Month: September 2026

I am having a FANTASTIC time serving as the U Street Neighborhood Association’s Artist-in-Residence. I led third Thriving Mindfully on U Street workshop entitled “The Future of the U Street Community” on September 16th at the historic True Reformer Building in DC.

We started the workshop with a sound healing meditation before exploring and sharing our definition of community and what the U Street community gives us.

While listening to smooth jazz, we used mindful creativity exercises to illustrate our vision for the U Street community in the coming years. Before we ended the workshop, we shared our visions and participated in a gratitude circle that included a land acknowledgment and a Thriving Mindfully reflection.

Sign up here to join me on October 7th for the final session.

It’s Healthy Aging Month, a time to remember that we are all aging and have a choice in how we approach it. I choose to embrace Thriving Mindfully as I AGE. Today that means I ACCEPT GRACE EVERY day at the ✨️ sparkling and sensational age of 61!!!!

How are you choosing to AGE? What healthy aging practices are you using?

Tennis is one of my healthy aging fitness practices. I started learning to play tennis with the support of a Howard student who played on the tennis team in October 2021. She gave me a few lessons.

In the Spring and Summer of 2022, she and a Hampton student gave me several lessons that prepared me for the DC Department of Parks and Recreation’s (DPR) tennis program. I continued to take DC DPR classes, work with a private coach, and play tennis with classmates and neighbors until I transitioned to classes at JTCC in College Park in November 2025. I also took some classes at the Rock Creek Tennis Center.

Since then, I have learned to maintain a beginner’s mind + open heart filled with a willingness to learn and make mistakes, appreciate and celebrate myself for showing up, play and have fun, strengthen my body with exercises that support my body, add more home practices, watch and enjoy tennis matches, meet new tennis friends of all ages, participate in tennis outings, adjust my expectations about my progress, release my self-criticism and the pressure I put on myself to overachieve, and practice patience with grace.

Photo: Morning subway ride to my tennis class at JTCC

The City of Hagerstown, Maryland presented my dad, Dr. John F. Leeke and I with a proclamation honoring our Leek/Leeke family’s Underground Railroad journey, courage and vision to seek freedom, and successful escape from slavery on September 15th.

We discuss our family’s Underground Railroad journey from Hagerstown to Amherstburg, Canada, in our book, American Change Agent: A Life & Legacy of Seeking Diversity, Equality, and Inclusion.

Many thanks to Hagerstown Mayor Bill McIntire, Councilmembers, and the City Administrator staff for helping us honor our family during International Underground Railroad Month. We appreciate Councilmember Caroline Anderson for presenting us with the proclamation. Special thanks to Hagerstown Councilmember Tiara Burnett for introducing us to the Mayor and City Council, supporting our book and proclamation request, and helping to make this day possible!

Watch the proclamation presentation below (start at the 16.41 minute mark).

On Saturday, my dad, Dr. John F. Leeke and I traveled to Denton, Maryland for our American Change Agent book talk at the Caroline County Public Library. After our talk, we visited the Caroline County Courthouse, one of the sites on the Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad Byway.

Special thanks to Cristal Toribio and the Caroline County Public Library for hosting the “Footsteps to Freedom” conversation about my family’s Underground Railroad journey and American Change Agent: A Life & Legacy of Seeking Diversity, Equality, and Inclusion, the book my dad, Dr. John F. Leeke and I wrote, on September 12th.

We thoroughly enjoyed discussing our family’s Underground Railroad journey that began in Hagerstown, Maryland sharing excerpts from our book, and listening to community members’ stories about their ancestors and genealogical research.

Each month we get to live is filled with New and Full Moon energy we can use to support our mindful self-care.

Click the button below to listen to one of my favorite 2019 episodes of the Thriving Mindfully Podcast for tips on how to incorporate New and Full Moon energy into your mindful self-care.

Take a moment to slow down.

As you enter the stillness, wrap yourself in the energy of the New Moon in Virgo.

Set an intention to open your heart and surrender to the new beginnings.

With each breath you take, welcome the new beginnings with gratitude.

Listen to my spoken word song, “New Moon” for inspiration.

While walking on Monday morning, my soul sistalove Adejoke and I stopped by Brew on U to get a matcha latte and visit my U Street Neighborhood Association’s Temperance Garden. It was such a beautiful and mindful self-care morning filled with sunshine, cool air, and great conversations and exercise.

How’s your September mornings going?

My dad, Dr. John. F. Leeke and I are headed to the Reginald F. Lewis Museum of Maryland African American History and Culture on September 19th from 1 p.m. to 2:30 p.m. to discuss our book, American Change Agent: A Life & Legacy of Seeking Diversity, Equality, and Inclusion and share our family’s extraordinary story of freedom seekers who used the Underground Railroad to escape slavery in Hagerstown, Maryland, and make a new life in Amherstburg, Canada. REGISTER HERE.