Featured Blog Posts

An Open Letter to Black Women Who Are Lovingly Devoted and Committed to Supporting and Protecting Robert Kelly

mute r kelly
January 31, 2018This one is heavy. Let me set the table in love and understanding and start by saying that by the time you are done reading this you will either appreciate the letter or not. I am okay with that, as silence breaking can go either way in a community where silence has been a protector
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I Have Nowhere Else To Report This

I can't take this anymore.
August 5, 2015Monday, August 3, 2015:  I’m sitting on a plane on my way to DC for an organization wide event. My stomach is knotted as I think about seeing a co-worker who I have filed a sexual harassment claim against. I am a Dream Director. I empower youth and my community to believe that anything is
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On Becoming Unfukwitable

me resized3
November 10, 2014A black girl’s first act of sorcery is to make herself disappear. I understood this when my father asked me to sit on his lap. He was in a wonderful mood that night. His baritone, a whiskey warmed song ripe with invitation. I remember wrapping my arms around myself, hands trying to gather in my
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Wearing Our Truth: Shetroit’s Raw Evolution

women-cyberactivism-arab-spring
August 2, 2014I am Detroit. My heart beats “Papa Was a Rollingstone”. I feel lost–displaced. Everyone tries to tell me what my story is. And I can’t get an accurate reflection of myself. Time Magazine tells me that I am ruin porn. CNN keeps telling me that I am bankrupt. 60 minutes says that I am corrupt.
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How to Transform the World Through the Leadership of Women

Shetroit Birthday Slider
May 28, 2014“I’VE GOT YOUR BACK, BECCA,” one of our Shetroit sisters soothingly whispered in my ear at the wrap-up of a recent gathering of Shetroiters. That’s our affectionate nickname for the Detroit women involved in this digital media endeavor known as Shetroit.com (rhymes with Detroit, of course). Her supportive words came following a bruising critique session
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Featured Video

NIkki Patin On Why Testimony is Necessary

An Open Letter to Black Women Who Are Lovingly Devoted and Committed to Supporting and Protecting Robert Kelly

This one is heavy. Let me set the table in love and understanding and start by saying that by the time you are done reading this you will either appreciate the letter or not. I am okay with that, as silence breaking can go either way in a community where silence has been a protector
Read More

Written by on January 31, 2018 in Featured, Great Women, Guest Blogger, Healing, Inspiration, Personal insights, Profile Gallery, Slider, Surviving Violence

I Have Nowhere Else To Report This

Monday, August 3, 2015:  I’m sitting on a plane on my way to DC for an organization wide event. My stomach is knotted as I think about seeing a co-worker who I have filed a sexual harassment claim against. I am a Dream Director. I empower youth and my community to believe that anything is
Read More

Written by on August 5, 2015 in Featured, Feminism, Great Women, Guest Blogger, Healing, Inspiration, Race/Ethnicity, Slider, Surviving Violence, Workplace

NIkki Patin On Why Testimony is Necessary

Written by on November 11, 2014 in Personal insights, Videos

On Becoming Unfukwitable

A black girl’s first act of sorcery is to make herself disappear. I understood this when my father asked me to sit on his lap. He was in a wonderful mood that night. His baritone, a whiskey warmed song ripe with invitation. I remember wrapping my arms around myself, hands trying to gather in my
Read More

Written by on November 10, 2014 in Featured, Feminism, Get Lifted, Great Women, Healing, Leadership, Sensuality/Sexuality, Slider, Spirituality

Wearing Our Truth: Shetroit’s Raw Evolution

I am Detroit. My heart beats “Papa Was a Rollingstone”. I feel lost–displaced. Everyone tries to tell me what my story is. And I can’t get an accurate reflection of myself. Time Magazine tells me that I am ruin porn. CNN keeps telling me that I am bankrupt. 60 minutes says that I am corrupt.
Read More

Written by on August 2, 2014 in Deeply Detroit, Education, Featured, Feminism, Get Lifted, Great Women, Healing, Inspiration, Leadership, Personal Growth, Personal insights, Race/Ethnicity, Respect, Slider

How to Transform the World Through the Leadership of Women

“I’VE GOT YOUR BACK, BECCA,” one of our Shetroit sisters soothingly whispered in my ear at the wrap-up of a recent gathering of Shetroiters. That’s our affectionate nickname for the Detroit women involved in this digital media endeavor known as Shetroit.com (rhymes with Detroit, of course). Her supportive words came following a bruising critique session
Read More

Written by on May 28, 2014 in Featured, Feminism, Great Women, Leadership, Personal insights, Race/Ethnicity, Slider, Well Meaning White Woman

Couples Retreats and Root Canals – It’s All About Digging Deep

The low point came several weeks before the couples’ workshop when Ron, my significant other, said he’d rather undergo root canal surgery. Or maybe it was a few days before we left for the workshop when he “joked” about getting prepared for “emotional waterboarding” (waterboarding being that infamous form of torture the U.S. military employs).
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Written by on May 13, 2014 in Personal insights, Relationships, Sensuality/Sexuality, Well Meaning White Woman

The Need to be Super Mommy … in a Wheelchair

BEST of SHETROIT … We ran Tameka’s story in 2012 after she had her FIRST-born Miles. We’re featuring it now on the occasion of her SECOND child, Naima, starting to walk … (GO Tameka!)   I’m the type of young woman who always wanted a family. As a little girl, I played with baby dolls, feeding
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Written by on April 4, 2014 in Disability Community, Guest Blogger, Motherhood, Race/Ethnicity, Relationships

Racist Slurs Slung in the Classroom: Here’s How One Detroit Teacher Handles It

People often ask me if I get attacked for being a Muslim.  Although I might get a racist/ethnic slur shouted at me every now and then, it is actually a rare occurrence. When it does happen, it usually takes me by surprise, and on a good day, my reaction will be to smile and ask
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Written by on February 2, 2014 in Education, Motown Muslim, Race/Ethnicity, Religion

How to Take Charge of Those Uncomfortable Moments When You’re Compared to a Porn Star

‘Noooooo!’ I mentally yelled in slow-motion. I imagined my arms stretched out in front of me, palms outward, pushing against the air … pushing him away. This young man was finishing one of the oddest comments a stranger had laid on me in a long time. “…I’ve watched Bridget the Midget porn. You know, out
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Written by on January 2, 2014 in Disability Community, Divine Dessa-bility, Featured, Feminism, Inspiration, Leadership, Relationships, Sensuality/Sexuality, Slider