Heart Pour I: Golden Ticket

Power came into my world a few years ago. And when she did, I felt like I had it figured out. Power was my golden ticket. Or at least that was what I thought. I was gifted with a well rooted story, a character that carried enough energy to shift the global narrative, and the backing of Black literary figures like Zora Neale Hurston, Toni Morrison, and Maya Angelou.

I was the caged bird, singing as loud as I could that Power existed. Yet, all I could hear were echoes of my own voice saying: “You are Power”.  I wondered why the message wasn’t connecting to the outer world.  Why wasn’t it resonant? How is it that no one could hear me?

Here’s the thing, when you’re gifted with a Golden Ticket it doesn’t simply redeem itself.  You have to follow the directions given to you to redeem the rewards.  For over a year, I pushed myself to create “content”, build products and the website, and post Dear Black Girl messages. I was invested. I plugged into the culture and history of Black womanhood in hopes to somehow connect Power to Black Girl Champions across the world.

It wasn’t working.
My Power wasn’t working.
My Golden Ticket wasn’t working.

I couldn’t grasp how I’d been given Power, a Golden Ticket, that wasn’t working!

After an evening with my speaking club, I was pulled aside by a woman in the parking garage. She asked how I was and how things were going with Black Girl Champion. I reluctantly shared my frustrations, that I felt stuck, and that I was angry with Sky-Daddy (God) for not supporting me when I was “doing the work”.  I had sacrificed so much to dedicate all of my energy to building Black Girl Champion and sharing Power with the world. She asked to hug and pray for me and at the close of our embrace stepped back and said, “who are you spending your time with”?