My Colorful Nana
by My Colorful Nana Project
The My Colorful Nana Project is a collected group of Generous Thinkers. We invite all people to consider and celebrate their definitions of the words "beauty," "femininity", and blackness through a discussion of hair. This is a project that allows individuals to define identity on their own terms. Find out more about our Generous Thinkers and multimedia content by checking out our website: https://mycolorfulnana.wixsite.com/tmncp
Episodes
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The Beauty & Challenges of Studying Caribbean Playwriting, Kay Kemp (PhD Candidate)
For our 2nd episode of Season 5, we interviewed (one of my cohort colleagues :)! and) first-year PhD student in the English Department, Theater Colloquium–– Kay Kemp. Together, we chatted about the beauty & challenges of studying Caribbean playwriting Kay (they/them) explores postcolonial...
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Investigating The Art of Being a Diplomat, Fareed Abdullah
For our first episode of Season 5, we interviewed current U.S. Diplomat and Columbia University graduate student in the School of International and Public Affairs–– Fareed Abdullah. Together, we chatted about the “art of being a diplomat.” Fareed is a U.S. diplomat taking a sabbatical from...
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Audio Essay Reflection: To Be Free
This audio essay is a reflection of how my research is beginning to evolve. We will listen to a clip on Nina Simone, a brief reflection examining artistic depictions of Blackness, and a previously-shared segment of an interview with Professor Korka Sall (PhD). My hope is for this short episode to...
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”Black Hair Is The Root of Pan-Africanism,” (Audio Segment) MCN Event 6/16/2022
Topic: "Black Hair Is The Root of Pan-Africanism," My Colorful Nana (Talk in English) Date & Time: Thursday, June 16th at 3:00pm Summary: "This presentation about Back Hair & Pan-Africanism is led by Dr. Korka Sall (PhD) and Lauren Stockmon Brown (Current Fulbright ETA) and incoming PhD…
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”People Are Like Waves,” (Short Story: Audio Version)
This week, I'm excited to share the audio version of the short story that I wrote about Identity Formation & Spirituality in Senegal entitled, "People Are Like Waves." I am moving into my last month living abroad, and I'm exploring "how to" build lasting systems of thinking that can help improve…
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Dr. Korka Sall (PhD)- ”Believe in Your Natural Power.”
Listening to the way Dr. Sall is enthralled by her work was absolutely exhilarating. Dr. Sall's research reframes debates about the participation and conversation of francophone women writers in the Negritude movement. I deeply resonate with Dr. Korka's calculated choice to centralize aspects of...
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Alioune Sene- ”I Evolved.”
For this episode, I interviewed one of my first friends in Senegal, Alioune Sene! Alioune shared his experience growing up in Dakar before receiving a BA in New York & Tennessee, a MA in Paris and he is now excitedly living in Dakar, Senegal as an Associate Coordinator for the West African…
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Dr. Mamadou Bodian (PhD)– Understanding Identity Formation & Black Hair
For my Fulbright Community Engagement project in Senegal, I hope to nurture my scholarly interests in Body Politics, hair, beauty culture, race, and popular media as sites of creativity and politics. While interviewing Dr. Mamadou Bodian, excitedly, we discussed Dr. Mamadou's research on identity...
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Why Black Hair Matters (with Dr. Kari Williams, PhD)
A conversation about Black hair and Black joy. Dr. Kari is passionate about hair styling and education. She has merged her passion and degree to create a business that caters to a market that is interested in natural hair and seeking guidance on how to achieve healthier hair. She is also a...
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"We Got Us Now: Children of Incarcerated Parents."
Black hair is a story of resilience and the story has continued as a key topic of conversation throughout 2020. Yes, our twist outs, fros and low cuts are taking center stage as a representation of independence and strength. And yet, centuries of race-based hair discrimination has sparked the...
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Post Election Liberation Dreams
Election day is less than one week away. Have you voted? More importantly, what are your plans to move this fight forward after you vote? Katrina Adams leads our conversation on the significance of generational advocacy efforts and change. As a former professional tennis player and immediate past...
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Sports Activism, Influence & Leverage
As a professional athlete and current Harlem Globetrotters, Maxwell Pearce stands in solidarity as fellow NBA & WNBA players use their platforms to disrupt pro sports in wake of the Jacob Blake shooting by police. Admirably as an athlete and activist, Pearce finds hope amid the world’s current...
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Harlem Globetrotters' Belief in Sports Activism
NBA & WNBA Teams strike and disrupt pro sports in wake of the Jacob Blake shooting by police. Begging the question: "What does it mean to be a Black athlete in today’s political climate?" Tune in to our interview with Harlem Globetrotters’ Maxwell Pearce, known as “one of the best dunkers on the...
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Vanessa Williams & Identity Politics
American actress and singer, Vanessa Williams joins fellow Horace Greeley High alum and host Lauren Stockmon Brown to discuss the complexity of identity politics. Williams dives into her phenomenal career in the entertainment industry and the ways in which music, theatre and the arts grounded her...
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History of the "N Word" & Respectability Politics
Our first Mother-Daughter debut. Founder, Lauren Stockmon Brown hosts a special episode featuring Richard Pryor's daughter and granddaughter, Elizabeth Stordeur Pryor and Lilli Stordeur. Famous 1970's comedian Richard Pryor had his own journey around the "N word," and current Smith College...
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Education is Our Modern Civil Rights Movement
Chidi Asoluka and founder, Lauren Stockmon Brown question how we can collectively liberate the minds of young people.... Asoluka is currently a Class Dean and English teacher at Horace Mann School in New York City. In 2019, he founded Asoluka Company, an education consulting firm that specializes...
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Bending Gender Norms & Finding Creativity
Through a conversation on race and hair, Jaysen Henderson-Greenbey and founder, Lauren Stockmon Brown discuss how one's gender expression is a form of creativity, control and strength. Jaysen is a non binary person of color who encourages all people to embrace their weirdness, be authentic and…
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Making Believers in Unprecedented Times
Lauren Stockmon Brown interviews 2021 NYC mayoral candidate, Dianne Morales. Dianne is an Afro-Latina woman who believes that the best way to change the future is to create it. She is running a campaign to disrupt the status quo and help transform our government. In this episode, we will discuss...
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Type Casting Black Hair
Jordan Boatman is an extremely talented actress who has performed at The Manhattan Theatre Club, The Geffen Playhouse, recently appeared on CBS All Access’s The Good Fight and is currently in the play, "Medea" at the Brooklyn Academy of Music. Jordan will carefully carry us through her hair-care...
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Legally Bald
Lauren Stockmon Brown (Host & Founder) talks with Amivi Sogbo, a sophomore from New York University. After Amivi decided to shave her head, she claimed that this experience was absolutely "freeing." However, as Lauren and Amivi learned throughout the interview, it was not only Amivi's decision to...
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My Music is My Identity
Lauren Stockmon Brown (Host & Founder) sits down with Jordan Dorsey ( NYU '19). This episode features two queer, black, women who do not conform to societal standards of femininity discussing the intimacy of loving another woman and this "trifecta of struggle." Jordan Dorsey is a Rap and R&B…
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Black Hair & Self Care
Lauren Stockmon Brown (Host & Founder) dicusses the nuances of black hair and the importance of self care with Linda Duverné (Senior at NYU). To love is a revolutionary act. To love another is expected. Whereas to love the self is frequently questioned. Linda will describe the challenges of…
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White Suburbia & Me
Lauren Stockmon Brown (Host) & old high school friend, Alyssa Ashley (University of Delaware '18), reminisce about their hair-care experience growing up in a predominately white community located in Westchester (Chappaqua) New York. It was simultaneously an amazing and challenging upbringing: to…
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It's Not Just Hair.
Lauren Stockmon Brown (Host & Founder) and Ale Gonzalez (Junior from NYU) studying History & Politics will explore the complexities of oppression on black hair. Ale calls himself "racially ambiguous" to the eye, though people often associate his physical attributes with black features. So, when…
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When Do Black Women Get To Be an Individual?
Lauren Stockmon Brown (Host & Founder) explores Camille Lo Bianco's (Senior from NYU) essay about Black feminism inspired by TMCNP's event last February. Lo Bianco covered Black women being viewed as representatives of a collective experience. We're always reminded of the original message of the...
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Young Black Women In The Corporate World
Lauren Stockmon Brown (Host & Founder of TMCNP) asks Marquel Love ('19 graduate from NYU, former college athlete, NBC Studios employee, Page Program recipient) to take us through her hair-care experiences, the pressures of working in the corporate world right after undergrad, dating primarily…
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What Does It Mean to Have an Identity That Has No Limits?
Lauren Stockmon Brown (TMCNP Host & Founder) asks Meskie Taylor (Sophomore from NYU) about her experience with her hair as a Black Ethiopian woman who was adopted at 8 years old . When Meskie met her American family, it was the first time she saw white people.
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Is There Space For The White Man's Perspective?
Lauren Stockmon Brown (TMCNP Founder) asks Mike Flom (A Junior from NYU) if there is space for the white man's perspective in a discussion about black women's hair.
About this show
The My Colorful Nana Project is a collected group of Generous Thinkers. We invite all people to consider and celebrate their definitions of the words "beauty," "femininity", and blackness through a discussion of hair. This is a project that allows individuals to define identity on their own terms. Find out more about our Generous Thinkers and multimedia content by checking out our website: https://mycolorfulnana.wixsite.com/tmncp
Hosted by
My Colorful Nana Project