Hey Reader!

I’m still floating from last Friday. 🥹✨I went and spoke at Women & Words, an event by Storehouse Voices (an imprint of Penguin Random House). It was a literary revival. 📚 And the bonus was 15 of my Book Academy clients/students were in the 100 authors there.

What I didn’t say then was that THREE of my clients walked away with book deals that day! 😭🔥 Aseanté Renee, Dr. Tori Niemynski, and ESSENCE contest winner Coleitha Banks.

This is what happens when preparation and good work meets the right room. When community meets courage. When we stop waiting to be invited and decide we belong wherever we show up.

This is why The Book Academy exists. To help people turn their IDEA into INK and I’m so proud of our TBA family, for showing up and showing out! 💪🏾

Let’s get into what has been knocking around in my spirit this week. 👇🏾

RANT

Let us decenter white men as much as possible.

Y’all know this “Roman Empire” trend. 😒 The one where people say, “My Roman empire is…” to describe something they think about all the time.

Here is the origin. Someone asked white men what they obsess over, and they said the Roman Empire. Which… okay, bless their colonizer hearts. 🙄 Because why of all things is that what they think about all the time?

But somehow folks adopted it like it is universal. Like their Roman fixation should be our cultural reference point. I reject it in the name of Claire Huxtable. Amen. 🙏🏾

Can we please upgrade this?
“My Golden Girls is…”
“My Living Single is…”
“My A Different World is…”

Something that reflects our joy, our imagination.

Because language matters. Our references matter. The stories we center matter. 🗣️

When we keep uplifting white men’s random obsessions as the default, we are doing their PR for free. Every time we treat their lens as universal, we treat ours as niche or secondary.

Absolutely not. We are not doing that anymore.

Next time something is living rent free in your head, maybe say:
“My Olivia Pope is…”
“My Serena Williams is…”
“My Beyoncé at Coachella is…”

Center us.

We deserve to hear our own echoes in culture. We deserve to set the standard instead of borrowing someone else’s. Also, we’re way more interesting so… yeah. Let’s take advantage of that.

REFLECTION

Generational wealth is more than money.

We talk a lot about generational wealth. Building it. Leaving it. Securing the bag for those who come after us. 💰

And listen, I'm all for financial security. I want my people taken care of. I want them to have resources and options and the freedom that money can provide.

But lately, I've been thinking about what we're REALLY leaving behind. 🥹

Because too often, people treat generational wealth like it’s only financial. But money means nothing if you also leave your people the inheritance of fear, trauma, and emotional debris.

What is your lineage inheriting from you? Not just your bank account. Not just your property. Not just your portfolio.

But your peace. Your healed wounds. Your patterns. Your values. Your capacity for joy. Your relationship with rest. Your ability to love without conditions. 🗣️

Because you can leave someone a million dollars and still burden them with trauma you pass down that will lead to them losing it all. You can secure their financial future but pass down people-pleasing, perfectionism, and pain.

And that's not wealth. That’s just money tied to a ticking time bomb. 💣

Generational wealth means nothing if you don't also leave the inheritance of safety, healed pain, and a legacy of goodness.

I want those I love to inherit the spoils of the work I’ve done to unkink the hose of patterns passed down from those I don’t even know their names. I want many cycles to stop with me. 🙏🏾 The legacy of mercy, grace, and choosing joy even when the world makes it hard. ✨

I want them to inherit my boundaries, not just my bank statements. My ability to rest, not just my hustle. My compassion, not just my credentials. 🫶🏾

Because what good is financial security if they're emotionally bankrupt? What good is a trust fund if they can't trust themselves or others? What good is inheritance if what they inherit is YOUR unprocessed pain?

What matters is wealth that shows up in how safe people feel in their own skin. How freely they can love. How confidently they can say no.

The wealth that matters most is the kind they feel, not the kind they count. 🤌🏾

So yes, let's build generational wealth. But let's expand what that means. Let's leave our people money AND peace. Resources AND rest. Security AND safety. A legacy of goodness that matters more than any amount in a bank account.

Because the richest inheritance isn't just what you leave in your will but what you’ve cleaned up so they don’t have to.

RECOMMENDATION

Give to Step Up Network and Support Girls.

I really want to make sure that teen girls know that they are not alone in navigating this world, and none of their goodness is tied to them playing small. 💪🏾 It’s why organizations that support them are near and dear to me. 🥰

Last night, Step Up, a national organization that provides mentorship, community and opportunity to teen girls, honored me (along with Dr. Anjali Camara) with their Inspiration Award, here in Chicago. I’m the 20th person to receive this award in their 75 year history so to say I’m honored is an understatement. My RISING TROUBLEMAKER book for teens was gifted to the girls present too.

The work that Step Up does can change the entire trajectory of a girl’s life. I heard that in real time as their teen honoree, Cree Hampton, talked about how the organization changed her life. 🙌🏾

So today, I’m asking that you donate to this incredible organization. Their funding was cut by this raggedy administration we got. 😩 And this is work that cannot go undone. People suffer for it.

Your (tax deductible) donations go directly toward the programs that make that happen:

After-school mentoring for high school girls
Corporate field trips that show them career paths they’ve never seen
Short-term coaching for young adults starting their careers
A mentoring app that gives them 1:1 guidance from anywhere
In-person Power Talks that build confidence and leadership

This is the kind of investment that opens doors and keeps them open. When you support Step Up, you’re making sure the next generation of young women get the guidance than many of us wish we had.

DONATE TO STEP UP

And no donation is too small. 🙏🏾

So here’s my question this week: What's YOUR Golden Girls/Living Single? What cultural reference lives rent-free in YOUR head? Hit reply and let me know!

With gratitude and purpose,

P.S. Shoutout again to our Book Academy members on their book deals! If you've been wanting to write a book, know that doors to the next cohort of TBA will be opening soon! Join the waitlist at TheBookAcademy.com/waitlist.