We interrupt your media consumption to give thanks
I have so many creative friends that I want to shout out and plug for this holiday season!!! They are organized by categorical alphabetical order, not by level of importance.
Artistic Thanks
Thank you Q (Cloudhouse Creatives) for the photoshoot! This was when I really began to reflect on myself as an individual and create an identity to represent on BLKALT. I’m sexy, I’m a scholar, and people like me - and you were one of the main/first people who helped me realize that.
Thank you Ebony and Brandon for letting me be your canvas. Every time I look at my tattoos I feel so honored; please believe I’ve got more designs to bring y’all!
Thank you Gold Mouf & Nostalgic Black Girl for allowing me to pick your minds and promote your passions! Our interviews were so amazing because of your insightful answers, and i have been so proud to watch your pages expand!
Thank you Charles, Asia, and Kerrigan for blessing my chapbook with your art. You all were so excited to contribute and truly, Dragonfly Honeybee could never be complete without the love and beautiful designs y’all are graciously contributing.
Thank you Michiko for your support with the Loaded Chamber of Reflection and doing the digital renderings. I love your Instagram stories, but we’ll talk about that another time (hopefully for Le Chat Noir sjksjksj)
Fashionable Thanks
Thank you Daria (Doing Daria + Thee Outfitology) for your Closet Boutique Technique! Girl, you are literally savings dollars, egos, and the planet all at once! Your never-ending encouragement and support shines just as bright as your smile & style boo.
Thank you to my real alternative black girls - Miracle, Tia, Tamara, Michiko, Tee, Kay, Keiko - for just looking so damn good. Wow. I love looking at y’all.
Thank you Keivon and Slim for always letting me know I can be a bad bitch just like y’all. Never stop slaying!!!
Food Thanks
Thank you Mooni (Moo Made) for supporting my journey to become thicker than a snickers. I love being your test taster, and thank you for teaching me how to navigate a kitchen (and properly load the washer).
Thank you Bryant for letting the family know that your baby sis DOES in fact eat. Thank you for setting an entrepreneurial example for your family and for honoring the room you always said you’d have for me. I can’t wait to pull up on Belly’s!
Musical Thanks
Thank you (Atrix)Alan for sending your beats for me to use with my Instagram reels. Even though I’m not as good at freestyling as you are, you always hype me up and you are very supportive of the BLKALT vision. I want more interviews for Wake Up Don’t Sleep!!
Thank you Jerry (Owens) for so many years of good friendship and good music. Your work ethic is unreal and you are so talented (but you don’t need anyone to tell you that). And thank you for this album that you are about to receive.
Thank you Jay (D’Andre) for trying to teach me how to use a beat machine and being so patient with me being in your creative space (all the dang time). Thank you for your dedication to your passion and to your friends & family.
Political Thanks
Thank you Jeru & Sam for being down for the cause and stepping up for the real fight. Your mindset and sense of civic responsibility is not just inspiring; it is absolutely imperative.
Social/Emotional Thanks
Thank you Lexsie for having such a big heart but NO room for the BS! You are as fierce as you are fabulous, and I’m so glad we became friends and that you trusted me with editing. May Underground Black Girl rise again!!!
Thank you Faith for being an exquisite friend and exemplary human being. I met you at the right place and there is never a wrong time with you. Your words, your style, your spirit - phenomenal woman, that’s you!!!
Thank you @Gakusei (y’all know there’s too many of you) for welcoming me with open arms all the time to every event. Y’all are so dope and so freaking fun to be around, and I literally would’ve left Charlotte already had I not met y’all. Even without knowing too much about anime or gaming in general, I feel like I’ve found my people.
Please tap in where you can with these talented ass people I know! Please take time to tag/shout out your own creative friends and their efforts to follow their dreams and live authentically. It’s not easy to keep a creative/passionate spirit, but it is essential in a life worth living.
