Huddled in Clifton’s Sitwells Coffeehou se, we sat down with author and community leader, Lauren White. The coffee shop is just a short drive from the University of Cincinnati (U.C.), where Lauren received her bachelor’s degree, is working on her master’s, and is a current employee. She’s made the most of the opportunities U.C. provides to create change for students and youth across Cincinnati. A published poet, Lauren wrote a book of poetry sharing the untold stories of Black women that she hopes will help encourage and inspire anyone who reads it.

Interview by Michaela Rawsthorn. Photography by Stacy Wegley.

What do you want the world to know about you?

If I had to describe myself, I would say I am a storyteller. And I love being connected to the community.

I’m not originally from Cincinnati; I grew up in a small town called Xenia, Ohio – right outside of Dayton. I came to the University of Cincinnati to get my undergraduate degree in marketing and then never left. I’ve worked for the University of Cincinnati for about two years; first within the Center for Community Engagement (C.E.E.), which allowed me to connect students to their passions, and currently I work in the College of Education, Criminal Justice, and Human Services, with the School of Informatio n Technology. I’m the undergraduate retention program manager, so I really get to connect with students and help them pursue their educational dreams and careers.

My passion is storytelling. I do spoken-word poetry. I was in high school when I wrote my first poem: I was trying to process what had happened to Tra yvo n Martin. I kind of took that moment and poured it into all these different poems.

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.

Is there one story you captured in the book you relate to the most?

The one that stands out to me the most is titled “Mrs. Fix-It.” It talks about having the weight of your family on your shoulders – being the person someone can always come to no matter what to help fix whatever problem they’re facing.

While I love a lot of the poems in there, that one stands out to me the most because I dedicated it to my mom. She is the backbone of my family: always fixing it, figuratively and literally. I call her Handy Shannon all the time. If you have an issue, she can figure out how to fix it. She’s always there to support me and my sister and the rest of our family.

What made you decide to write a book?

I was at an event on campus with all these different authors and publishers talking about their writing experience. They talked about all the different things they had gone through to become an author. One of my mentors was in the audience as well. She sent me a text that said, “There's a book in you.” And it was crazy because that was something I had been thinking about for a while.

When she sent that message, it sparked something in me. I wanted little Black girls to be able to read a collection of poetry about Black women and know that their story was important too.

While you were writing this book, you were also busy with a lot of other passions. Tell us more about all of it.

I've always kind of had a passion for, like, being connected. I like being involved with many different things, which is one of the great things about U.C. I had lots of opportunities for connections, both on- and off-campus.

One of my proudest involvements was when I had the opportunity to serve as Miss Kuamka for the African-American Cultural and Resource Center at U.C. Kuamka is a Swahili term that means "in the beginning." On campus, it’s a week-long competition where students compete in different areas to become the next Mr. and Miss Kuamka. Candidates participate in essay, interview, question and answer, and talent competitions.

We all need to reflect on what we can do to make that change within our own sphere of influence and within our own communities.

Once crowned, you have the opportunity to implement a platform. I'm passionate about education, so my platform focused on literacy education. I called it LEGACY, which stands for Literacy Education Growing All Cincinnati Youth. We began by doing tutoring and mentoring at South Avondale Elementary School. It's just been really, really cool to see it develop over the years.

I was fortunate and blessed to have the opportunity to work for the Center for Community Engagement. They allowed me to continue LEGACY as part of my job. It has now completely grown and transformed into Project SERVE. It was God's perfect timing that my Miss Kuamka project aligned with the mission of the Center for Community Engagement. That's been amazing.

Today, we have about 60 to 70 student mentors who work with elementary school students at South Avondale Elementary School, Rockdale Elementary School, and Taft Elementary School. Current U.C. students can learn more and apply to become mentors on our website.

Another project I’m excited about is Shades of You, a U.C. organization for minority women that promotes mentorship, community service, and social development. They do some awesome programming. I had the opportunity to work with them for their prom dress bazaar, which is a cool initiative for high school girls. Juniors and seniors come in to pick out prom dresses. They get their hair and makeup done and have lunch. It's kind of like “Say Yes to the Dress.” They even ring when they find a dress they like. It's fun. My other passion is spoken-word performances, and I got to do a session with the Shades of You girls. It was awesome connecting with them and helping them find and share their talents.

Are there writers or spoken-word performers who really inspire you?

Maya Angelou immediately comes to mind. Her work is rich and timeless and relatable to everyone, even people who haven't experienced the things she describes.

Someone else who really inspires me currently is Luvvie Ajayi Jones. She is someone who constantly speaks truth to power. She's just unapologetically herself. One of her books is titled I'm Judging You. It talks about everything in the world that she's judging people on. It’s the stuff she sees as problems and talks about how we have to come together as a community to do better.

I'm inspired by pieces that kind of spark community change. We all need to reflect on what we can do to make that change within our own sphere of influence and within our own communities. I hope my pieces do that as well. I hope to spark that thought process of what you, personally, can do to create change.

What are your tips if somebody wants to do something that follows their passion or wants to do good things in the world?

My first tip would be: Just do it. No matter what, don’t ever downplay the work you're doing, even if it seems like small things.

And don’t be afraid to connect with others doing similar things and ask for help. You can see how they went through their similar journey. When I decided the book was something I really wanted to do, I reached out to mentors and friends and other people who have written books. I was like, “Hey, what was your process?” There are plenty of things people can share, especially mistakes along the way that you can avoid.

I am happy to do the same thing for other people too. So, if people are interested in connecting, they can reach out to me at laurenmwhite.com.

Who is an inspirational woman in your life and why?

That’s such a hard question because there's so many popping in my head right now.

But it would have to be my mom. Like I said, she’s the backbone within our family and within my life. She's very driven and innovative in her career. Her motto in life has always been, “You're blessed and highly favored. Are you doing your best?” Anytime I hit obstacles, she's like, “Well, did you try? Did you try your best?” If you did, that's all you can ask for. And so even with this book, she was there every step of the way. She read through to make sure the pieces were relatable and to check for grammar. She's been awesome all throughout my life.

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Lauren White on Building Community Connections and the Dark Side of the Moon