Month: October 2026

Great news! The Voyage Network recently interviewed me about my life and work as a multi-passionate mindfulness, creative arts, and digital communications professional. Read the interview here.

This month, I have been creating a digital zine that documents and celebrates the Thriving Mindfully on U Street workshop series and community artwork and experiences.

I am using Canva to create collage backgrounds with photos of purple mudcloth that I purchased from Zawadi African Arts Gallery, a boutique owned by my mentor and soul sistalove Irene Whalen, an African American woman entrepreneur. Zawadi was located on U Street from 1992 to 2024.

I am also using photos of the community workshop artwork and journaling, U Street historical landmarks, trees, flowers, neighborhood scenes, signs, buildings, homes, schools, and businesses in the digital zine.

Check out some of the photos I am using and a few pages of the zine. I’ll share the finished zine later this month.

This week, I picked up Sue Monk Kidd’s book, “Writing, Creativity, and Soul” that I started reading in August. It was calling me. It’s a JUICY READ filled with some major LEARNING OPPORTUNITIES. I decided I will finish it this month.

What are you currently reading?

Today is my grandfather, John Leonard Leeke’s heavenly birthday (1914-1989). To honor him, I created a digital collage made from photos of West African fabric from a dress my mom Theresa wore. I used Canva to create a unique background with the photos and added several black and white photos of my grandfather as a child, young man, husband, and father.

Happy Heavenly Birthday, Granddaddy!

Over the past three years, I have learned that no one can tell you how to grieve. My creativity is one of the ways I care for myself, express my love for, and navigate grief surrounding my mom and loving + wise + well ancestor Theresa. Check out my digital collage, “Grief Dreaming” below.

Yesterday, I slept in my mom Theresa’s bed in the last house she shared with my dad, J, before she transitioned to ancestorhood on July 9, 2023. I wore one of her Sigma Gamma Rho Sorority t-shirts as my pajamas and wrapped my hair in one of her sorority scarves. Since I am her soror, I can wear her t-shirt and scarf. When I woke up this morning, I wrapped myself in her crocheted blanket and soaked up the beauty of the morning. After I meditated and prayed, I was guided to create a digital collage that expresses what grief dreaming of my mom, our memories, and her stories look like.

What have you used to take care of yourself as you grieve?

I invite you to listen to my spoken word song, “G.R.I.E.F” for comfort and peace. It is featured on my Thriving Mindfully As Theresa’s Daughter album.

For me, HBCU homecomings have always been very special weekends. They are wellbeing anchors because they offer opportunities to reconnect, share memories, express and experience Black Joy, and celebrate HBCU culture and institutions with my family, friends, Sigma Gamma Rho Sorority sorors, and “Divine 9” sisters and brothers. They are also filled with an abundance of love, affirmation, and positive energy that I can tap into for restoration. I experienced all of these things during my Howard University (HU) Homecoming Weekend.

According to the HU website, this year’s theme, “Wildest Dreams.” I think it is rooted in Black Joy because it reminds students, alumni, faculty, staff, and friends to celebrate “the limitless possibilities of a Howard University education and the generations of Bison who have transformed bold dreams into extraordinary realities.” It also “invites us to return to the place where possibility has always been part of our legacy and celebrate all that Howard has been, all that we are, and the wildest dreams still waiting to be realized.”

Check out photos from my HU Homecoming adventures at the alumni happy hour that was held at the Marriott Marquis on October 16th and the “Yard” on October 17th.

My HBCU Connections

I am an alumna of Morgan State University, Class of 1986, and Howard University School of Law, Class of 1989. My brother Matt and cousin Melodye are Howard alumni. My cousin Andre is a Morgan alumnus. My cousin Lori is a Hampton alumna. My cousins Keyanna and Vincent are Tennessee State University alumni. My Aunt Jane was an alumna of Fisk University.

Your HBCU Connections

Are you an HBCU “alum,” parent, spouse, sibling, family member, professor, or staff person?

Have you ever attended an HBCU homecoming?

Why do you like HBCU homecomings?

What do you receive from HBCU homecomings?

October 10th marks the New Moon in Libra. Are you ready? How will you honor yourself and the moon energy?

Listen to my spoken word song, “New Moon” for inspiration. It is featured on my debut album, Thriving Mindfully As Theresa’s Daughter.

Check out my mindfulness resources and tips.

This evening, I was looking for some photos from the early 2000s and found an article entitled “Magic Hands: How one woman discovered a talent inspired by her African ancestors” that discussed my artist journey and wire sculptures. I touched my heart with gratitude when I read several sentences that represent my TRUTH today as a multidisciplinary artist and mindfulness professional.

“Being able to share my gifts with others gives me joy.”

“As time went on, I came to realize that what I do does not come from me directly: my ancestors passed on this blacksmith-type talent they were known for when they first came to America. Knowing this reaffirms that I am doing what the Creator wants me to do.”

“When I am creating my sculptures, I feel blessed to have been chosen as a vessel.”

“Furthermore, it allows me to see the connection I have with my West African ancestors, who came to America as great artisans, metal workers and healer.”

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I co-wrote the article with Juvita Layne-Abrams, a writer at Heart & Soul, an African American women’s health magazine that was based in New York City. It was published in the November 2001 issue of Heart & Soul. That was 25 years ago!!!!

Thank you, Reginald E. Lewis Museum of Maryland African American History & Culture, for hosting a family history fireside chat between me and my dad, Dr. John F. Leeke on September 19th. We thoroughly enjoyed sharing the diversity of our ancestors and their Underground Railroad journey that are featured in our book, American Change Agent: A Life & Legacy of Seeking Diversity, Equality, and Inclusion. We also loved discussing my dad’s career, the impact of his work, and some of the key lessons he has learned.

It was great to engage with and listen to the stories of community members and museum staff and volunteers.

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Special thanks to Terry Taylor-Nock, Education Programs Manager at the Lewis Museum, and her team for making the event a success! Many thanks to everyone who attended the event!

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If you are in or travel to Baltimore, make sure you check out the Lewis Museum’s current exhibition, “THE LINES WE CROSS: 250 Years of Maryland Forging America” (closes next year on October 31, 2027) that traces how Black Marylanders have pushed boundaries, broken systems, and shaped the social, cultural, and political landscape of America. Click the button for more information.

On October 3rd, the Universe gave me a beautiful Venus Retrograde in Scorpio and a juicy, inspiring, and deeply spiritual and creative experience at the Aesthetic Inheritance: Art, Archive & African American Life Symposium that was held at Bowie State University’s Fine and Performing Arts Center.

Bowie State University (oldest HBCU in Maryland), Banneker-Douglass-Tubman Museum, and the Maryland Commission on African American History and Culture organized the Symposium.

Throughout the day, I was blessed to listen to and learn from several talented artists, including Dr. Latoya Ruby Frazier who gave the keynote about her photography, storytelling, and book, “Flint Is Family in Three Acts” which documents and honors three generations of family members impacted by environmental racism and the water crisis in my birth city (yes, I was born in Flint, Michigan).

During the first workshop on Reading Black Art and Visual Culture, I was eager to listen to and learn from self-taught artist Sheila Crider who is based in Baltimore and DC . I initially met Sheila as we exited the MARC train and walked to the Symposium on Bowie State’s campus. She also introduced me to “Blackstraction,” a term she coined, and has explored in her own creative process.

Leo Rosario, Afro Latina fashion professional, FIT alumna, and co-founder of Makers of Taste in Baltimore (will launch soon), gave a presentation that discussed Black fashion inheritance and reminded me that the everyday aesthetic inheritance of Black and Brown folks lives in our bodies.

I’ll share more about my Symposium experiences this week.

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SPECIAL THANKS to the Symposium organizers, sponsors, volunteers, speakers, and attendees for co-creating a sacred day of being in and building community, listening, learning, sharing, and celebrating our ancestral legacies and each other.