{"id":347,"date":"2025-01-26T16:57:42","date_gmt":"2025-01-26T16:57:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/?p=347"},"modified":"2025-02-03T17:16:27","modified_gmt":"2025-02-03T17:16:27","slug":"a-collection-of-black-womens-voices-forward-by-elder-semerit-seankh-ka-strachan-and-sister-comfort-dondo","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/2025\/01\/26\/a-collection-of-black-womens-voices-forward-by-elder-semerit-seankh-ka-strachan-and-sister-comfort-dondo\/","title":{"rendered":"A Collection of Black Women\u2019s Voices: (Forward by Elder Semerit Seankh-Ka Strachan and Sister Comfort Dondo)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

FINDING THE VOICE WITHIN<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

A Collection of Black Women\u2019s Voices<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

(Forward by Elder Semerit Seankh-Ka Strachan and Sister Comfort Dondo)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

By the Aya Collective<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

When I was given the honor and opportunity to write my column, I was intentional about the name: Sharing Our Stories. In my opinion, everyone has a story inside them; however, not everyone commits their story to print. These days, as African Americans and African-born, it is more imperative that we document our stories for the present and future generations. As a colleague of mine once said, \u201cIf we don\u2019t, someone else will, and it may not be accurate.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We are descended from kings and queens, and our lives matter. We refuse to allow them to be discounted, dismissed, or erased, especially when it to Black women. That being said, I bring to you the Aya Collective anthology Finding the Voice Within: A Collection of Black Women\u2019s Voices.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

First, I want to acknowledge the voices of the women who contributed to this anthology: Maya J. Mason, Jameelah Crawford, Holly Fidler, Denise Walker, Elder Semerit Seankh-Ka Strachan, Sister Comfort Dondo, Ayolanda Mack, Theresa Thompson Nix, Pamela Fletcher Bush, Sister Peace, Joy Marsh, Jean Loyd, Amoke Kubat, and Ebony Aya, founder of the Aya Collective.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The stories in this anthology speak of the diverse experiences of the women as Black girls who have grown to become Black women, memories of their elders, their ambitions in the present, generational curses, supernatural gifts, good and bad relationships, family secrets, reclamation, growth, resilience. Meditation moments are included at the end of each story to encourage and empower. The common thread of all the narratives is the moment when each finds that inner voice, the one that strengthens and perseveres.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Does this book sugarcoat pain, grief, loss, injustice? No. Does it recognize accountability for the choices made? Indeed. Does it speak truth, healing, wisdom, affirmation, validation, and internal strength in spite of external trials and tribulations? Most definitely. These are voices that refuse to be silenced. One of the good things about sharing stories is that we can have similar experiences and yet bring our own unique perspective to those experiences.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I must give a hat tip to Ebony Aya, the founder of the Aya Collective. In her words, \u201cThe Aya Collective is an intentional space that focuses on Black women writing in community with each other, centering our spiritual and cultural practices.\u201d Thank you and Strive Publishing for bringing this book to fruition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Finding the Voice Within is available through Amazon and Strive Publishing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thank you, Ebony, for bringing us more unique voices of our queens!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

FINDING THE VOICE WITHIN A Collection of Black Women\u2019s Voices (Forward by Elder Semerit Seankh-Ka Strachan and Sister Comfort Dondo) By the Aya Collective When I was given the honor and opportunity to write my column, I was intentional about the name: Sharing Our Stories. In my opinion, everyone has a story inside them; however, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":348,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"off","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[23,7],"tags":[98,153,123,154],"class_list":["post-347","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-entertainment","category-lifestyle","tag-african-americans","tag-african-born","tag-black-authors","tag-black-girls","et-has-post-format-content","et_post_format-et-post-format-standard"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/A-Collection-of-Black-Womens-Voices-e1738602958750.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/347","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=347"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/347\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":349,"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/347\/revisions\/349"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/348"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=347"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=347"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=347"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}