Notes on Navigating Transformation-Pt. 3
Where I’m Headed
Transformation, I’ve learned, is rarely a linear path — it’s a weaving. Each thread represents a lesson, a recalibration, a return. In this final part of Notes on Navigating Transformation, I find myself reflecting not just on how far I’ve come, but on where I’m being called to go. This moment feels like both a culmination and a beginning — moving from intention into embodied practice, from visioning freedom to living it. As adrienne maree brown reminds us, our visions shape how we show up in the world; our actions make those visions possible. I’m learning to trust that what I’m creating now — in the studio, in the classroom, and in community — is already a step toward the world I want to live in.
Trusting the Vision
In her book Emergent Strategy: Shaping Change, Changing Worlds, adrienne maree brown writes about organizations shifting from strategic planning to strategic intentions. She asks, “What are our intentions, informed by our vision? What do we need to be and do to bring our vision to pass?” These questions are guiding me toward my North Star. I am leaning into my belief that transformation happens at the intersection of creativity, embodiment, and community. I am committed to engaging and moving more in alignment with my values.
I have been returning to what led me here in the first place — sewing and creative play. I debuted my work at the Kota Alliance’s group exhibition Threaded Realities: Women, Identity, and Fashion in November. This show embraced pieces that explored how fashion serves as a thread of identity, memory, protest, and power. My designs on display — Inner Child, and A Handful of Earth, A Handful of Sky, and A Zipperful of Dreams — transformed discarded and unconventional materials into wearable art; stitching my identities and personal narratives into unique garments. These pieces came to be in our summer Trashion Shows, and have inspired me to seek out funding opportunities that support the growth and development of this program and others. Stay tuned for information on our Summer 2026 Trashion Workshops and check out Threaded Realities here.
As I continue to trust the unfolding of my creative practice, I find myself called to deepen this inquiry — to explore how fashion, textiles, and the body can each become mediums for personal and collective transformation. From that practice of trust, two new initiatives have emerged.
Ancestral Threadwork: Exploring Fashion and Textiles as a Pedagogy for Black Liberation is a living, community-rooted practice that treats garments, adornment, and cloth as ancestral archives and abolitionist tools for imagining, embodying, and rehearsing freer ways of being for Black people — and ultimately, for all of us. As a Culture Push Associated Artist, I am deepening my exploration of how transformation happens through the body and material, collaborating with the Culture Push team and fellow artists to bring these ideas to life. This work calls us to remember textiles as testimonies — carriers of story, lineage, and liberation. Follow along on Instagram and subscribe to our newsletter to stay connected to Ancestral Threadwork’s evolution and upcoming community engagements.
Through this process, I’ve also come to realize that trusting my vision means embracing the body as a site of knowing — a vessel of memory, creativity, and power. That realization inspired another offering.
The Revolution Will Be Embodied invites you to remember what the body already knows — that real transformation begins within us. Inspired by Grace Lee Boggs’ wisdom that “we must transform ourselves to transform the world,” this eight-week community of practice offers space to slow down, reconnect with your body, and explore how personal practice can become a pathway to collective change. Through guided somatic exercises, reflection, and community dialogue, we’ll explore how embodiment supports liberation: how our bodies hold memory, shape our boundaries, and guide us toward more authentic ways of living and relating. Together, we’ll learn to listen more deeply — to ourselves, to one another, and to the pulse of change moving through us — so we can meet the world with greater presence, courage, and collective care. Whether you are at the beginning of your transformational journey or deepening your practice, you’ll leave with tools to sustain connection and aliveness in the ongoing movement toward liberation. If you’re called to this work, reach out to learn about future sessions and opportunities to join.
I am excited for what is forthcoming, deeply grateful for what has been, and staying present in the process. If you feel called, I hope that you’ll join us along the way!
Join Our Legacy
Transformation is ongoing work — tender, expansive, and shared. As I continue to build upon the threads of creativity, embodiment, and community, I invite you to journey alongside me. Stay connected through our website, Instagram, and blog, and join our mailing list for updates on new projects, reflections, and opportunities to participate. Let’s continue imagining and practicing liberation together — one stitch, one body, one story at a time.
