Author: Ananda Leeke

What does it feel and look like to breathe and be still, present, grounded, and well?

At 61, it feel and looks like a human BE-ING who belongs to herself, is grateful, and thriving mindfully on a Friday in August!

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📸 NOTE: My photo was taken on my paisley summer quilt in my fuscia pink chakra castle bedroom while wearing my grandfather John Leonard Leeke’s 1970s vintage blue and white pajama top.

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Every day I get to live is a privilege and opportunity to love, connect with, relate to, receive wisdom from, and honor my loving + wise + well ancestors. Most days I pray, listen to, and talk with them. Some days I look at their photos and other documents, conduct research about them, journal about them and the lessons they taught me and continue to teach me, and create artwork with their photos. When I miss them a lot, I wear their clothing, jewelry, and accessories. That’s what happened last night and today when I realized I was missing my amazing, charming, and debonair grandfather John Leonard Leeke (1914-1989). I included a photo of my grandfather that was taken while he was attending my grandmother Frederica Stanley Roberts Leeke’s 1933 garden party at her parents’ house in Terre Haute, Indiana. The second photo was also taken in 1933.

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Get inspired to connect with your loving + wise + well ancestors as you listen to “Ancestral Medicine,” my spoken word poem song that appears on my Thriving Mindfully As Theresa’s Daughter album.

I am super excited to join my Sigma Gamma Rho Sorority Soror Adrianne Lind, a mindfulness activist, yoga teacher, and author, for The 30-Minute Calm Reset on September 1st at 8:30 a.m. ET. We will discuss mindful creativity and what happens when you stop saying I’m not creative. Click here to watch the live discussion.

Listen to Garnet Jay and I discuss our creative journey that gave birth to Thriving Mindfully As Theresa’s Daughter, my debut spoken word album.

Click here to watch the podcast interview on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, or YouTube.

September is International Underground Railroad Month. During this special month of remberance, my dad and co-author, Dr. John F. Leeke and I will lead the “Footsteps to Freedom” discussion on September 12th from 12 noon to 1 p.m. at the Caroline County Public Library, 100 Market Street, Denton, Maryland.

During the event, we will discuss our book, American Change Agent: A Life & Legacy of Seeking Diversity, Equality, and Inclusion and the Underground Railroad journey our family took to escape slavery in Hagerstown, Maryland, and build a new life as free people in Amherstburg, Canada.

My dad and co-author, Dr. John F. Leeke and I traveled to Hagerstown, Maryland, and met with Mayor Bill McIntire and City Councilmembers Tiara Burnett, Candice Anderson, Erika Bell, Kristin Aleshire, and Sean Flaherty on August 11th.

During our meeting, we introduced them to our book, American Change Agent: A Life & Legacy of Seeking Diversity, Equality, and Inclusion. We discussed our requests for the issuance of a proclamation and a historical marker recognzing our family’s connection to Hagerstown and use of the Underground Railroad to escape slavery in the late 1830s.

We also shared our interest in co-hosting an event that would introduce American Change Agent and our family’s Underground Railroad journey to the Hagerstown and Washington County communities during International Underground Railroad Month in September, Maryland Emancipation Day in November, or later this year.

Several councilmembers expressed an interest in issuing a proclamation and purchased copies of our book. We look forward to working with the them and the City of Hagerstown in the coming weeks and months.

Special thanks to City Councilmember Burnett for helping us secure a meeting with the City Council!

The meeting was live streamed on the City of Hagerstown’s Facebook page. Click the video below to watch our presentation. Start watching the video at the 3.10 minute mark (ends at 15.1 minute mark).

As a multidiscplinary artist and writer, I intentionally carve out time each month to participate in Creative Mornings gatherings in DC, Baltimore, or online. Being in community with others nurtures my creative spirit, heart, and mind. The connections I make and conversations I have with other creatives inspires and exposes me to new ideas, opportunities, resources, and events.

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On July 31st, I attended the Creative Mornings DC July gathering at the National Geographic Museum. I also served as a registration volunteer and was inspired by NatGeo explorer Rachel Zoe Miller’s talk. Here’s one takeaway from Rachel’s talk: be your average!

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LEARN MORE ABOUT THRIVING MINDFULLY

Click the video below to listen to my spoken word song, “Thriving Mindfully Theme” that appears on my Thriving Mindfully As Theresa’s Daughter album.

GREAT NEWS! I have been selected to serve as the U Street Neighborhood Association’s 2026 Artist-in-Residence. Learn more here.

If you are in DC, join me for my first workshop entitled Thriving Mindfully: A Love Letter to U Street on July 29th from 6:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. at the True Reformer Building’s Community Room,1200 U Street, NW. Sign up here.

While writing American Change Agent: A Life & Legacy of Seeking Diversity, Equality, and Inclusion, my dad, Dr. John F. Leeke and I gathered our family’s history from conversations with family members, oral history stories passed down from previous generations, newspapers, obituaries, calendars, event tickets, program booklets, local/state/national history, books, websites, documents, photos, American and Canadian censuses, AfricanAncestry.com, and Ancestry.com.

Each piece of our family history reminded us to honor and celebrate the presence, lives, and contributions of our ancestors as American history.

As the United States prepares to celebrate the 250th anniversary of its founding, we decided to host a virtual book discussion about our “American Change Agent” writing journey and the importance of celebrating family history as American history on June 27, 2026. Watch the video below to learn more.

Click the button below to get more information and buy American Change Agent.

This week, my dad, Dr. John F. Leeke and I kicked off our American Change Agent summer book tour with two events in local communities in Maryland and Washington, DC. On June 24th, we visited with the Unity and Presence Book Club located in an over 55 community in Anne Arundel County, Maryland. Dr. John led a juicy discussion with club members that focused on the importance of documenting and celebrating family history as American history, the Leak/Leeke family’s Underground Railroad journey, his family life and relationships with his wife and children, and his career in diversity, equality, and inclusion.

On June 25th, we visited The Residences at Thomas Circle, an assisted living community in Washington, DC, and introduced American Change Agent to residents and staff. Our discussion also focused on the importance of honoring Juneteenth and our ancestral resilience we have been able to tap into as we have navigated life in America. We also engaged in conversations about racism and the importance of embracing diversity, equality, and inclusion.

As the United States prepares to celebrate the 250th anniversary of its founding, we want to take a moment and encourage you and your family and friends to honor and celebrate your family history as American history.

We also invite you to join us for a book and group discussion about the importance of celebrating family history as American history on Saturday, June 27th from 3 p.m. to 4 p.m. ET via Zoom. During the free event, we will talk briefly about key moments in our family history that we honor and lead a group discussion about the importance of you celebrating your family history.

Click the button below to register for the event.