The Alimond Show
Welcome to The Alimond Show --join us as we share our entrepreneurial guests' stories, uncover their secrets to success, and explore the unique paths they've taken to build thriving businesses in our community.
In each episode, our host, Aliyah Dastour, sits down with a diverse group of local business owners, from the corner cafe to the boutique shop, from tech startups to family-run enterprises. We peel back the curtain to reveal the trials, triumphs, and transformational moments that have shaped their entrepreneurial journey.
Discover the passion, perseverance, and innovative thinking that fuels these businesses, as well as the challenges they've overcome along the way. Whether you're a budding entrepreneur seeking inspiration or simply a curious listener interested in the stories behind your favorite local spots, The Alimond Show has something for everyone.
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The Alimond Show
Jennifer Roberts - From Aspiring Journalist to Early Childhood Advocate: Transforming Education, Promoting Equity, and Building Strong Communities
Can early childhood education really change the course of a child's future? This episode of our podcast examines this compelling question with our guest, Jennifer Anise Roberts. Jennifer’s journey from aspiring journalist to a fervent advocate for education and community engagement is nothing short of inspiring. Raised by educators in Prince George's County, Maryland, Jennifer has now channeled her passion into creating transformative educational experiences through her nonprofit, Conversations in the Community, and The Sawubona School of Excellence, an Afrocentric preschool dedicated to nurturing young minds, from the ages of 3-5 years old.
The heart of our conversation centers on Jennifer's educational philosophy and the profound impact of early learning. The Sawubona School of Excellence, named after the Zulu greeting "I see you," aims to recognize and cherish each child's unique humanity and potential. Jennifer shares the story behind the school’s name and its mission to build a strong foundation for children, emphasizing the importance of early childhood education in shaping a brighter future. We also delve into Jennifer’s creative endeavors, including her children's book "Meet Khalia," which celebrates her family's adventures and promotes positive representation of diverse characters.
Jennifer’s insights extend beyond the classroom as we address pressing issues of representation and equity in education. Her nonprofit initiative fosters vital community dialogues about racism and discrimination, offering resources and support to help students navigate these challenges. As we conclude, Jennifer shares her ambitious plans for The Sawubona School's expansion and her unwavering commitment to inclusivity and diversity in education. This episode is a must-listen for anyone passionate about creating equitable educational opportunities and fostering meaningful community engagement.
My full name is Jennifer Anise Roberts, and I am originally from Prince George's County, maryland, and I relocated when I got married in, I guess, a little over 22 years ago. We moved to Northern Virginia and my businesses are. I have a not-for-profit business, which is conversations in the community, as well as a school, a preschool that I'm in the process of launching called the Sawabona School of Excellence, which is an Afrocentric preschool for students ages three through five, that's awesome.
Speaker 2:I love that. I'm excited Absolutely. I would love to know a little bit about your background and how you got started with these two endeavors, your businesses and like were you in something else before? Give us a little bit of a history about you. What led you?
Speaker 1:Sure, absolutely so. Like I said, I'm originally from Prince George's County, so still in the DMV area, but not directly in Northern Virginia, and so I grew up. I've come from a lineage of educators. My mother is a career educator. She is I call her the goat of education. I have never seen anybody do it better than she does. So I had a very strong role model for how education should be done in the home, and so I was always raised around doing the right thing at school, making sure that I showed up as a high quality student. My mom was very big on accountability, making sure that our educators were showing up as high quality educators for my siblings and I, and so that's the environment that I grew up in, where excellence was expected in our home. Academically, I'm a person of deep faith in our church, and so that's the atmosphere that that I had, and so I grew up, graduated high school in the 90s, in 1995.
Speaker 1:And I went on to college. I attended two colleges, graduating from Bowie State University, which is a historically black college in Bowie, maryland, and so I got a degree in communications media, because what I wanted to do was I wanted to become a journalist. That's the track that I was on. I love to write, I love to read, even to this day, and I wanted to travel around and cover people's stories. I've always been fascinated with the human story, I love human interest stories, and so that's the track that I was on.
Speaker 1:Graduated, went to work in different public affairs, public relations, you know organizations. I've worked for the United States Navy at Bowling Air Force Base and their public affairs division. I worked before satellite radio came on as what we know it today. I worked at XM Satellite Radio before the service was actually offered, and so that was really an exciting time to be on the ground floor of that. And so, you know, did that for some time, worked at a trade magazine, radio and records honed my writing skills. Radio and records honed my writing skills.
Speaker 1:But over time what I noticed is that what I kept coming back to every position that I held, the things that I really enjoyed were my opportunities to go into the community and do community relations work. So, like when I was in college, one of my work study jobs was going into an elementary school and being kind of like a teacher assistant with one of the. It was either first graders, I think they were second graders, second grade class, and I'm like I absolutely love this. And then, when I was working in the public affairs department at Bowling Air Force Base, I was able to come on as a community relations assistant and so same thing, I got to go into the schools and do like drug awareness programs and talking with students and staff members and working in the community in Washington DC and I loved it. So little did I know that all of these different opportunities over time would lead me to the work that I'm doing today as far as advocacy and education and making sure that all children have access to equitable opportunities.
Speaker 2:Absolutely Wow. That is very thorough and like you've done so many things that led you to the path and also the things that you did also help with what you wanted to do in the end. So I think that's amazing. I know some people's stories are a little bit more jagged, and that's totally okay. Like it's are a little bit more jagged, and that's totally okay. It's like I used to be a cook, but then I was an engineer. Yours is skills that you just take and you're honing to get to where you are. I think that's amazing. I would like to talk before we get into the nitty gritty of it all.
Speaker 2:I would like to talk about your advocacy group and why you started it, what it is about and why it is important. Oh my gosh, yeah, I would love to talk about that.
Speaker 1:Yes, thank you for asking. So, during the pandemic, like everybody else, I was at home and I am, like I said, I'm married and my husband and I we have two children, and so we were at home and we're, you know, figuring things out, just like everybody else is. I've always I would say probably since I was in college had a passion for studying African-American history and American history from an African-American perspective, and so these are the types of books and articles that I read for pleasure Because, like I said, I'm very interested in human interest stories and how people, particularly black people, have survived and thrived, you know, in very oppressive environments. And so, while I was at home, I started out with you know, I like to say that I had an account, a social media account, but I was never on social media because I never had a reason to be on there. And so, in 2020, I started sharing like just some of the things that I do at home with my two children. At the time, they were in high school, they were going my daughter was going into high school and my son was like finishing up elementary school, and so I was just kind of sharing, like these are like the type how I set their workspaces up. This is how you know, these are some of the things that you can do to help identify your children's learning style, and so it was things that I didn't necessarily take for granted, but in my mind I'm like these are things that, like, most people know. But the feedback that I got was most people don't necessarily know and they're depending on the teachers you know to be able to help them navigate these kinds of things.
Speaker 1:So I started doing that and got a lot of you know, positive feedback, and then I started sharing articles in my local newspaper about the same kinds of you know, same kinds of tips, and this is, you know, what I'm doing and this is how I'm helping my students to still thrive at home even though they can't physically go to school. So I kept going with that, and then I started looking around at what was happening in the country, just like everybody else was, when it came to, like, the murder of George Floyd and just all of the things that were. They've always been there. Of the things that were. They've always been there, but they kind of bubbled up, I think, for a lot of people, and the entire world was able to see the oppression that I see all the time, because that's what I'm paying attention to.
Speaker 1:And so I knew the types of conversations that I was having at home at my dinner table, the types of conversations that I was having with my family and with other community members, and I thought, well, maybe other people want a safe space where they too can come together virtually to talk about these same types of issues of racism, of race and of education and then where all of those things intersect. And so that was the impetus for Conversations in the Community. It was literally. It started out as a program and I'm like, hey, neighbors, friends, let's hop on Zoom and talk about what do we see in our local community as far as all of these issues are concerned, and then what can we do to help address some of those issues. And so I think it helps people to feel less isolated, especially during a time when a lot of people felt very isolated, and also to give people, like I said, that emotionally safe space to talk about and to share and also to listen to what other people in the community had to say.
Speaker 2:No, I think that that was a great move and a great thing to do during that time, because I'm sure there was a lot of pent up emotions and feelings of sadness, anger, confusion. So having that space to talk about it, where you can feel safe within your community and not feel like judged or I don't know, get just comments that don't really help the conversation. So I think that that was a great and smart move for you to do, because those were hard times.
Speaker 1:They were they were, and I think it was the first time or at least one of maybe not the first time, but I would say in recent history where so many people were seeing the same thing at the same time, and so it was a very unique time in that way, because everybody was at home. It wasn't like, oh, I didn't see that on the news, or I didn't see that because I was busy. It's like no, we're just here and everybody's watching the news every day, and so we were all seeing it, and so I think it was beneficial to the community to say let's talk about what is happening. I think that's great.
Speaker 2:Thanks for sharing that and talking a little bit about that. Now I would like to talk about your businesses. Talk to me about the preschool you said it's for ages two and five, I believe.
Speaker 1:Three to five. Three to five. Three to five, three to five.
Speaker 2:So yeah, Talk to me about the name, how you came up with it, what all programs you provide and help with.
Speaker 1:Absolutely so. This is new. I haven't opened yet. The plan is for me to open late October. Early November is what I'm looking at. There's lots of preparation that happens and once I started really digging into the process of it all, I'm like, oh, there's a lot of steps that you just don't see. You know on the surface until you start working. But having two children in the public school system I've been able to see, like the good, the bad, the ugly, the areas where educators are getting it right, and then also the educator, the areas where we need support. And so, because I'm an educator at heart, I'm looking saying what can I do in my corner of the world? What can I do to support the children that I don't necessarily come in contact with physically? But these are the children that are in my community and even though they're not my biological children, my attitude is they are my children because we share the same, literally like the same earth.
Speaker 1:Right literally, we share the same earth. So these are my neighbors, these are my children, the children in my community are my children. It's that deeply personal for me and so it's been a blessing. I can think back to the time where the Lord laid it on my heart, like I know exactly where I was and I was going through a very difficult time with one of my own children just some of the challenges that I was seeing, you know, in school and I'm like, lord, this is all happening for a reason, like I'm able to see firsthand that there are going to be children who need something else. And so he laid it on my heart. She's like you have a desire to start schools. What you're looking for doesn't exist, and that was the challenge. I'm like looking high. I'm like somebody else has had to already have done this and people have just not in this area.
Speaker 1:And so there's an opportunity to work with children at a very young age to help build them up. And so there's a lot of trauma that is inflicted, not necessarily consciously, on children when they are very, very small. We often say children are sponges. They are, they absorb the positive and the negative. They come here just wide open, wide open, curious. They want to learn, they want to know. I mean, it's just such an amazing opportunity to work with children. It's a privilege to be able to work with them because they are, they're just, they're so pure, and so I take it, you know, is no small thing, that, you know, the Lord has chosen me and that's how I feel to say I want you to take care of my children and helping to build them up so that there's less repair that has to happen down the road.
Speaker 1:And so the name is Saul Bona, and I heard that name. Well, let me tell you what it means. First, it means I see you in Zulu, and the name has to do with like a deep seeing from the heart. It's not just I see you with my physical eyes, but I see the humanity in you, I see the value in you, you matter, you count, I love you, I'm glad that you're here. It's that kind of seeing.
Speaker 1:And so I was a co-founder at a global studies program at my children's school several years ago and what we did there was a time where we taught the children a song. It was like different greetings from different languages. That's where I first heard the word. Didn't think anything about it. Fast forward a couple years later and a friend of mine, who's already doing this work, she greeted me. With that greeting she was like Sawabona, and I'm like, oh my gosh, it's come back around. And when she said it, it was during the time when I was like doing the preliminary groundwork for the school, okay, and I'm like that's the name of the school. When I'm looking at what should I call it? It wasn't, you know, I didn't run down like 25 different names, I knew going to teach you ABCs and one, two, threes. It's about growing human beings and developing them to be strong, and so that's our tagline we are growing strong children by building relationships with them, by seeing them, hearing them and valuing them every single day. Dang, that is so powerful.
Speaker 2:I wish I could have been in a school like that as a three-year-old, five-year-old. That is so awesome and I love how personal you take it. It's like your mission to help these kids and set them up for success so that way, later down the line, they have these skills and they were just nurtured and it's a beautiful thing and, like you said, they're at their purest form. So it's like you have to protect that and really nurture it.
Speaker 1:You do Exactly, you really really do, because it's there and it's not. It just it gets tainted over time. And I really believe we all know that our children are going to grow up and they're going to have to deal with difficult things, hard things, tough things, and it's what we deposit in them at an early age and keep depositing over time that helps them to be able to develop that resiliency. So when something comes against them, they're like hey, I know who I am, I'm strong enough to stand up to whatever it might be, and I also have people who have supported me over time and who will continue to support me as I face this difficult thing.
Speaker 2:Yes, oh my gosh, that's so cool, I'm so excited.
Speaker 1:Thank you, oh my gosh.
Speaker 2:I can't wait to see, like the impact and everything that it does over time. I'll be an old lady by then oh no, but that's okay, this is so cool, this is so well. Hopefully not right. That's how it starts. Fact that, like you heard it earlier in time and then it came back, it kind of was like destiny I believe that, right, I absolutely believe that.
Speaker 1:And it's just, you know, when you start moving on something and I've heard people say that you know, like when you speak something out loud, it's like things start to come into place that lead you in that direction, and it may have been there all along, but when you get on the page, you know with what is destined to come. It's like, oh, like, your eyes are like opened in a new way as things and events and people Because, even like some of the community partners that I'm going to be working with are people that God has already put in my like I've met them before and I'm like, oh my gosh, I already have this dream team of people that get to do this work and are happy to do this work with me.
Speaker 2:So it's just a blessing all the way around. So do you have like a team already like that's coming?
Speaker 1:So this is more so. It would be me. And then I'm going to hire a full-time preschool teacher, and then the community partners are people who will come in, who contribute different skills. So, for instance, there is a I want to make sure I get her name right.
Speaker 2:Yes, yes.
Speaker 1:She's a molecular biologist. I think that's it's a wow, and I think she already has an organization called Baby Scientist and what she's doing work in the local community. Her name is Dr Christy McDowell, and I had the opportunity to find out about her when I'm doing like research on the internet Like you know, that's what I like to do at night time and I'm like, oh my gosh, she's here locally. Let me reach out to her. And she was already going into schools. She was already going into, you know, after school programs presenting science to children in a way that they can understand at an early age, so that they would know hey, this is not hard, I can do this. I'm being introduced to it at a much earlier age, so it's just it. Yeah, it's amazing With reading, I have another community partner who owns her own business.
Speaker 1:She is a reading tutor. She has an organization called Read Scholars Tutoring. Her name is Victoria I'm sorry, not Victoria, veronica Reed and same. It's like I've been able to partner with her in her virtual summer camp, because one of the things that I didn't mention is in 2019, I wrote a children's book. Talk to us about that. Oh, my goodness, I wrote a children's book. It's called Meet Kalia and it's based on my real life family. It's a spin on my daughter's name, and it's about us when my children were six and three, and so my daughter's older, and about us when my children were six and three, and so my daughter's older, and so she's the character of Kalia. And then my son he was they're three years apart and so he's the little brother and then my husband and I are in there.
Speaker 1:Even our family dog is in there and it's just about our life, like when she was in the first grade, what was she into? My son when he was three, what was he doing? Just living going to school, playing, enjoying family time, going to church, those kinds of things. Because what I noticed when my daughter was born and I was taking her to the library and story we were like at every story time that was offered there weren't a lot of books at all that showed African-American families doing regular everyday things like going on vacation, going to the dentist, getting new eyeglasses.
Speaker 1:Where you could see yourself, and I think that sometimes that's looked over. Yes, you know, when we're talking about racial representation, ethnic representation, it's huge. And I heard a quote and I want to make sure that I get it right. And when I heard because we often hear that it's very cliche representation matters, but it's like, why does it matter? And the actress, viola Davis I've heard her explanation and I think it's one of the best ones, and she said it's because we need to see a physical manifestation of our dreams. And it's true, it's like if we see it, we're like, oh, I'm seeing somebody who's doing maybe something that I want to do, you know, and that helps me to believe that I can do it or be it too.
Speaker 2:So that was-. I love powerful women. Oh my gosh, what are we without these powerful women? My goodness To like, break those barriers down and give us, like that, faith and hope and belief that we can that we can do it.
Speaker 2:Representation I do agree, is just so important. I know it is overlooked, or people feel like, oh, that's all it ever is. Like how is it overlooked? I see it all the time it's like, no, you actually don't, but thank you, um, let me tell you why. You know, it's so true, like even in the latino community, like when you see soap operas just turning on the TV.
Speaker 1:It's never dark-skinned people.
Speaker 2:It's always Eurocentric people and when I do see people who do look like me, it's literally they're poor or they're the maid. There's a lot of these stereotypes? Yes, it makes me feel like, oh, like, I guess because I'm not light-skinned like them, or my nose good about myself, or I start doubting things and I'm like no, don't let that win.
Speaker 2:But it's hard when you're young, right and that's why I think it's amazing that you're helping these students at such a young age, so that way, when they combat or come into situations like that, they know how to handle it. Well, right, right, and they're not as confused and they can look to you and the educators, the community, to help them. So this is just so great, man, I love it Well thank you. Thank you so much and talk to me about your other business. I'm sorry. What was the name of the other one?
Speaker 1:The Conversations in the Community.
Speaker 2:Yes.
Speaker 1:That was the one with the community members.
Speaker 2:Okay, thank you, I apologize for that. And so we've grown?
Speaker 1:Oh, no, no you're fine, so we've grown it. So now I've said we've grown it, but then we've kind of scaled back because I've focused on the preschool. Yes, yes, but I still have the nonprofit. But I'm kind of it's growing to a point where I'm not necessarily doing the routine monthly conversations anymore. I'll do a conversation on like, if there's some you know issue or topic or something that I'm like, oh, I think other people may want to talk about this, but it's more partnering with individuals, with parents, with schools and organizations, with groups that are doing work with children, to help support the work that other organizations are doing.
Speaker 1:Or coming in and saying I understand that racism is hard for some people to talk about, but it doesn't have to be. I can help facilitate those conversations or being able to say things as a member of the community that maybe a teacher or a principal can't say because of their role at the school, but that me, as a person who's not on the roster at the school, I can bring up questions and concerns or things that maybe I've heard in the community that people are experiencing, because even though we all live in the same geographic area, we're not all experiencing life the same way, and so I think there needs to be spaces that we create that say hey. And so I think there needs to be spaces that we create that say hey. Everybody's voice is welcome. We want to understand what you're experiencing. We don't want you to stay in the corner and just endure school. And so many students are there, don't want to rock the boat, don't want to make waves, or their parents have told them just go to school, don't say anything.
Speaker 2:Get through this.
Speaker 1:Just get through it and it's something that they're not enjoying. It's like a pit stop on their way to wherever they're going after school, and I'm like it doesn't have to be that way. We can enjoy it. And when there are challenges, let's come together as authentic community not just community on paper, but authentic community like a family, and say we don't agree, that's okay, but everybody's input is valid and we want to make sure that we get to a place where everybody is having an equitable experience, not just enduring school.
Speaker 2:For sure. Is there a way that schools I don't know if you offer this, but can schools hire you to come and talk? They can.
Speaker 1:Talk to me about that, absolutely so. My website for conversations in the community is wwwcitcomorg, and on there it shows the different workshops that I offer, so I can come in. And if it's staff members, maybe staff members want to talk about what's going on in the classrooms, what they're seeing, because I've heard feedback that some staff members they just don't know, they don't have the tools to combat or to not combat that's not the word that I want to use, but to navigate, yes that's the word.
Speaker 1:To navigate what they're seeing coming in, whether it's behavior, whether it's language. And then I'm hearing from students on the other side about what their experiences are and how staff members are kind of turning a blind eye to what is going on. Like well, that's not right either. So I can come in, like I said, as a community member, and help facilitate the conversation and help to come up with potential solutions, because every school is not the same and what works at school A may not work at school B, and so helping to customize those solutions, as well as working with students to say let's talk to the students, to give them a space without fear that they're going to be retaliated against, to talk about what are you experiencing. Let's make sure that the administration understands what your concerns are, because they are valid. You are the most important stakeholder here. This is all about you. And then also empowering students to do things like go to the local school board register to speak.
Speaker 1:You can do that as a student Some people don't even know that you have that option. They don't know and helping to break that down. It's kind of like when people talk about like politics, like the government, and they're like people say, well, reach out to your congressman, well, how do you do that? So I try to help people navigate the how do you get to the right person? So sometimes I'll work with parents.
Speaker 1:It could be a parent who's experiencing an issue, and it doesn't have to necessarily be a negative issue, it's just something that the parent doesn't understand how to get resolved. And so helping them to say well, this is the first, you know, did you talk to the teacher? You talk to the teacher? Okay, now what about the assistant principal? What about the principal? Encouraging parents to escalate, whatever the issue is, so that they can get a resolution? Yes, that's the. You may not get what you want, but you will at least have been heard, you would have been seen and you will get a resolution that hopefully meets the need that you have, even if it's not exactly what you want yes, no, that is so great, that is awesome.
Speaker 2:So anybody out there listening who would like to have jennifer come in and just speak and help educate, facilitate, mediate. She is so available and happy, happy to do it. Yes and sorry. I think I left the topic about the book. I want to go back to it for just a moment. Where can people find this book and get it?
Speaker 1:Yes, it is on Amazon. So if you go on Amazon and put in Meet Kalia and it's K-A-L-I-Y-A-H, it will pop up. There we go. It's right there, Love it.
Speaker 2:Thank you so, thank you, so I'm looking forward to writing more.
Speaker 1:People have asked me. They're like when are you coming out with more books? Because the original intent is that it's a series of books and so I'm like at some point I need to go back and write yes, so because I do, I enjoy writing.
Speaker 2:Yeah, no that's awesome. I do want to talk about, since you are such a busy woman. What are some things that maybe some entrepreneurs, if they're listening? What do you do to unwind and help balance yourself and reset so you can have the best of yourself to?
Speaker 1:give to others, sure, so I have a very supportive husband. That helps yes, it does, that helps, and he understands the assignments to which I have been called, so I'm really grateful for that. I think two understanding seasons for called. So I'm really, you know, grateful for that. I think two understanding seasons for me. So I'm a stay at home mom and my oldest we just took her to college, so that season, thank you so much.
Speaker 1:I'm super excited Of motherhood, like I'm transitioning into more like advisor not the day to day, and like we started doing that, you know, a little bit in high school. And then my son still, you know, helping him with the day-to-day. But understand, there's certain seasons. So things that I have the opportunity to do now I couldn't do when they were younger and so I never felt resentful because I knew that that was the season that I was in and so now I'm transitioning into a different season. So I would definitely recommend understanding the season that you're in and what is required of you in this season.
Speaker 1:I also like to use the word integration as opposed to balance, because I really don't think there is a balance it's never going to be, at least for me where everything is like on equal footing. But it's like, how do I integrate the things that are important to me in this season and make sure that all of those things are being addressed? Yeah, and then the last thing is I take something called WUSA weekends and so, yes, so, like I said, my husband's very supportive, so I will put on the calendar and sometimes, you know, I fall off or I have something else going on. It happens.
Speaker 1:I will put on the calendar and sometimes you know I fall off or I have something else going on. It happens, right. But I try to be super intentional about taking literal time where I will go away to like a hotel locally for a weekend and I will just go, like I love to journal and so I will go and write. I love like little things, like getting up and being able to drink my coffee and watch the local news. Yes, on a.
Speaker 1:Saturday morning is huge for me. Being able to just sit People don't believe that I am an introvert. They're like you are, like I am. I love being with myself, I love being by myself, and so just to be able to sit and just be quiet with my own thoughts, without somebody asking me about something or the dog needing to be let out, is huge for me. I also like sometimes I will take those Wussau weekends and I will travel to a place, like, for instance, I recently went to Montgomery Alabama because I do enjoy, like I said, I study American history from an African American perspective, so I was able to go and see, like, the Freedom Rider Museum. I was able to go and stand where Rosa Parks got on the bus for the Montgomery bus boycott. So those type of things fill me up, to be able to come back and be the person you know that God has created me to be.
Speaker 2:Wow, no, that is awesome, and I love the way that you've categorized it as like that's just the season that I'm in I know that's totally fine. My next season it's going to be like this Like I think that's so great.
Speaker 1:Exactly Because it changes, you know, and I think we have to be sensitive and open, not resistant to the change, because they will change.
Speaker 2:Absolutely, and that's just part of life. It's a part of life. Be open to that change. That's right. That's right. Where do you see yourself in the next five years as a person and with your business?
Speaker 1:Oh, that's a great question. So in five years I'll be in a different season. Both of my children will have graduated from high school. My daughter will have graduated from college and she has plans to go to graduate school, so she'll be doing that Awesome. And then my son, he will be going into college. He wants to become a veterinarian, and so he would be in his first year of college. And so, again, that season for me is going to be different, because I'll have even more time to dedicate to things that are important to me.
Speaker 1:So I definitely see myself growing the Sawa Bona School to expand it, hopefully, to multiple locations, as well as to be able to serve you know, just to be able to serve more families, whether it's locally or even, you know, being open to opening locations in other states.
Speaker 1:Because, as I, you know, just interact with people on social media or interact with people at conferences or conventions, the response is the same this is so needed and so and it's not readily available for people to be able to access, and so I just look forward to growing that business, as well as continuing to meet with community members and talking about how can I help.
Speaker 1:It's like my life, I'm here to serve and, like Oprah used to say, it's like your life is a class, your life is the platform. And I think everybody has that opportunity to say what is it? What gift have I come to bring? And really tapping into that to understand why am I here? You know, what is it that I'm supposed to be doing? Not what pays my bills, but what is my purpose. And what is it that I'm supposed to be doing, not what pays my bills, but what is my purpose and what is it that I'm supposed to be doing and being about the business of that. So it's like continuing to you know, discover and uncover more of who I am and how I can serve.
Speaker 2:Okay, I love that. And about the school, I want to make sure I say it right Sawubona, yes, you got it, thank you.
Speaker 1:It's going to be a monthly preschool and then the first Saturdays of every month at the Culture Cup in Gainesville, virginia, owner Nikki Brown has allowed me to come in on Saturdays to read to preschoolers, and so we took a break over the summer and we're starting back up this Saturday on September the 7th, and so if you have a preschooler, we will be there the first Saturday September, october, november, december to just come and listen to the stories, and so I bring stories that have racially and ethnically diverse characters and storylines so that all children can see that. It's not just for the children who are represented in the book, but for all children to be able to see what our community looks like and how they can choose to show up in the community, and so we'll be doing that. And then you asked me about something else.
Speaker 2:Yes, it's monthly preschool. It's in Gainesville every Saturday.
Speaker 1:Well, the preschool will be every day.
Speaker 2:I'm sorry. No, that's fine.
Speaker 1:Yes that's going to be every day and that's going to be in Haymarket, haymarket In Haymarket, and so the coffee shop is something, something that I do like as a community member in the community, and so people can feel free.
Speaker 1:If they want to ask me questions about the school, they absolutely can. And then we're going to be doing yeah, we'll be doing the story time, and then the preschool will open, which will be daily. So, parents, there's flexible schedules because some people want part time, other people need full time because of their work schedule. So there'll be flexibility there. And then there was something else. There was one more thing. I thought Maybe not, I don't know. Okay, so, yeah, so that's what? Yeah, I think yeah, awesome, very good, oh, I know what it was.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so we're going to be doing some pop up events and I don't have dates yet of books for preschoolers. Oh, my gosh, it's so exciting. There's so many books that are available today and then they would be able to have story time. We would have music, movement, games I've been able to curate this experience and being able to bring it out into the community so they can see. If I were to register my scholar for Sao Obonah, these are the types of activities that they would be exposed to. These are the types of people that they would be exposed to every single day.
Speaker 2:That is incredible. That is awesome. Like I said, I'm excited and I can't wait for it to grow and expand all over our area because it is something that's needed because it'll only help, so I'm happy about that. Is there anything that maybe I have not touched on that you would like to share with our audience before we wrap things?
Speaker 1:up or any parting words. I would just like to say I want to make sure or convey the point that, like black history is for everybody, and I think that kind of gets lost sometimes that like Black history is only for Black people. And so I would encourage us, as community members, to expand our thinking, expand our hearts, to be able to say that I can learn, like none of us were here when slavery, you know, occurred or, and so I think sometimes there's this ownership and there's this shame around having conversations and talking about, well, that happened a long time ago. What does that have to do with now? And it has everything to do with now, and I understand and I'm sensitive to the fact that not everybody gets that, and that's okay.
Speaker 1:But my ask of the community is challenge yourself, because I do understand that it is difficult. Challenge yourself to be open to conversations, because the gift that we have in this moment is that, even though we weren't here when slavery happened, it wasn't an event. It's something that had long lasting effect and it affects us today. It wasn't an event, it's something that had long-lasting effect and it affects us today. It affects all of us today, and so the gift that we have now is that we get to choose who we decide to be. Do we keep the legacy alive or do we choose to be and do something different?
Speaker 2:Yes, I think we should move forward to changing things differently and just making sure that everybody can be okay, be good in the society that we live in and not have to feel like this for everybody Right and there's space for everybody. There's room yes.
Speaker 1:Yes, I agree.
Speaker 2:Well, thank you so much for being here and sharing so much insight and your knowledge and, like the businesses that you're working with within the community and the youth, I think it's powerful and thank you for being here and sharing that with us.
Speaker 1:Thank you for having me. It has been a pleasure. Thank you so much. You're welcome.