Saturday, February 21, 2026
"The Vanishing Half" by Brit Bennett is a multi-generational family saga set from the 1940s–1990s and centers on identical twin sisters Desiree and Estelle "Stella" Vignes and their daughters Jude and Kennedy, respectively. Desiree and Stella are black and have exceptionally light skin. They are raised in the fictional town of Mallard, Louisiana, where the residents are exclusively people with light skin. Desiree and Stella witness the lynching of their father in the 1940s and feel discontent living in Mallard where there are few opportunities for them. A formative moment for the twins is when their mother Adele pulls them out of school so they can earn money cleaning a family's home. Stella is sexually abused by the man who owns the home and conceals this from her family. The twins decide to run away to New Orleans. Stella begins to pass for white so she can work as a secretary at a marketing firm called Maison Blanche. Her wealthy boss, Blake, falls for her, and she moves to California with him without telling Desiree. Desiree is left heartbroken and ends up in an abusive marriage to a man named Sam Winston.
“The Vanishing Half” draws you in to the historically familiar story and systemic trauma of racism commingled with the lingering ache that comes from the distance between estranged family. It’s set in a time that feels like it could be both the past and the present at once. Bennett does an amazing job exploring the complex issue of colorism throughout the story.
Friday, January 9, 2026
"Our Kind of Women: A visual love letter to Black women redefining their prime" is the upcoming book by photographer and creator, Bessie Akuba. The book will be a compilation of intimate portraits, honest stories ... a celebration of reinvention, resilience, and blooming in our own time.
The Mission:
~ To redefine "prime."
~ Archive our stories.
~ Build an ecosystem.
I am honored to be included among the 100 Black women, ages 40-75, who are blooming on our own terms.
During the shoot and conversation, Bessie asked each of us to reflect on a question or theme. To me, she posed the question: Do you feel more visible or invisible in this season?
My response:
"I definitely feel more visible in this season and I believe the impetus of it was from something God said to me. Last year, one day in my prayer time, he said: be your full self. And it was a bit jarring because though I tend to show up outwardly in bold and audacious ways, I had been holding back parts of who I was ... pulling back and parsing out the measure that I believed people could take of me. And it was truly a real moment of reckoning; the woman that I hope to be in this world would tell other women to take up all the space they can.
So, I started trying to do it; letting little pieces of my nuances out, a bit at a time. And, if I’m honest, this takes practice because I was withholding what I thought would be deemed “too much” or misunderstood. It even showed up in how I honed my craft professionally and creatively.
As a writer and as a journalist, I believed that all of my power was in my words. But, now I realize it’s time for me to be out and to be using my voice. And the more I step out, the echoing response has been that it’s what people have been waiting for. Though I felt like I was hidden, I’ve been like a blinking light the whole time. As I have started to be my full self, I realize the real truth and depth in what has always been a guiding principle for me which is that anyone can do what I’m doing, but no one can be who I’m being."
Friday, January 2, 2026
Of Sistren podcast is a show of lively conversation exploring how we rise to our greatest levels in an intentional pursuit of greater. Host Katrice L. Mines will go deep into discussions of wellness, careers, spirituality, relationships under the banner of being made for more.
Tuesday, December 30, 2025
Of Sistren has been a dream of my heart what feels like my entire life. I grew up in an environment where I was shrouded by women who spoke life to me and it fostered in me a fierce advocacy for other women ... sistren. When I was an adolescent, my mom — then in her late 20s was a part of a group at our church called "The Daughters of Emmanuel." And I was so eager to grow up and be in that collective because it was a space where even from my young perspective I could tell they were being greatly enriched. I learned recently it was just that — described to me as "spiritually focused, women's empowerment — designed to expose church women to things outside of church like culture, travel, education and the arts. It was a space for them to fellowship with women of like faith but also with women of other faiths" and, ultimately, to offer them positive experiences and to increase them. Just the observation of it from afar, knowing it existed and imagining what was happening within its confines was enough to inspire me.
In my 20s, I founded Inspiring Excellence, an community-based enhancement program for African-American adolescent girls in Ohio with a focus on expanding their capacities and cultivating a space for them to intentionally plan for their futures. Each time one of those young women I met as fourth graders graduated from college or launched into her dreams, my heart has beamed.
And as life has progressed, navigating the different phases has revealed just how vital and steadying a force the support of women is for me. Women need women. So, here it is; Of Sistren — a place for women to gather ... to be inspired ... to reflect ... to increase because we were made for more.
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