This week, I’ve decided to delay the episode out of respect for current events. I thank you for your patience and hope you’ll stay tuned for next week’s episode, where I will plan to promote stories and resources from melanated voices in support of black people. I am also actively seeking more black guests for the show, and want to turn our attention towards books and movies with diverse protagonists and casts. If you’d be interested in coming on the show in the future, please reach out to me at abigailkperry [AT] gmail [DOT] COM. 

Although I do not have an extended episode this week, I do want to share two insightful resources from black creators from this week that everyone should listen to.

The first is an interview hosted by Nic Stone, author of Dear Martin, Nic’s New York Times bestseller is about a high school senior in a predominantly white school who starts writing letters to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. after he experiences a dangerous encounter with police officers. This week, Nic hosted five amazing interviews on race with an editorial director and bestselling authors. This list included Pete Forester, Jodi Picoult, Brenda Kiely, Tiffany Jewell, and D. Watkins. Nic has posted all of the interviews on her IG account @nicstone, and I sincerely recommend you check these out for your own education and growth. 

Purchase DEAR MARTINon *Amazon *IndieBound *Barnes and Noble

The other video I’d like to draw your attention to is from Ivirlei Brookes, a Business and Mindset Coach and founder of Mavenelle, a company where Ivirlei shares her experiences, tips, advice, and resources for creative women seeking to uplevel their experience.  

All of Ivirlei’s advice in this video is invaluable; some of her thoughts I wanted to reinforce in this episode are how white people can do more (and need to do more) than donate, post #blacklivesmatter, and be publicly with black people and against racism. We need to commit ourselves to doing the work. Some of the recommendations Ivirlei shared are included in this short episode, but I sincerely recommend you visit Ivirlei's IG page and watch her video for yourself. 

In an effort to do better, I will be dedicating this month to promoting stories by black authors and creators in the upcoming weeks. These episodes will not follow the traditional interview format with guests. Instead, I will be researching and promoting stories/books/movies/work from black authors and creatives. I hope that you will listen to these episodes and support these authors, creatives, and voices.

Thank you for committing to doing the work with me, I look forward to sharing upcoming episodes that will amplify melanated voices.