Giving Flowers to Cincinnati’s Black Women
As we move from winter to spring, we move from Black History Month into Women's History Month, so we wanted to take a minute to celebrate the Black women who lift up our city. Women of Cincy’s staff gathered just a few snippets from interviews over the years that celebrate the unique perspectives, culture, mindsets, familial and community connections, and influences that arise from the Black women experience. With the start of spring, we wanted to give flowers to Black women. You can celebrate more Black stories with us here.
Assembled by Women of Cincy staff.
Lauren White on Building Community Connections and the Dark Side of the Moon
Interview by Michaela Rawsthorn. Photography by Stacy Wegley.
Tell us more about your poetry.
More recently, I wrote a book called Cries from the Dark Side of the Moon, which shares the stories and experiences of Black women in America. The book's title comes from the common misconception about the moon's dark side: That side of the moon is not really the "dark side" – it’s just the side of the moon we don’t see from Earth. It actually gets as much sunlight as the side we do see. However, it’s often associated with fear, the unexplored, and the misunderstood. The title is comparing Black women's experiences to the moon’s dark side because they too are so often unseen, unexplored, and unheard. In writing Cries from the Dark Side of the Moon, I wanted to share people's stories.
At first, I called it Letters to Black Women. As I started to write these pieces, I realized I didn't really have solutions; I just had experiences. It felt like I couldn’t send letters that didn’t offer some advice or hope. I realized I needed to allow people to focus on their own decisions, responses, or impact.
The book highlights all these different experiences, but you also get to write your own story at the end. You can reflect on the experiences of the women. You can sit with how they resonate or relate to your experience. Then you can decide what your impact is going to be moving forward.
Jasmine Ford: Baking Up Her Own Success
Interview by Kelsey Graham. Photography by Angie Lipscomb.
How do you come up with recipes for new products?
I love sweets! My grandmother loves sweets. So, a lot of stuff I found just looking online, just searching what’s popular in the area. And then a friend of mine wanted a crunch cake. I started making the crunch cake in 2014, and right now, that is my top seller. I was like, “This cake is so old [laughs] – why is it so popular now?” But it is. So, recipes were just trial and error.
How often do you come up with new products?
I wake up in the middle of the night [laughs]. Like, “Oh, that sounds good. I wanna try that.” It’s all the time. I never stop thinking about it. Especially because you can do so much with baking and come up with so many recipes. I get inspiration from just looking at random stuff in my house, like, “Oh, that would make a really pretty cake,” or “That flavor sounds really, really good,” so it’s really just random, all the time. I feel like inspiration is everywhere for me.
Re-Envisioning and Re-Energizing Healthcare with Ciara Staunton of Staunton Primary Care
Interview by Laura Leavitt. Photography by Angie Lipscomb.
Could you describe a challenge that appeared when launching a private practice and how you overcame it?
Initially, interacting with patients was a challenge. Although nurse practitioners have been around since the early 1900s, there are a lot of patients who aren’t familiar with what nurse practitioners can do. We can do just about everything your family doctor can do.
Then, we were trying to get the word out to patients that we’re here, we’re a different model of care, and it’s just as effective. We offer quality care just like your family doctor would, so trying to get the word out and changing that mindset for patients has been challenging. I think the best way for me is to just consistently provide good quality care and [now] patients are starting to spread the word.
Nahamani Yisrael: Changing the World One Connection at a Time
Interview by Kelsey Graham. Photography by Emily Palm.
Who is an influential woman in your life?
My grandfather, Ernie Waits, was a disc jockey in the 1940s. He was the first Black disc jockey in Cincinnati, and he was very much involved with King Records and all of those groups. He had the opportunity to get to know and work with Nikki Giovanni when she was young in Cincinnati. So, as a kid at my grandparent’s house, they had beautiful, 6-foot bookshelves – like, one wall of their entire living room was bookshelves. My grandmother was an avid reader, but the books she read were big, so I wasn’t picking those up. But the Nikki Giovanni books of poetry were really thin, and they were low down on the shelves, so I would read them. Her poetry was not PG-13 all of the time, and I’m like 7 or 8, so I would read it and snicker, but I just always loved her style of writing and her authenticity.
Sheryl Long: Finding Purpose in City Work
Interview by Suzanne Wilder. Photography by Angie Lipscomb.
What would you want people to know about engaging with city hall? Should people be more involved with local government?
People move where they see stuff is happening; the talent moves to those places. Local government is not just about complaining. It’s about raising your hand and taking the initiative to do the things you want to see happen. You don’t have to run for office. Stay put and be part of the change that moves the community in the direction you want. Do that by volunteering, by taking your talents and standing things up so other people can benefit from them. Open the door and say what you want to do.
Aiesha Little: Making Space for Whimsy
Interview by Suzanne Wilder. Photography by Angie Lipscomb.
What made you shift from ‘Who are these people?’ to ‘I want to do this.’?
[Editor’s note: Steampunk is a subgenre of science fiction that is focused on steam-powered machinery and aesthetics rather than technology, like in traditional science fiction. Cosplay is the activity and culture of making and wearing costumes based on fictional characters. These fictional characters can already be established in existing media, such as in movies or comic books or originally created by the cosplayer.]
For a while, I was really curious and fascinated [by steampunk and cosplay]. I occasionally went to a convention, but I always felt like a parent. Probably around 2012, professionally and personally, things were not going the way I wanted them to. I wanted some whimsy in my life. I found these outlets where I could just be creative.
The older you get, the harder it is to make friends. Everyone is starting to get married, and they have children, and they’ve got all these other priorities. You have to work really hard to keep these friendships going. Sometimes it’s worth it, and sometimes it’s not.
I was doing a story for a local outlet about costuming and cosplay, and I ended up going to a steampunk salon. When I walked in, it was a bunch of people dressed in Victorian clothing, and all the women had on corsets, and it was like, ‘What is happening here, and how long has this been happening in Cincinnati?’ They were all around my age. Some conventions can feel like everyone is a lot younger, depending on what genre it is, what fandom it is. Steampunk is the other way. It skews a lot older. Going to a salon, I was probably one of the younger people there. The fashion is what drew me in.
The following year, I went to my first steampunk event dressed up in a costume. I’ve been doing it ever since. While it does skew older, it is very white. So for me to be there, what kind of space am I creating? I was thinking about myself but also about other people who might see me at an event or someone who searches for steampunk Cincinnati online, and they’re also a person of color. What kind of space can I carve out in this genre for myself?
Steampunk is kind of shorthand for Victorian science fiction, but the Victorian period is just what it was called in England. It was a period of time that happened everywhere. What would it look like in other places? So I started expanding on what steampunk would look like if it was coming from an African country. I started to build this backstory, a character backstory, of what my character would look like coming from a West African country. It was a way to be creative.
Courtney Lawrence of Minor Obsession on Soap-Making and the Journey of Entrepreneurship
Interview by Olivia Taylor. Photography by Angenise Rawls.
This is probably my favorite question to ask small-business owners: What do you love about your business?
The fact that I'm truly creating something from nothing. I'm making bars of soap out of a few ingredients. Minor Obsession came from turning years of personal research into an actual product – that’s truly inspiring. To hear so many people talk about it, something that was just the idea of mine, now they're like, "Oh, we love your soap.” I had no idea that anybody would love something that was just an idea of mine. That's definitely the part that I love about it.
On that note, what’s your experience been like as a Black entrepreneur?
You're definitely setting precedence for somebody. I think when Black entrepreneurs see each other, it's like, "Hey, I want to support you." It was so easy to connect with different Black entrepreneurs here in Cincinnati. Everybody was so welcoming; they just wanted me to be a part of it as well. I think about when I would go to different markets, and I wouldn't see people like me. Now, I'm at those markets, and I'm the person who is on the other side like, "Please come. Come in, put yourself out there because there is a community here ready to support you." The overwhelming support from everyone allowed me to really push myself out there.
Robin Walker: Building Futures in Technology
Interview by Suzanne Wilder. Photography by Chelsie Walter.
Tell us about an influential woman in your life.
My mom. I still hear her words. She passed on in 2014, in the fall, right after our first camp. I had been talking with her about wanting to do this. My mom had a performing arts school for kids. She had been a professional singer. She trained kids – some of them are now on Broadway and other places – to sing, act, dance. She understood the whole thing about kids. She always reached out to kids to help kids. She understood what I was trying to do. I still hear her words from when I was young: “You can do anything. Find a way or make one.” Things she would say to encourage and inspire me. I did not know how much she knew until I left home. When I was a kid at home, she was just mom. When I came to P&G, and I would talk to her about things in the workplace, and she understood and could relate; I was surprised. She had a wealth of experience in show business that she could understand. The conversations became more meaningful and valuable. She could give me advice. She’s been my hero for a long time.
Dr. Angelica Hardee: Passionate Public Health Professional and Lifetime Urban Leaguer
Interview by Tracy Van Wagner. Photography by Stacy Wegley.
Would you tell us about some of your work?
Currently, I am the V.P. of health strategy at the American Heart Association (A.H.A). I will have been there a year in October. I lead mostly policy systems environmental change related to our health priorities at the moment, which are the tobacco e-cigarette epidemic, the high numbers of hypertension within the greater Cincinnati area, and healthy food access.
We created a Tobacco Endgame Coalition right after the passing of Tobacco 21 in the city of Cincinnati [raising the legal age for purchasing tobacco to 21]. After that passed, the state passed Tobacco 21. There’s enforcement in the city, but outside the city limits of Cincinnati, there is not any enforcement of Tobacco 21. My current goal is to get more areas with enforcement. Enforcement doesn’t look like penalizing the individual who is buying the cigarettes; what we don’t want is youths getting arrested for buying cigarettes and e-cigarettes. What we are focused on is creating a tobacco retail license, very similar to the licenses they already have to sell tobacco, but more focused on compliance and making sure they’re not selling to anyone under the age of 21.
Councilmember Meeka D. Owens on Climate Change and Green Sustainability in Cincinnati
Interview by Olivia Taylor. Photos by Angie Lipscomb.
Who are the women who are influential to you?
There are so many on a local level. Yesterday [March 23, 2022], we honored Judge Nadine L. Allen, the first Black woman elected countywide in our court system. I think about people like her, who center justice in her work as a judge as well as in her retired years as an advocate for voting rights.
Annie Ruth: Learning with Art
Interview by Kelsey Graham. Photography by Heather Colley.
What are you currently working on?
I am currently working on developing a curriculum set around my exhibit called On Her Shoulders. Last year I was a recipient of the Truth and Reconciliation Grant from Arts Wave, so I created On Her Shoulders to share the perspective of Black women and how we’ve had to carry the weight of the world. Right now, I’m developing the arts integration curriculum, connecting music to art, and connecting math to art.
What advice do you have for women, especially women of color?
My main message that I always say is: Be your authentic self, even in the midst of phoniness around you. It takes a lot of courage, it takes a lot of strength to be your authentic self. I think one of the best ways I visually reinforce that message is in the way I wear my makeup. I was talking with my niece, and I was like, “I don’t wear makeup to cover any imperfections. I wear the makeup to bring out the beauty that is already there.” Be who you are because even if you might be saying or dealing with the same topic or subject that someone else is dealing with, no one has your voice or your experiences, and the world needs to experience you. So that’s my message, not only to women but to artists and people in general: be your authentic self. Everybody’s not gonna like my artwork, and everybody’s not gonna like my style, but it doesn’t make me feel any less of who I am; I’m not comparing myself to them because to me, I’m brought into this world to impact the people, and I’m meant to impact them by simply being me and embracing that freedom to be me.
LaTosha Ward: Helping to Pave the Way for Women in Leadership
Interview by Kelsey Graham. Photography by Nicolette Young.
What is most rewarding about your work?
That we get to grow people outside of our organization, BID [BID, Business and Individual Development, provides project management, agility training to companies, and individual employee development]. I worked with a company where I had someone email me and say, “This was the best peer review I’ve had in a long time.” He was feeling like he just wasn’t doing well in his job, but I was able to work with him and coach him, and now he’s doing great. It’s rewarding for me to know we’re coming in and helping an organization with its projects, but we’re also looking at the organization and seeing how we can help their team members. How can we help their employees to grow?
You get to have that fulfillment of knowing that what we’ve done has made them have more prosperity and more success in their projects, and they’re doing everyday jobs at a faster pace. I like what I do because we are not your average project managers. We have an in-house system we use with our clients that they’re able to use with their clients. Not many companies are doing that, so it’s really easy for us to come in and be a resource to them.
RaJean Beauty’s Megan Seard on Self-Care, Shea Butter, and Realizing Your Dreams
Interview by Blaire Bartish. Photography by Nicole Mayes.
Why is it so important for people to support Black-owned businesses?
Blackness is such an important thread in Americanness. The very core of our existence is what this country was built on: our creativity and our innovation. Because when you don’t have anything, you figure out a way to make something from nothing. I think that our strength and ambition as a people is really at the core of what America says it is.
On one hand, it’s sad that Black-owned businesses have to be designated that way because if this weren’t a thing, it’d just be business. But because it is, I think it’s great to respect and honor Black creatives and that energy of innovativeness because a lot of us are doing it from nothing.
I will also say that support and actually living a life that is making space for Black-owned business are two different things. You can easily share a post during those 28 or 29 days of February during Black History Month, but what happens for the other eleven months of the year? These people are still trying to feed their kids, move up in the world, and realize their dreams.
Cathy Bailey: Taking a Sip With Cincinnati's First Lady of Water
Interview by Blaire Bartish. Photography by Heather Colley.
What words of wisdom do you have for young women?
I’m a Bob Marley fan, and one of his songs is “Exodus.” And it says: “Open your eyes and look within. Are you satisfied with the life you’re living?” For women, we need to look at that and say, “Are you happy with where you are?” And if you aren’t, then get busy with living.