City of Atlanta Mayor’s Office of Diversity Equity and Inclusion commissioned content.
In this podcast, we hear directly from the next generation of changemakers as teens report from the Moving Her Forward Summit: The State of Women and Girls in Atlanta. Recorded by Robyn Robinson and Sanaa Denise, and produced by Beli Infantry-Johnson, this story captures honest reactions, and bold hopes shared by young women who attended the event.
Transcript
Beli Infantry-Johnson: The Moving Her forward Summit was an event hosted by the Mayor’s Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion in collaboration with the Women of Atlanta Advisory Council and Mayor Dickens. Luckily enough, a few VOXers were able to attend.
Overall, it was an inspirational and empowering event for young metro Atlanta teens with many opportunities to connect with peers and gain some insight into how to chase your dreams.
Two VOXers, Robyn Robinson and Sanaa Denise, attended the Letters To My Younger Self Panel. Here are some words from actress Gail Bean, Former Mayor Shirley Franklin, entrepreneur, Dr. Lakeysha Hallmon, and Atlanta Dream, CEO, Morgan Shaw Parker.
Atlanta Teen: How did you navigate the negative impacts on your life that served as distractions?
Panel Moderator: Thank you so much for the question.
Gail Bean: Yes. So I have a nonprofit, Dream Above The Influence, and sometimes we are in environments that place influences on us. But how do you not allow it to fully affect your mental… in a negative or positive way? You may grow up in a neighborhood that is impoverished . . . drugs . . . things that just don’t, you don’t see for yourself.
How do you not allow that to be your outcome? Or in a positive way, you may grow up in a family full of lawyers, but you don’t wanna be a lawyer — you wanna be an artist. How do you say, “Okay, these are the influences, but how do I navigate and still dream above, outside, around . . . and not allow it to fully affect me and taint my own thoughts?”
Ironically enough, I was supposed to speak at a school, and because of the characters that I play on TV, they did not want me to come speak to their youth. That happens, and I have to say, “Okay. You don’t see me, you see something else that is your version of me. That is your negative encounter and mentality on me.”
But I’m not going to take that on. I hear you. I do not receive it.
Former Atlanta Mayor Shirley Franklin: And then the second thing is don’t worry about your mistakes. We all make them. Maynard Jackson called me once in the morning, at 11 o’clock, and I was working for him, and he was complaining about a mistake that we made — that someone made in the government.
So I remember looking at my watch and saying, “What time is it, Mayor?” And he said, “It’s 11 o’clock.” I said, “Great. It’s a, it is a normal day. We made a mistake.” So let’s accept our mistakes and move on.
Dr. Lakeysha Hallmon: I also write in the book about incremental growth. I think balance . . . and I agree. I don’t think it’s a destination or a place that we reach.
I think there are some seasons you give more to some things, and other seasons you give less. I think the soul work, though, is you being able to find peace with where you are, and that peace comes from grace, but it’s also incremental growth. So allowing yourself to just grow over time, allowing yourself to grow at this new age of 40 over time, and allowing your body to be different the way that you think to be different, your boundaries to be different.
But somewhere in there, you have to make a will of choice and you have to choose every single day that wherever I am, I will find peace in it.
Morgan Shaw Parker: One of the things that I heard was a pastor in a church that I used to attend, and I just loved him. He was such an eloquent speaker, but he talked about being quick to listen and slow to speak, and sometimes we walk in the room, as women, and we think we have to have all the answers.
We think we have to know what’s next. And like I said, I never in a million years thought I’d be president. I never, in a million years. Never did I think I would be a CMO of a national football team, either. Never in a million years did I think I would be leading a team through a hundred-year pandemic with massive revenue loss and loss of life on my team and navigating it.
But you know what? We as women we got something. We’ve got an extra ear, and it’s in there, and you kick it in when your community ignites that, and you feed off of each other, and so the only thing you have to do is show up and keep showing up and listen.
Beli Infantry-Johnson: After hearing from those lovely panelists, VOXers, Robyn Robinson and Sanaa Denise sat down with each other to discuss their thoughts on the panel, in addition to talking with other teams in attendance about their plans for the future.
Sanaa Denise: Hi, I am Sanaa from VOX ATL.
Robyn Robinson: Hi, I’m Robyn with VOX ATL.
Sanaa Denise: So we just saw a panel at the Moving Her Forward Summit of a lot of powerful women, including Shirley Franklin, the 58th mayor of Atlanta, the first woman mayor of Atlanta as well.
And we also saw Morgan Shaw Parker, she’s the president and COO of the Atlanta Dream Team here.
Robyn Robinson: We also heard from Gail Bean. She is a well-known actress. She played in some things like “Snowfall” and we also saw Layla Shannon. She is a youth leader. She’s known for the educational moves she’s made at a young age. She’s very inspiring for young students.
Sanaa Denise: Mm-hmm.
Robyn Robinson: I got a lot of good information, and it was so interesting to listen to the panel because a lot of them came from different experiences, and they gave answers from different perspectives. Like some of the women came from a very, like, spiritual perspective.
Sanaa Denise: Mm-hmm.
Robyn Robinson: And that was really interesting to hear from. And then a lot of other women had advice based on their interactions with people. So that was really cool, especially hearing from Mayor Franklin. She came up in a different time than the time that we’re coming up in, so her obstacles were a little different.
I can’t even imagine. She mentioned someone basically saying that she’s not as smart as the people she was campaigning against for the mayor position.
Sanaa Denise: I think for me my favorite part of the panel would probably be when Gail Bean was talking about like navigating the space as an actress. How she was saying how when someone gives her negative feedback, she just says, “I hear you, but I don’t receive that.”
And how that’s really important because a lot of times it’s so easy to get caught up and like she said, there’s so much emotion in the phone, like on social media and like sometimes it’s really easy to get caught up in what social media wants you to be, how they portray you to be, stuff like that.
Especially as a Black woman, we’re always portrayed to be, “Oh, the angry Black woman thing.” And I like how she talked about how you can still hear someone and what they’re saying, but you don’t have to necessarily receive it.
I really think we’re gonna have a good time at this summit.
Robyn Robinson: So we’re just gonna be interviewing some girls about envisioning their goals and chasing their dreams.
Sanaa Denise: Let’s see what they have to say.
Sanaa Denise: Hi, I am Sanaa from VOX ATL, and I’m here with:
Nelrya Rainey: Nelrya Rainey, a senior at South Atlanta High School.
Sanaa Denise: Okay, and the question for today is some, what are some of your long-term goals?
Nelrya Rainey: Some of my long-term goals are to graduate high school and attend college of my choice, a good medical, that has a good medical program, preferably Xavier University of Louisiana, to become a reconstructive surgeon to instill confidence back into those individuals whose physical appearance has been altered due to burn incidents or chemical spills, like acid or anything like that. And I just wanna be that person to tell them, let them know they’re still that girl, they’re still that boy by just giving them the medical cosmetic procedure that they need so they can just go on in their life and just know that they’re still beautiful.
Sanaa Denise: Okay. I like that. Thank you so much.
Nelrya Rainey: You’re welcome.
Sanaa Denise: And I’m here with
Mahogoney Langston: Mahogany Langston. Some of my long-term goals are to pursue a degree in real estate. I wanna major in education, attend Kennesaw State for the next four years, and just be very successful in life.
Sanaa Denise: I’m here with
Joniya: Joniya. One of my main long-term goals is to become a traveling nurse, and if that doesn’t work out, another one of my main goals is to be a real estate agent.
Sanaa Denise: The next question is, how do you navigate new spaces and undiscovered spaces as a young woman?
Nelrya Rainey: Just looking, being observant, and making sure you pay attention to what people say, what people do, and your surroundings, and make sure you surround yourself around people who are going to pour into you and not try to take from you.
Joniya: I navigate unfamiliar spaces by… honestly, I just take deep breaths, try to get through it, and focus on what I’m trying to get to and get through.
Sanaa Denise: And the last question is, how do you manage intense emotions while making crucial and important decisions?
Joniya: I manage those emotions by definitely taking a break, taking a breather.
Because I know my emotions can get overwhelming, and sometimes I go talk to somebody when I really need to, and that’ll calm me down a lot. Whether they’re emotions of anger or sadness or anything, I always go and talk to somebody about it because it always makes me feel like it’s gonna be okay, and I have somebody that is there for me at times.
Beli Infantry-Johnson: That sums up the Moving Her Forward Summit. If you’re interested in more content, check out our nonprofit, voxatl.org. Atlanta’s home for Uncensored Teen Publishing and self-expression. Bye!
