safe spaces for black women and girls to heal, feel, and express themselves.
Our conversation weaves through themes of restorative justice, personal healing, and the authenticity of self. Nyabingha talks about the value of holding space for ourselves and others, recognizing that healing isn't a linear process and that sometimes, we need to free ourselves from the savior syndrome. Shifting from a dysfunctional system to a model of restorative justice is no easy task, yet Nyabingha encourages us to embrace the discomfort that accompanies such profound change. We also explore the importance of leaning into our own unique gifts, embracing our indigenous roots, and the potent power of sisterhood.
CONTACT FOR NYABINGHA ZIANNI
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nyabinghazianni_
Website: https://www.nyabinghazianni.info/
Make sure to Subscribe and follow us at:
Instagram : https://www.instagram.com/motherlandthepodcast/
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@motherlandpodcast/
Email: podcastmotherland@gmail.com
What if we told you that healing is a journey, not a destination? That the act of authentically caring for oneself can revolutionize entire communities? This is exactly what we found out in our riveting discussion with Nyabingha Zianni, the founder of Sistaaz Heal Network LLC and the SistaaHood Show - both dedicated platforms for black women and girls. Naya, a transformational speaker, dives deep into her own journey of self-love, and how it catalyzed her mission to create safe spaces for black women and girls to heal, feel, and express themselves.
Our conversation weaves through themes of restorative justice, personal healing, and the authenticity of self. Nyabingha talks about the value of holding space for ourselves and others, recognizing that healing isn't a linear process and that sometimes, we need to free ourselves from the savior syndrome. Shifting from a dysfunctional system to a model of restorative justice is no easy task, yet Nyabingha encourages us to embrace the discomfort that accompanies such profound change. We also explore the importance of leaning into our own unique gifts, embracing our indigenous roots, and the potent power of sisterhood.
CONTACT FOR NYABINGHA ZIANNI
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nyabinghazianni_
Website: https://www.nyabinghazianni.info/
Make sure to Subscribe and follow us at:
Instagram : https://www.instagram.com/motherlandthepodcast/
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@motherlandpodcast/
Email: podcastmotherland@gmail.com
All right, let's go. All right, so we have a guest today and before we get started, welcome to Motherland. Yeah, all right, so I'm going to let our guest introduce herself. I will say I've been following her for a while on Instagram. I love what she has going on over there. She has great topics and great lives. Your lives are awesome, go ahead.
Speaker 2:Yeah, hello everybody. My name is Naya Benghziani. I am a transformational speaker. I'm a published author, spoken word poet. I am a sacred facilitator, a divine mother. I am a sister who wears many head wraps and she wears them well. I am also the founder and CEO of Sister's Hill Network LLC. We are a social enterprise whose mission is to advance the revolutionary healing of black women and black girls. I am also the founder of the Sisterhood and it is a media platform where I bring different black women together to talk about what it means to heal, feel and deal with being a black woman and just to come together, share our experiences, our artistry, our stories and just build a community that is necessary and that is needed and a system in the world who does not want us to be great. So that's me.
Speaker 3:So let's talk about it. That's what we can wrap, we're done. So thanks for coming on to the podcast. That's a wrap. We'll see you next week. Oh my god, naya Benghziani, I'm so excited that you're here and the first thing that I want to ask you I want to get into so many things, but I first want to know why are you in this work? And I know the big part of it that we're black women and we need to heal. The world is trying to annihilate us, but what specifically sparked you?
Speaker 2:Yeah, wow, I actually just answered this question yesterday. But I think how I got to this work was being a young black girl myself and not really loving who I saw looking back at me in the mirror. And my first job was actually at a youth center. So I worked with a lot of young folks and I saw myself in them and just the struggle of not feeling like they had a voice, the struggle of not loving their hair, their body or just who they were in their identity. And through that I actually started off just doing empowerment work, the right community empowerment, because the young people I worked with they was of all shades, all colors, all backgrounds. And then I started to go deeper and just focusing on women's empowerment Because I'm like, ooh, these little girls, they don't love themselves, like I remember I didn't love myself. I think even at that moment I was still struggling to love myself, trying to help other folks. And then I went deeper and I was praying about it, because my work, my ministry, it's rooted in my spirituality and in my beliefs in God and I know that this mission was given to me by God Because I always felt like something was put on my life to do this work. So as I started to go deeper into that, I just recognized like, ok, I need to be a little bit more specific. And something on my heart just told me you need to work with black women and you need to work with black girls. And I started to get into that.
Speaker 2:I have a background in poetry. That's my passion, so that's when it started, when it came to me getting a voice, and then I started to dabble in theater and all of these different things, and every time I was on stage people just were. They go inside of themselves when I speak, so to say, and I just touched them in a different way. So I was like I need to be doing more than poetry, like I want to use that as a vehicle. But I know that I'm a speaker.
Speaker 2:And as I started to speak more and connect more, I also saw myself just cultivating these healing spaces and holding them Because my people needed it. And I saw that there was a need, especially with young black girls, because they didn't really have many mentors and other black women to pour into them and our single mother, sisters and just other moms who have help still needed some support outside of the family unit we were trying to get back to that village and then, as we continued to expand, we see that there are black women who are still little girls, who have not been healed, who have not been loved, who have not been nurtured, and they're responding as a five-year-old girl because they didn't have that space to heal when they were younger, right, or they didn't have that protection in that moment. So I know it's a long-lainting answer, but all the things, all the things inspired it, and I do community work. So there are moments where I have community spaces of all people.
Speaker 2:I just know that my specific mission is black women and girls. But if somebody comes up to me and asks me can you hold this space, I won't turn it away. I don't know how important healing is and sometimes maybe it's just self-expiration, maybe it's just I need to see who I am and to offer that space and hold that space. I'm more than open to do it, but when it comes to the work that I do, on the spaces that I cultivate, I'm real intentional about my sisters. Yeah, that's me.
Speaker 3:Talk to me about what it looks like. What does it look like when you're doing community work with? Let's talk about young girls, because I loved what you said, that when you didn't like what was looking back at you in the mirror. I grew up in a predominantly white neighborhood and even though I grew up from a family of activists like my grandfather was a panther and a union organizer, like he was a professional rabble rouser for a job. And yet, being in a predominantly white neighborhood, I really still felt, even though I had a sense of pride I didn't like what I look like. I didn't. I wanted to be like the white girls in my neighborhood. I didn't like my hair, I felt uncomfortable and then felt the shame, knowing that I shouldn't feel that shame of wanting to be different, and that struggle internally. How do you work with little girls who are struggling with that sense of identity, wanting to love themselves and yet feeling like they're not supposed to?
Speaker 2:That's a beautiful question and thank you for sharing that Because I really resonate with that. And I actually cultivated a mentorship program. It's called Sister's Hill Mentorship and it's actually on pause right now because it takes so much work, but it is a mentorship program for young black girls ages 9 to 24. And that mentorship program, the goal of that was right of passage. It was to get back to that village, it was to give black girls, black women, mentors, because a young black girl needs to hear what you just shared. Sometimes they look at us and they see us and they're like wow, they're smiling, they're beautiful, they're so confident, they're just standing in their power and standing in their light. But they don't know how we got there and they don't always have the examples to see how we got there. So I cultivated that program just to have that level of write a passage, to have that support for what it looks like to become a woman, to transition into womanhood, to not be lost in this world, because there's so many things that influence us and move us in pathways that do not serve us and hurt us, and when you can have somebody there to, of course, let you make your own decisions but help you just guide you in different ways or give you a sounding board, a different perspective that you wouldn't have gotten if you were all alone. And it's not only the sisters who have mothers in their lives. There are young sisters in foster care who do not have family, who leave the foster care and are a part of that transitional age and still feel like they have no sense of community because they were not given the resources that other sisters were who actually have their parents in the household. So there's many different layers.
Speaker 2:And then, just to go a little bit more specific, I held sister circles for young girls in different schools and those circles in workshops were eye opening. It's like I knew it was there, because I knew what we were talking about when I was younger. But to hear from young sisters between the age of nine and 12 talking about how they hate their hair, how they want their hair to be like this and to be straight like the other girls, and something I was so intentional about and why I wanted to do it with black girls, is because when you're in a space with people who look like you and who can understand your experiences, you say things that you wouldn't say in a space that is a little bit more open and welcoming of other folks. And you know, something I always say is it's not an exclusive space. Right, it's an intentional space Because there's talk about it Young girls and it's necessary. Right, there are experiences that women can feel as women. There are experiences as girls can feel as girls, but it's something about what black girls experience that other folks just can't identify with.
Speaker 2:So, when we cultivate these spaces and we're showing them this emotional intelligence, this social connection, what does it mean to be in community with other sisters? Like I was working with young girls who were being expelled, who were fighting one another because they were having an internal battle within themselves, and then, when they seen their sister, they started to see that reflection that they didn't like in the mirror. So now they argue and they fight in because they don't have the tools to communicate how they really feel and that yearning they truly have for friendship, but don't know how to have that healthy relationship. So those are just some different ways that we have worked with these young sisters to really just see themselves and see that they are worthy of so much more than they've been told or that the media has told them or that society has told them.
Speaker 3:That's what I'm saying as you're talking. I was crying before when you were talking, my eyes just filled up because I think, hearing you talk, I can't help but think of something that Dr Cornell West said. That he said justice is what love looks like in public and what you are doing with these girls, with us, it's not.
Speaker 3:You are bringing a sense of justice because when we can love each other publicly, in these intentional spaces, we stop the harm that happens from the criminalization of black girls. That starts in school. We are already, we are adultified, we are turned into adults when we're five and six years old and don't have an ability to have a girlhood. So that's happening on an external narrative and then internally we're fighting that and forced because we carry so much, not just as girls but from generations before and that weight that's on our shoulders, that the work that you are doing, this justice work, is spiritual work because it's healing ancestral wounds that need to be healed. And I am so grateful that you are on the earth and in doing this work, because it is so necessary, I'm just really I'm thankful.
Speaker 1:I think it's beautiful what you're doing. You're a divine space holder in the way that you're holding space for these young women especially. You said you start the age of nine to break the cycle and allowing themselves to see themselves rather than projecting those wounds. That cycle continues. Let me project out, project out, project out. But learning to see themselves for the beauty that they truly are like, I can't imagine, I mean, how their life changes within that second, within that way of so fast. How long have you been doing this?
Speaker 2:It's been around a couple of years and I've been in different schools and, like I said before I started explaining it, it is on pause right now because we have we have a lot of mentors and also, like y'all, to get into the schools. It is challenging, like the most specific on partners that they let in and even when you get approved through the district which I am like you still have to make relationships with every single principal, and then that's a whole conversation in itself. So we don't even like, we don't even talk about the barriers that comes with trying to do this kind of work and understand that the education system, like the people inside of it, wanna see it happen. Right, they do. But there's so many blocks present, there's so many like we don't have the budget present. But you know, things are moving and some things might shift soon.
Speaker 2:But I also wanted to say something along the lines of that nine to 12 age is so like, it's so juicy, as my sister Camila would say, it's so powerful because, like that elementary, middle school age, the brain makes a total 360. We are rediscovering who we are in this world. We're exiting out of, like that childhood, into, like, trying to figure out, like, yes, this is my personality, this is what I wanna wear, this is who I wanna be. And then you're going to school with other people who are doing the same thing, and when the media, when society, when some of your friends who don't look like you are telling you that you are not beautiful, when they're talking about your skin being too dark or they're talking about your hair being too nappy, all of these different things. That's why it's so important to have these spaces to reinforce the beauty that is black girls, right. So I just wanted to share that.
Speaker 2:And something else I wanna share that I feel like is important when holding space. I think it's important for folks to understand that it's not about me, right. It's about awakening the here inside of the space. It's about awakening the advocates that live inside of us, that are just waiting to come out. It's about awakening the leader, awakening the voice so that that individual can step up and speak up for themselves, so they can start the process of healing on their own journey. Because we all wanna claim the term as expert, right, that's what you need to speak and do all these things, but people are experts in their own lives and you can give them the resources, the tools, the strategies, but if they don't do nothing with it, then it doesn't mean anything, absolutely so. It's so important, and that's something I had to learn, though, because I used to say, oh, I'm a healer, and then I stopped saying it. I stopped saying it, I don't say it.
Speaker 3:I don't say it either, I don't.
Speaker 1:You just had this conversation not too long ago.
Speaker 2:Yeah, like I don't say that anymore because I understand, like I'm working on healing myself and I know how challenging that is. I know that people are watching me, who follow my journey and maybe they get inspired, maybe they can utilize some of the resources that I have utilized. But it's not only to save anybody. It's not my job and I can't heal anybody. That's not my job and I'm okay with that. So I just want to.
Speaker 3:Yeah, that's amazing. No, it's true. The way that we can be connected with each other is when we do our own work. Like it starts inside, and I know we all say it and it's so much harder, right? It's so much easier to be able to say well, I need that out there, that person needs to help me, or I need to seek outside in order to do the work. And on some level too I remember talking about this during a sit several months ago my frustration and my anger and my pain ends up because I recognize that I need to do this work for myself and I get mad because of the additional work I have to do, because of what's happening externally. And there's this push, pull right Like Sam.
Speaker 3:That's not right, it's not fair, and yet it's still my responsibility and accountability and being able to call that greed and sadness about it, to be able to find enough love to cultivate it and do the work right. And I'm 52 and I'm still trying to figure this shit out right, like it's still recognizing that this journey is not linear and that it's never been linear and it's all happening at the same time and still trying to find space to rest and do the work and all of it. I can't even imagine being a nine year old black girl right now. I can't, I can't go hard back in 1979. So I don't know what it's probably like now.
Speaker 2:And yeah, it's layers, it's so many layers and you mentioned something earlier about the generational healing that has to be done and you know, like we've been saying this a lot in the system hood, but just the focus on generational trauma and curses is so heavy but we don't focus on the beauty that was passed down, Right and when we can have that balance of our gifts, our skills, our talents, the wisdom, the knowledge, along with, you know, acknowledging the trauma and the challenges, it just gives us a little bit more breathing room. It gives us a little bit more. And I think that tension of I want to heal, Right, but sometimes it's like I don't know where to start and even at whatever age, like I've heard I've worked with women who were a little bit more mature and they talked about just it. They talked about the challenges of like you know, like maybe they just left the marriage and they're rediscovering themselves again and they know they got some healing to do.
Speaker 2:But sometimes, like it just takes baby steps, Sometimes it takes I'm not ready to do that right now and I'm going to just sit right here for a second and I'm okay with that. Like I think we should encourage that tension, encourage radical, rest, encourage saying, yes, I'm going to heal, but it is a journey, it's not a destination. So I'm not going to be so hard on myself Because I know how heavy this work is. So I just wanted to share. I love radical.
Speaker 1:I think I love. You called a radical rest. That's what we've talked about, that like this whole thing. I mean I have to tell you right now, like I don't know if you listened, like two episodes ago, but you, you're like exactly what Motherland stands for and and I just think it's like that's so important. You know, people are constantly thinking, you know I'm like baby steps.
Speaker 1:Not everybody's healing journey is exactly the same. We're not always the same. Some people go real fast and people go real slow. Sit in that grief, sit in that sadness, be present with it, heal it. But I think us you know well I say this was talking to me earlier.
Speaker 1:We were talking about the fact is, as you do your healing work and you start working within, you're going to see all that stuff from your generations.
Speaker 1:You're going to see the traumas that your family is endured or ancestors had to go through, and you're going to have to go through that as well. But giving yourself that grace, giving yourself that compassion, I think it's beautiful that you know. But there's so much beauty in it too, like there's so much beauty in who you are and even in like I work with a lot of the Hispanic community, you know, and we were taught like, in our ways, were bad, they were evil, they were wrong, you know. So I work with a lot of women, helping them say no, that's beauty, that's intuition, that's gifts, that's something that's a part of you. Let's embrace it, you know, let's come back home to it and I think, like that's so key is to focus on. We get caught up and, yeah, there's the pain of what we had to endure, but there's also beauty in it too, and yeah, in both ways there's a strength that there's just a strength that's in your blood that wouldn't be there Otherwise, I think as well.
Speaker 2:Yeah, like I, the word that's been marinating, awakening community, it's a. It's a coming back to the ancestral knowledge that was always there. And, just like I always say, everything you need is already inside of you. All you got activated. Like you shared earlier. You said we keep on looking outside, we're looking outside and is inside of us is the truth. Now, things outside of us can inspire, it can spark, it can ignite. But we were born with the fabric that we needed to make this fly outfit of life that we're waiting for. Fly out of life, the fly outfit of life. We already got all the fabric. We got the thread, we got the sewing machine, we got the scissors and it's already inside of us. We got the vision to bring the fabric to life. We got, we know where the tools are. It's innate inside of us, but we so focused on the outside world and we don't understand that when we understand the inside world, the outside world starts to follow Exactly so.
Speaker 1:I'm over here crying. That's beautiful. I could like listen to you forever.
Speaker 2:Thank you.
Speaker 1:You're doing some stuff. What's your? What district are you? Just out of curiosity.
Speaker 2:District.
Speaker 1:Like what do you mean by that? Because I know you were saying like oh, your program is on right now, but what district?
Speaker 2:California country-cast-state is district that I've been approved in. I actually got a call a while, like a couple weeks ago, from an old friend talking about she just came across my RSP proposal at her school and she going to try to put it in front of the board and see if she can get me the amount of money that I asked for to bring the mentorships to her campus. Now I don't know if it's going to come out of that, but I said it was on pause and I was not expecting that call. But it just goes to show that when timing is right it will happen, the funds will come and you don't have to worry.
Speaker 2:But it just also makes me aware to like don't forget about it, because we move through the world and we focus on all of these things and you just can't forget about what's supposed to be, what's supposed to come to life. Because I'm a visionary y'all Like. I got all the ideas, but I know that all of my ideas are not supposed to happen at the same time and that's hard for me Because I want to bring all to life. But sometimes I recognize that I get ideas that are not even mine.
Speaker 3:Some of those ideas are for other people to bring to life, and also sometimes the vision doesn't even have to go anywhere, but just by asking the questions you let that ripple out for somebody else to feel. And I think I say that a lot when we start talking about reimagining how we need to be with one another in community, specifically thinking about the criminal justice system that everybody says is broken but I believe is working as it's designed. So we can't talk about reform, we have to talk about dismantling. But we can just put the questions out there, right, it's not even that it has to happen when we are in our bodies. But if it's not said it can't be imagined. So sometimes you just got to say it.
Speaker 2:Yeah, just put it out there, put it into the universe and let the universe do its job, because somebody is going to hear it without even understanding that. They heard it, that part, and now they're bringing it to life. Don't get me started on the system, honey Like yeah, she's like, let's get started.
Speaker 3:Let's get started, Listen you and I the three of us can all talk about it. Let's get started. I spent a decade going to Rikers Island Correctional Facility in New York teaching mindfulness meditation. What I really was doing was teaching laboratory practices, like by using mindfulness as a way, sort of in, but it became too much. I left because, even though one-on-one the work that I was doing felt necessary to be participating in the system, I could no longer justify. It was a struggle I had daily, but the tension got too tight. I could work the tension for a while, but then it just got overstretched and I was like I can't. So I need to figure out a way to talk about this mentally.
Speaker 2:Yeah, like I recently got into the restorative justice work right, learning, reading, training, all the things and it's heavy work. It's heavy work and this specific project that I work for. They talk about doing this work outside of the legal system, which is even heavier because you're doing this work but then you're also working with people who have been conditioned to believe that the system is who they call on, so you can give them the alternatives all day, but something in their mind there needs to be a paradigm shift for them to even understand that there's something else that's possible rather than that system. So it takes work, but it's definitely something that's been marinating on my heart. And when you talk about faking it, we've been doing this. We've had a justice system before. This system was born, absolutely, it's indigenous. So to come back to that, it's not easy to do it, but it's necessary.
Speaker 3:And it's powerful when it's done. I've done several restorative and really transformative justice. I'm even beyond restorative justice how do we transform a situation? And it is heavy work and it's powerful work because again it goes back to that beautiful word attention that you used. There's the tension that we carry, wanting to let go of something that we know isn't working, and yet we are so conditioned to be OK, being uncomfortable and hurt so we're adaptable. So the idea of even thinking that there is something that we could go back to Right Not even go towards, but go get back to can be so terrifying, because there's so much that we have to, I think, re-remember. I think, going back to what you were saying about beauty we need to remember that in order to make the leap to go out.
Speaker 2:Yeah, but also recognize all the distractions. All the distractions that are present that people just wanted to keep going, like, why do you keep talking about that? We don't want to talk about it. Or we want to keep going, we don't want to talk about it, we don't want to acknowledge slavery. It was so long ago, like, literally people's great-grandmothers can say that they were a slave. That's not that long ago. So there's it's just so many. It's like this pain and this escapism that people want to like.
Speaker 2:I don't want to see it. I want to put this veil over and I try not to judge people. You know, because of it, because, like I was just talking to a sister today and I was saying how I've been kind of like I have some tension in myself Because it's a lot of sisters. When you talk about building sisterhood it gets a little tricky Because the history of women in general and then when you go deeper into just black women and there's layers, you've got to pull back, and then it's just this idea that we are challenged. We are challenged to really like, see each other. Like a lot of folks feel like it's not possible. A lot of people feel like it's not possible and I really feel challenged because there are things that I see and we're in such a sensitive world right now and I don't wanna be combative because I feel like that is not the way.
Speaker 2:I believe in meeting people where they are and elevating them from there With accountability, with love, with light, but I don't wanna push a doctrine down their throat because I know that they're not gonna receive it that way.
Speaker 2:A lot of people they try to come out and they share and all this other stuff. But when it's so aggressive, people run and shut down because they're so used to the freedom and the exploitation and all the things. And I really have that tension and that challenge within myself because I'm like, ooh, I wanna go in, but I know something inside of me is not letting me. Because I wanna be careful, I wanna be thoughtful of the steps that I make, because I feel like people have to experience it before they believe it. They gotta see something that will shift inside of them a little bit. And I know some people will be like they just too far gone and everybody ain't gonna make it, everybody not gonna wanna come, and that's okay. But I do wanna make the transition a little smooth, a little bit more palatable, so that they can see that they're worthy of something more than the world has told them they have to be in order to be relevant. So that's just something I wanted to share on my heart.
Speaker 3:Yeah, and you know, liberation, freedom is taken, it's not given. Right, like, we take our freedom, we take our liberation. So it is, and it goes back, I think, to the tension. And I think, you know, I'm really good at being judgmental and that's something that I'm, that's my toxic trait, that I'm always working on, and the reason I am like that is because there was so much judgment I put on myself, right? So when I judge.
Speaker 3:It's just because I feel. I feel that discomfort in myself. So I know, when that rises up, that that means that I need to go inside and be tender with my own heart, and I think that I used to see this all the time at Rikers right. This idea of and what I needed to do, and why I'm grateful for a lot of the Buddhist teachings that I've had is this idea of non-attachment and it's not detachment. It's not detachment because it catapultifies ignoring and distance, but this idea of holding something like a feather trying to touch a bubble, like I have to allow it to be there but not push so hard because that's not for me to do right, because then that breaks that barrier of me going inside and it's hard and it's hard and I'm better at it on some days than others, you know Right that's real, yeah, and I don't know.
Speaker 2:But I think it's all a journey, you know. But I've got some teachers that I've tuned into who don't care. They gon' tell you what it is and that's is, and I respect those women so much and I wonder if there's gonna be a moment, as I grow and as I evolve, where I get to that space of like this is what it is, you know, but I really respect those women and how they deliver their message and the message that they're delivering, and I feel like we do need more of it. I feel like there's a balance.
Speaker 3:I'm the person to bring those women in and have them say it and I'm like, yeah, Three Listen once you get to 50, that distance between just saying it as it is, I feel like I'm creeping closer and closer. I'm getting closer and closer. Oh my gosh, I love it.
Speaker 1:I love it when people just say it, just say what needs to be said. But I think the thing is is you're holding that space and bringing so many people together so people can just hear it in a different way and how they need to hear it, how they need to receive it. But it's conversations like this, it's creating the circles you're creating that are making that ripple effect, that are making that change, that are helping those people to start the healing process, that are making a difference. And I think that's as much as like I think Onika said it the other day we were talking about the conversation and being unapologetic about who cares. We have the right, you have the right to have your space. You know everybody has the right to have the space, have these conversations that need to be had and, at the same time, like it's exciting.
Speaker 1:I'm excited because it's like the more people out there that are willing to do the work, that are willing to hold the space, that are willing to put it in front of your face, like that's where it needs to be right now.
Speaker 1:That's where it needs to be. And it's an exciting time because I'm finding I don't know if it's because we're in the circle right now that it's like there's more of this and more of this and more of this. That's just like yes, yes, like finally, finally. You know, stop the avoidance. Stop, you know, stop trying to put, like you said, trying to, you know, hide behind it. You know, in my own like, in my own family line, like you know, that was one of the things I'm the one that's like no, we're taking this veil off and we're ripping this shit out and you're, we're gonna all look at this, you know, versus the other ones that were like no, we just gotta, you know, go with the flow. Go with the flow, you know, don't start any trouble. And I'm like, no, like I'm done with all of that. But yeah, I think it's exciting.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and I think it also depends on the moment, you know For sure, because I do have my moments where, you know, I just go there and I think, I think it's all a growing, it's just a, it's an evolution space. It's a growing space. We're all growing, we're all evolving. But I feel like I'm called to hold a space much bigger than I am right now. Or, thank you, be careful, because I wanna be thoughtful and I really wanna sit in it, I wanna pray about it, I wanna go deeper. So I truly understand, like I was called to speak at a very young age.
Speaker 2:But there were moments where I'm like, nah, I'm not ready God, I gotta figure out this message first Like I'm not ready yet, like, and even like there's still something inside of me that's like almost almost, but and being okay, with that grace, because I know like I'm still preparing myself, like I'm reading, I'm doing what I need to do. So when it's really time to step up, I'm not gonna be, I'm not gonna doubt anything, I'm not gonna sit down, I'm gonna stand up Right. And to be transparent and authentic has always been something so big for me as I started to really step into the space and really step into my power because that's where people really connected with, because on social media we see the high-liberals, we see all of the beauty. But there were moments where I'm like I'm not okay, y'all. And sharing that and understanding that authenticity is big for me, because I might be positive, I might be sharing this motivation, this love, this light, but there are days where I don't feel it and I don't want to and I don't wanna talk to you or anybody else. And when we can share that and own that and just practice that duality and be our authentic selves, it's just a much more beautiful human experience as a spiritual being.
Speaker 2:So, yeah, but I resonate, take off, match off the veil. You know, there's people in our lives who are supposed to be those people Like that's who they're meant to be. And I feel like everybody has the purpose, everybody has a role. I heard it's just to say one time. Everybody is special and it's been sitting on my heart ever since because we are all interconnected. I've been getting so deep into IMB because we are a Bluetooth, because the way we're interconnected, the way everybody makes this world go round. I think we truly understand that we are so siloed. It's all about us. Yes, self-love, yes, self-confidence is so important and as we pour into our own gardens, the community garden thrives. But the community garden needs a little bit more extra love.
Speaker 3:It needs time, care you know, lesson care is self-care, it is. It is Because the reality is that we can't do this by ourselves, right? I think? Here in the United States, you know, american exceptionalism and individualism has been ingrained in us, thinking that we do it on our own, we do it by ourselves and we never do, but we think we do right and so, you know, it's a great way to keep people separated if we're only thinking that you know we're the only ones who can do this. And when we start, you know, I think as a global majority, when we start to make these connections and recognize that we are connected and that we need each other, and we need each other by doing our own work right, we need that space because then we can figure out how not to do harm to ourselves. So I have no choice, but not to harm you, because I am you and you are me.
Speaker 2:Yes, yes, all of that, that's immunity, healing. It's so important. That's why, when I talk about like the sisterhood, I always say like the sisterhood is the beginning. It's the beginning, it's a space for black women to come together. And then if these black brothers like I've seen black brothers come together, but just in case I don't see it in my close proximity I'm gonna start tapping some shoulders and say come on, brothers. And then once they start meeting consistently, getting their stuff together, then we're gonna say come on, black people, right, let's get our unit together, our family unit, let's nation build.
Speaker 2:And I also wanna just mention that it's a lot of people doing this work that don't get acknowledged. It's a lot of people doing this for years, years. Sometimes, like you know, it's a spark of young fire and they're like, yeah, I'm doing this, but it's a lot of people who've been doing this, who've been here, right, and I acknowledge them, I honor them and my whole concept is that I wanna bring everybody in those silos together. I wanna say let's cultivate this ecosystem of healing, of elevation, of transformation, because, yes, you know, like you're doing real estate, that's important. Now, come over here and show these sisters, show these brothers, how to do real estate Like you're doing agricultural stuff. That's important. It's important to you and it's important to a group of people who follow you or who've been looking for you.
Speaker 2:All of these things are essential to a nation, to a community that's been so separated and siloed for so long. But there are people doing this work. They just gotta come together, and it's a lot of visionaries who see it how I see it and can really make it happen. So I just wanted to say that, because I ain't the only one doing this. It's a lot of people doing it, y'all doing this right. So many people doing this work.
Speaker 3:Oh, patricia Hershey, the Nat Manifesto, the Nat Fest, yeah, I mean, she's incredible, you know, there are there.
Speaker 2:yeah, so many people, so many people and, yeah, yeah, so many people doing this work, and I think, like I just feel something inside of me that says, like something is shifting and I think you mentioned it too, isabel like something is like it's time. Yeah, it's something different in the air, in the energy, like I've been feeling it for a while now and it's gonna be something that people didn't expect. That's something I feel in my spirit.
Speaker 1:I agree I think Onika said it right now too like when we talk about how everybody always wants to keep, you know, everybody separate. You know I'm like you said. You know, onika, I'm an individual, I'm gonna do my thing. I'm an individual and, yeah, you gotta do the work inside. But I think, in a way, we're meant to be a community, we're meant to be with each other, we're meant to heal with one another. We're meant to, yeah, I have my weaknesses and I have my strengths, but where my weaknesses are, guess what? You get to be my strength and vice versa.
Speaker 1:You know it's a give, it's a take. It's like I get to see my light in you and I can't see it in me, and I think, like we're all connecting back into in our own circles or in our own ways, but like coming back and bringing into those communities and starting that rather than being so stuck in. This is my bubble, this is my shell, this is the way, because that's what I think we have always been assimilated to do, that's what they do, that's what we've been encouraged to do, and it's like but that's not the way it was meant to be. You go back into your indigenous roots For me, like I go back into my you know, and that's not. That wasn't the way my culture is, that's not the way that you know we were taught. It was the whole different was community.
Speaker 1:So I think it's exciting. I side note, I just have to say I know there's some people doing this work right now, but watching you right now and listening to you, I'm excited just right now. Like I know you're still growing, but like I'm like girl, you're gonna be like circles here, circles here, mentor here, mentor there. Like I don't just see you in your little bubble of your space, I see you like all over and I'm like excited to watch that grow for you guys for you.
Speaker 2:I appreciate that. I appreciate it and I do feel like, in the spirit of authenticity and transparency, I do feel like there are moments where I don't. I try to like downplay myself. You know, like oh, and I've had different people like speak over my life and tell me otherwise. But something I also share with people is it's not important for somebody to tell you you're beautiful. It's not important for somebody to tell you you are amazing or you're talented, like you gotta validate yourself first. And when I talk to people I'm talking to myself. It's a reminder to myself that you gotta see the light that God gave you and stop downing it. And once you stop downing it, watch, watch, just let it happen.
Speaker 2:Just let it marinate, cause it's time to put it in a pot and cook.
Speaker 3:Okay, I was talking about doubt last week. I like a little bit of doubt. Doubt is a big part of my practice and I'll tell you why. I'll tell you why Because if I am too sure I'm not allowing new things to come in and when I have a little bit of doubt there's a little crack. It's not enough to break, but it lets a little light in. It might send me down a path. I would not have gone down if I had been so stuck in what I think is right, cause that's my thing, what I can hold on real tightly to something and let no light in. So doubt is my way of just keep letting that come in, because there might be something else that I'm not considering. I like to be open to that.
Speaker 1:I remember you saying doubt your face, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 3:And I think, because I defined doubt differently, then there's doubt that sort of uproots you and sort of shakes your foundation. I'm talking about doubt as a form of a question, when you allow yourself to sort of an unparaphrasing I can't remember his name, neil deGrasse Tyson here when standing on the edge of a cliff, sort of at the precipice of knowledge, and there needs to be a little bit of room to be able to ask the question at least out into the universe. So doubt is my space.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it also and, like you said, I think in some level it's like a reclaiming of it, cause it also makes me feel like it's also discernment enabled to like just listen and he's listening to a message today and they were talking to Bishop Delbronner and he was talking about discernment and being in a no and intuition and for a long time, like we were told not to listen to that and told that it wasn't real.
Speaker 2:I remember a sister on one of my shows talking about as children we are like, our intuition is pushed down, because when we say, mommy, I don't want to go on that store and be quiet, come on, let's go on this store, you don't even ask, you don't even inquire about why she feels this way. Or my daughter, she's an empath and there are people who she's like hi, and there are some people who make her go small and make her like and I pay attention to that and when she don't like that person, I move and I keep my eye on that person because it's something about the intuition of a child that's so deeply connected and I don't ignore that. But it's something that we also have to get back to and listen to. So I appreciate that, what you just shared and I'm gonna keep that on my heart as I move through this thing called life.
Speaker 1:Well, I know that we're on a time crunch, as much as I want to keep this conversation going. So and it's been an honor, like I honestly listen to you all day I think this is great. I'm sure we'll see you again, can you?
Speaker 3:let her go. Yeah, happy to be back this was amazing.
Speaker 1:Yeah, can you let her know, like, where they can find you, what, like all the information?
Speaker 2:Of course, you can find me on Instagram at NayaBingaziAnnie, and I'm sure they'll put it in the caption, so I'm not even gonna try to spell it. So I have an event coming up If you are local to the Bay our next sisterhood show in person. We're gonna be talking about the power of sisterhood, but more so specifically, we're gonna be talking about competition, jealousy, challenges and the seeds that were planted in that to make it so hard for black women to be in relationship with one another, and also the grief of relationship that we don't acknowledge not romantic, but actual friendships. So we're gonna be talking about that on October 15. So go get your ticket and be in the building, my book Master and the Sisters Self to master the world around you. It is a book and a workbook. It's available on Amazon and, yeah, that's all the things. Oh, and YouTube, it's the same as my Instagram, so you can subscribe there. We'll be dropping more episodes of the sisterhood show very soon.
Speaker 1:Perfect, all those links in the whole bio and it's been a pleasure. I love it.
Speaker 3:Anything else. No, you were amazing. I'm so glad that we got to be a community with one another.
Speaker 2:Yes, I'm so excited. I hope that we can like collaborate soon and build in a different way. Absolutely, thank you.
Speaker 1:Yes, thank you. Thank you, all right guys. Of course, talk to y'all later, bye, Bye you.