ELLE COLE
Because I loved school, homeschooling is a tremendous opportunity for me to pass that love on to my children.
ON LIVING, LOVING, AND LEARNING . . .
"It is the responsibility of every parent to instill their values, confidence, history, and love in their child. From the moment a child is born, they begin learning from their parents naturally.
"Our twin daughters were early readers—one started at 2; the other at 3. We wanted them to continue to advance at the pace that they were learning. When our pediatrician recommended that we homeschool our daughters because one has sickle cell anemia, that was a natural next step for us. As a mom who homeschooled my children for the first seven years of their academic experience, I watched them thrive, learn new skills, and interact with others. Homeschooling gives families the unique opportunity to make the entire world their children’s classroom. It can also give students a chance to fall in love with learning―especially learning more about their particular interests."
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ELLE COLE is Founder and Producer of the Cleverly Changing podcast and blog. A mompreneur, social media influencer, and advocate for families of children with sickle cell anemia, her books include ABC’s of Sickle Cell Disease and Joseph: A Man of Kindness and Goodness .
- CleverlyChanging.com
MARYANNE HOWLAND
I realized that, as a single mother, I could no longer really do it alone. I wanted to give my child more. I wanted to give him wind beneath his wings.
ON POWERING OUR CHILDREN'S RISE . . .
“I was his mother, his nurse, teacher, advocate. Then, for my son’s thirteenth birthday, I gave him a Black Mitzvah. I thought it was important to demarcate for my son the moment when it became necessary to take charge of his own life and to find his role in his community.
"The core of this concept was to give him relationships with men we call his ‘Circle of Kings’―mentors who stepped in to be his ‘Collective Dad’; men he relies on even still today. As one of the mentors told him at his high school graduation, as he put his hands on his shoulders and looked into his eyes: ‘Now the real mentoring begins.’ Those men have been a lifeline for him.”
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MARYANNE HOWLAND is Founder & CEO of Ibis Communications (a branding and marketing firm committed to social impact solutions for sustainable market growth), and the Global Diversity Leadership Exchange―member, UN Global Compact. The mother of a son with special needs, she is the author of Warrior Rising: How Four Men Helped a Boy on His Journey to Manhood.
- IbisCommunications.com
IRMA McCLAURIN
Black women deserve to heard and nurtured.
ON LIFE AND LEADERSHIP . . .
“I’m thinking about what it means to be a Black woman and a leader. Usually, people don't even think to put these three words together. When people reference "Black," more often than not, the examples are Black men. When they say "woman," too often images of White and non-Black women fill the screen. And, when leadership is described, the case studies, the images, look nothing like us. Why is that?
"There is more I could say on what it means to be a Black woman in America today, and even more on being a Black woman leader. I could describe how I've seen some Black women crumble under the constant critique and accusations that somehow we are not meeting other people's expectations of how we should perform socially. Why is that? When was the last time we stood up for ourselves?”
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IRMA McCLAURIN, PhD, is Founder of “The Irma McClaurin Black Feminist Archive” (Robert S. Cox Special Collections and University Archive Research Center, W.E.B. Du Bois Library, University of Massachusetts). CEO of Irma McClaurin Solutions; Past President, Shaw University; Chief Diversity Officer, Teach for America; Program Officer, The Ford Foundation. Her books include, Women of Belize and Black Feminist Anthropology.
- IrmaMcClaurin.com
DAKOTA NELSON
Womanhood is one of the most rewarding struggles to go through.
ON BEGINNING, BECOMING AND BEING . . .
“We create, lead, bring life into this world, and fight. We are protectors, sisters, mothers, and daughters. The struggle that women―especially women of color―go through, by just living in this world, is often trivialized. But that doesn’t make it any less important.
"I was raised by a beautiful Black mother who has inspired me to be my best self, and she has taught me what womanhood means. At 22, I feel I’m just beginning that journey of being an adult woman, but I work daily to create a safer world for women of color. I want to use every opportunity to increase inclusivity of all women in all spaces. Womanhood may be hard, but is beautiful, and that is why sisterhood matters. Let’s make every day a 'Sister Day' with the women in our lives who inspire us. Let’s uplift each other in this sisterhood that we are born into.”
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DAKOTA NELSON is 2021 graduate of Northern Arizona University with a B.S. in Strategic Communication and a minor in Arts and Cultural Management. A Digital Account Specialist for Denver Post Media, she also consults for Janus Adams LLC. Come 2023, she begins studying for her M.A. in Media, Culture, and Communication at NYU.
- DKRNelson.wixsite.com/FreeWillDakota
DEBORAH PAYTON-JONES
Don't let the fear of striking out keep you from playing the game.
ON HONORING EACH OTHER . . .
“A former student celebrating her 50th birthday recently wrote to me: ‘You don't know how impactful you have been on my life—from the words you said that resonate with me to this day; words that I have passed on to my children.’
"When you put yourself out there for people, you don't even realize you're putting yourself out there. You're just doing what you would have wanted someone to do for you. That is my mantra. I always do something that I wish someone out there could have done for me. I make sure that I'm there for others; that there's so many more success stories. How many more lives would then be affected?”
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DEBORAH PAYTON-JONES is Founder & President of Voter Education 365—a passion project she launched upon retiring from her career as an administrator at the Fashion Institute of Technology. One among Member of Delta Sigma Theta—a “Divine Nine”—she is a long-time NAACP activist.
- VoterEducation365.org
JANUS ADAMS, Host
Praise the bridge that carries you over, the old folks say. Go down to the river. Cross over to the other side. Praise the bridge, no matter how rough the ride.
ON CELEBRATING OUR ANCESTORS, ELDERS AND OURSELVES . . .
"On the days my grandmother would tire, her stories used up, her memories dim, I remember how she would croon to herself, ‘I'd write a book, but who would read it,’ and yet go on.
"From the stories of all our grandmothers untold and for their very great- and very grand-children, here, I hope, is the book they would have written. Here is their power, their strength, their pain, their ways, and their better days. Here are their woes and their problem solving, their laughter and their haughty, naughty ways. Here, too, are our stories, the ones we would put into hope chests, woven into tapestries, knowing that we today are the ancestors of tomorrow. And, as you read of these our Sister Days, somewhere beyond our Grandmas smile. For you to share, these are the stories they have told me to keep, the measure of our Sister Days.”
From the Introduction to her book, Sister Days: 365 Inspired Moments in African American Women’s History
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JANUS ADAMS is an Emmy Award-winning journalist, historian, and creator of BackPaxKids.com (anti-racist resources for ‘Adventurous Young Minds’). A pioneer of northern school desegregation at 8, her M.A. is the nation’s first graduate degree in Black Studies. She is Executive Producer and Host of public radio’s The Janus Adams Show and podcast, author of eleven books including Sister Days, and Producer of The Sister Days Mother/Daughter* Sistafest.
- JanusAdams.com
