Author: Trelani
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Foremother Fridays – Week 3: Betty Shabazz + Tina McElroy Ansa
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In The Hand I Fan With by Tina McElroy Ansa, the main character Lena starts off as a woman with a packed schedule and a powerful presence. She’s sharp, successful, and always doing for others. Fanning the whole community. But when she meets Herman—a soft-spoken, grounded man with an old…
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Foremother Fridays – Week 2: Rosa, Bambara, Octavia, and Alice
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When we talk about meditation, prayer, breathwork—sometimes we picture folks sitting cross-legged, humming “om,” or deep in yogic stillness. Although the pics of Rosa Parks practicing yoga are some of my favorites, for many of our foremothers, mindfulness looked a little different. It looked like sitting on the porch and…
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Foremother Fridays – Week 1: Rosie the Riveter + Krak Teet
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Self-Care School is a 10-week podcast series by GirlTREK. Every Friday features Trelani Michelle, sharing elder/ancestral wisdom through personal observation and book excerpts. You can also listen in versus reading here: This week, we’re talking Body Reset 101, how we reclaim our health by tapping into the wisdom of our…
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Sankofa in the Rail: Notes from the Ancestors at Coffee Bluff
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Today felt like a love note from the ancestors. I was on set for Port SAVant’s music video “Movin,” which features a snippet of my TEDx Talk layered into the track. The song is all about returning to self, moving with purpose, and honoring our origins. So it felt perfect…
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“Ain’t No Way”: Okra, Perloo, and Proof We All Cousins
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I talk to Moustaph almost every day. He’s my Wolof tutor, based in Senegal. I’m in Savannah, Georgia. Our sessions are part language lesson, part cultural exchange, and part catching up between cousins—because that’s exactly what it feels like we are. We always start with greetings, because in Senegalese culture,…