Rewriting the Narrative: From Surviving Systems to Designing New Avenues of Belonging, Learning, and Economic Freedom
For much of my life, I followed the prescribed path: earn the accolades, collect the degrees, do the work. I excelled as a student, led as an educator, and built a wellness company grounded in care. Yet even with the “right” credentials and titles, I often felt like I was simply surviving, navigating institutions that saw only parts of me, not the whole.
During a necessary sabbatical, I stopped to reflect not just on my professional trajectory, but on my human experience. It was in that pause that the cracks became clearer. Our current systems, especially in education, aren’t designed for wholeness. They often prioritize compliance over curiosity, production over pleasure, and standardized outcomes over cultural truth and wellbeing
This realization wasn’t just personal, it’s systemic.
Too many of us are navigating schools and workplaces that were never built with us in mind.
As a student, I often sensed that creativity and cultural identity were secondary to test scores.
As an educator, I witnessed brilliant minds being forced to shrink to fit systems instead of being supported to stretch into their power.
As a wellness professional, I worked with leaders and youth alike who were burnt out, boxed in, and unsure how to truly thrive.
And as a Black woman, I realized that my creative expression, healing, and leadership were not just personal acts, they were forms of social innovation.
That journey led me to create ZENtertainment™ Enterprises, a woman-owned, impact relations agency reimagining the future of education, talent development, and wellness by merging entertainment, tech, the arts, and economic opportunity. We are not just tinkering with the old, we’re prototyping new blueprints.
Today, at the center of our work is the ‘It Still Takes A Village’ (ISTAV) Campaign, a 4-year, cross-sector capacity initiative that invites underestimated young leaders and creator-educators into a global ecosystem of enrichment, employment, and expressive healing. Through project-based service-learning, curated career pathways, and immersive media, we are creating spaces where people can learn in ways that feel like belonging and grow in ways that lead to liberation.
We build with a bold yet tender question in mind:
What if education felt like joy, like justice, like coming home to yourself?
As Founder + CXO, I lead with:
Curiosity rooted in lived experience and intellectual rigor
Creativity forged at the intersection of culture, community, and wellness
Courage to disrupt what no longer serves us
Collaboration as the compass for everything we build
I’m not just building a company, I’m curating a movement. One that dares to imagine an educational experience that prepares people not just to make a living, but to make meaning.
This is the heart of ZENtertainment.
This is the vision behind It Still Takes A Village.
And this is the invitation: to explore new avenues, together.
