2020 Cohort
This apprenticeship extended the work of the Her Testimony campaign, which lifted up the experiences of Black women’s experiences of the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic. With the extension of this campaign, we positioned our apprentices to be witnesses, storytellers, and champions of Black girl wellness amidst the converging threats of the pandemic and racial injustices.
We met with our four dynamic apprentices virtually to learn how to bear witness through dialogue, create narratives that heal and affirm, and own our voices and power. Along the way, our apprentices connected with Black women creators that helped them sharpen these skills and spoke with other Black youth to gain insight on how the pandemic has impacted their lives. By the conclusion of the program, our apprentices created a creative resource of wellness strategies for Black girls to focus on their well-being in light of COVID-19 and police brutality.
Meet Our 2020 Cohort
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How do you want to impact the world?
Short answer; I want to bring more representation to us Black girls in the media, and create more safe spaces. Long answer; I want to use my writing and artistic skills to bring diversity to the types of Black girls we see in the media. Yes, there are Black girls who are loud and outgoing and there's nothing wrong with that, but they are not a monolith. And not to mention the extreme lack of diversity in fantasy/sci-fi like stories. I want to make my own stories, my own games, with girls we can all relate to on a personal level, not just a skin-deep level. I want to bring awareness to mental illness through these stories, an elephant in the room we've been ignoring for way too long, and provide access to effective resources that even girls from different nations can access.
What do you want to accomplish or take away as a result of your participation in this program?
I want to walk away with the ability to create my own campaigns that'll reach people inside and outside my intended audience. I want to be able to organize interviews and projects properly with little procrastination. I want to know how to properly use people's testimonies in my campaign along with how to properly manage data for said project/campaign and how to properly interview someone.
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How do you want to impact the world?
I want to impact the world by creating screenplays that evolve into films about an array of experiences that introduce people to new perspectives that they haven't come in contact with before.
What do you want to accomplish or take away as a result of your participation in this program?
I want to become better at finding my voice and using it effectively to make real change, and improve my collaboration skills.
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How do you want to impact the world?
I want to impact the world by bringing light and putting the spotlight on the underdog stories in any way possible. I enjoy doing this by writing my poetry in different perspectives with different subjects being addressed. By writing I am also able to let people know that someone connects with them and understands what they go through; thus making them feel comfortable and less lonely. I want to have a career in the medical field as well because I enjoy helping people and making people feel safe. After joining this apprenticeship, I realize how much more I want to do for the community. This is my first time contributing and I feel and know I could help much more.
What do you want to accomplish or take away as a result of your participation in this program?
I plan to accomplish bringing awareness to the struggle that Black women and girls face during the rise of COVID along with the steady uprising of police brutality. Stories like theirs can easily be brushed away or looked over, so to be able to make a campaign and interview people really makes me happy. I want to take away a new knowledge on their situations because I was unaware of the risk that black women/ people face dealing with COVID. I also want to take away new knowledge when it comes to writing as well. Conducting interviews, writing and listening to reports, and learning about the new lenses that the program uses may help me in future writing situations.
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How do you want to impact the world?
I want to be able to use my skills and knowledge to enact social justice in our communities, and to be a voice and amplify the voices of those who are most silenced.
What do you want to accomplish or take away as a result of your participation in this program?
I want to take away more connections that can further my success in the future, and a long-lasting sisterhood with those who I've connected with, as well as valuable skills and new perspectives through helping develop the #Hertestimony campaign with Beautiful.
