“Oh, Holy Night” played in the background as the families and their nannies flooded the outdoor seating of my favorite, Fuze Caffè, on the Dubai Marina Walk. I paused out front and wondered whether I could sit among the noise to enjoy a delicious latte, followed by a refreshing lemonade…

Growing up, I always wanted a treehouse plopped between two trees I had chosen for their exhibited strength by the width of their branches and the toughness of their trunks. The space had to be simple enough to fill with my imagination yet illuminated with tiny bright bulbs strung throughout…

I, the curly-headed Black girl in the corner of Les Deux Magots, hiding beneath a large hat and layered sweater, share burial between my notebook and café viennois. Another country, another corner, my favorite occupation — flâneuse — recharges me from dreadfully empty, overbearing conversations with LA-types reading from similar…

Self-love has required extending and replenishing endless dosages of grace and compassion. In addition to numerous podcasts, books, and apps I leverage in this journey of addressing and healing trauma — personal or workplace — the swiftest relief has come from laughter. …

After following them for some time on social media, I decided to venture out to Tea at Shiloh in downtown Los Angeles. I often planned to visit but would be immediately held back by social anxiety. Wanting to continue developing confidence in social settings and ridding my fear of public…

As I scrambled through a lengthy list of to-dos, I caught myself, midway, slipping into a self-sabotaging wonder of how much faster and better I could work and how much more I could accomplish if I didn’t have the disability I do. Whenever my illness does not present a physical…

April is the cruelest month, a brutal reminder of what it is to want but cannot have, to need freedom but be restrained, to be conveniently feminine, summoning that version of her at their beckoning. And when she approaches, they criticize her leaning in with a past stained by ambition. …

May is Mental Health Awareness Month; as such, this is a timely piece. I always believed I would never untangle myself from what was a culmination of inherited trauma, and my traumatic experiences warped into some deep-sea tentacled beast without a face. …

A Founder’s Low It’s been an interesting few weeks. Since my previous post on our startup journey, the co-founder became overwhelmed by the fast-paced and various demands from both the incubator and interested parties. My fearful, repetitive reminders that this work is not like the startups with spacious offices and free snacks, this…