Ayanna Taylor: How to Make Love an Action Word

00:00:02:13 – 00:00:22:18
Ayanna
When I was a little girl, you know, when we were younger, we didn’t have computers like my mom. We had a whole set of world book encyclopedias, and I used to read those all the time. And I just thought it was the biggest honor to be in the encyclopedia. And so I wanted that was one of my dreams to be in the encyclopedia.

00:00:22:20 – 00:00:41:05
Ayanna
And also what I say to people when they would ask me, like, what do you want to do? I was like, I don’t know. I just want to be the person that people can call on when they need help and I can make it happen.

00:00:41:07 – 00:01:10:03
Claudia
Hello and welcome back to Shift Happens. My name is Claudia Mahler, and I am your host. With shift happens, I am creating space and time for women to share their stories so that we all connect and feel heard. In today’s episode, I’m in conversation with Ayanna Taylor. Ayanna is the chief of staff of Girl Track, America’s largest national public health movement for black women and girls.

00:01:10:05 – 00:01:38:16
Claudia
She was an expert on a panel on women’s health that I curated in June. And that is how we met. I was smitten by her calm, determined and gentle demeanor and find her simply awesome. Ayanna shares the story of her first. She became a stepmom to two, five and nine year old children, then a mom to her son, and only after this was ready to marry the father of all three of them.

00:01:38:18 – 00:02:20:13
Claudia
Listening. Ayanna is a great storyteller and you will hear about her father, a blues musician, his four wives, and her many other siblings. How families have many forms and shapes how women shaped her life, especially her mother. How she was taught by her what love meant. How reading and cyclopedia as a child and going to an Ivy League college influenced her career path.

00:02:20:15 – 00:02:23:00
Claudia
Ayanna, so nice to see you again.

00:02:23:02 – 00:02:24:11
Ayanna
You too. You too.

00:02:24:11 – 00:02:49:08
Claudia
And thank you so much for your time. We met a few weeks ago at what I thought was such a great event. The salon I hosted together with the think Tank 1014 on Women’s Health. And of course, I was fascinated what you had to share with us about the place where you currently work. Girl Trek, this amazing health movement for black women.

00:02:49:10 – 00:02:59:15
Claudia
But before we get into this, and before we are talking about the pivotal moment in your life, I wanted to ask you a few, warm up questions.

00:02:59:17 – 00:03:01:11
Ayanna
Okay.

00:03:01:13 – 00:03:06:12
Claudia
What is your current state of mind?

00:03:06:14 – 00:03:11:08
Ayanna
Peaceful. I walked this morning, so that always helps.

00:03:11:10 – 00:03:13:21
Claudia
How long do you typically walk?

00:03:13:23 – 00:03:26:01
Ayanna
30 minutes. And I made a playlist over the weekend of, 90s boy band songs that I like. Yeah, I listened to that today.

00:03:26:03 – 00:03:37:23
Claudia
So you had an extra groove and swing into your steps? Yeah. Yeah. Nice. What is your idea of perfect happiness?

00:03:38:00 – 00:03:49:22
Ayanna
Love. Feeling. Love. I think being able to experience and be present in the love that I know that I have in my life, makes me really happy.

00:03:49:24 – 00:03:51:13
Claudia
Yeah. Beautiful.

00:03:51:15 – 00:03:53:10
Ayanna

00:03:53:12 – 00:03:57:09
Claudia
Which living person do you most admire.

00:03:57:11 – 00:04:00:24
Ayanna
Could be anybody. Not say it doesn’t have to be a famous person.

00:04:01:01 – 00:04:03:21
Claudia
Could be anybody. Just a loving person. You have.

00:04:03:23 – 00:04:33:19
Ayanna
I think my mom and I know that sounds, like everyone says that, but, you know, I was raised by a single mom who was an immigrant from Jamaica. And as a mom now, I recognize the number of sacrifices that she made for me, like, including working. And, you know, holding off on relationships so that she could make sure that I was safe and just, encouraging me.

00:04:33:19 – 00:05:00:10
Ayanna
And and even though she was working and worked in New York and had, a leadership position in her, role was always present somehow and in my life. And I see, you know, how challenging that is. Even having a husband, and raising children like to do all of the things that she did. So I admire her.

00:05:00:12 – 00:05:27:16
Claudia
Yeah. So being a mother, that topic almost is like a perfect bridge to what you, described as really a turning point in your life. And of course, it’s been just this short passage that you shared with me beforehand. Interesting to read because it’s so anti cyclical and, against the norm. Yes. The contrary of the norm. So if you could share with us in your own words that would be lovely.

00:05:27:18 – 00:05:55:03
Ayanna
Yeah. Becoming a step mom, was a pivotal moment for me. And I remember the day, and I wasn’t a traditional step mom because my husband and I weren’t married at the time, but I had made a commitment that, I love this person. And he was fighting for custody of his children. And I was actually at a party with my friends when he called me to say, I got them and I was equal parts so excited and happy for him.

00:05:55:03 – 00:06:24:21
Ayanna
And then like, oh my God, what does this mean for me? And from that day, my whole my life changed, completely. Like I no longer was thinking about myself and couldn’t think about, like, just what I wanted to do for Ayanna. So that was a huge, pivotal moment. And then I became a mom before I became a wife, because I knew I was ready to become a mom before I was ready to become a wife.

00:06:24:23 – 00:06:46:23
Ayanna
And I had my son, who will be 16 in August, and those two things like being and I always say, like I people who I know, I set parents, I send them like separate kind of like happy step Fathers Day or happy step Mothers Day on those days because it’s a different experience, a different feeling and a different level of sacrifice.

00:06:47:00 – 00:07:05:05
Ayanna
And so those two things of being those different kinds of moms were like really pivotal for me and demonstrated for me who I, who I knew I was. But I think I was never really challenged in the way, that parenting challenges you to really demonstrate who you are.

00:07:05:07 – 00:07:10:10
Claudia
How old were your stepchildren when you stepped into being a stepmom?

00:07:10:12 – 00:07:12:12
Ayanna
Yeah. Five and nine.

00:07:12:14 – 00:07:13:16
Claudia
Oh okay.

00:07:13:18 – 00:07:16:19
Ayanna
Five and nine. And then two years later I had my son.

00:07:16:21 – 00:07:20:06
Claudia
So I’m sure it’s very lively at your house.

00:07:20:08 – 00:07:44:19
Ayanna
It was it was very lively there. The two older ones are adults now. My son is going to be 16 in a few weeks. So I’m kind of, you know, transitioning out of that. But my daughter, the middle child, my stepdaughter, she’s pregnant. So I will be a grandmother in September. Hooray! Yeah.

00:07:44:21 – 00:08:09:01
Claudia
Speaking of, well, as you write, the capabilities of selflessness. Yes, they will expand. Yeah. You also, what I also thought was so nice, the sentence that you wrote that you really, worked on how to make love an action word and not just a feeling. Yes. That I thought was really striking. And can you explore a little bit on that?

00:08:09:03 – 00:08:10:02
Claudia
Yeah.

00:08:10:04 – 00:08:29:10
Ayanna
And I learned that from my mother. You know, my mother, my family in general. Like my mother’s side of the family, they aren’t like the oh, you know, huggy, huggy, affectionate type. So. But I knew that she loved me deeply. And it was because of her actions. So I kind of grew up understanding that that’s what love meant.

00:08:29:10 – 00:09:04:01
Ayanna
Like. Sure, it was the feeling, but it’s the decision to do for people who you say you love. That really is is the core of what it means to love somebody. Because, you know, it’s the selflessness. It’s the like making other people feel happy and doing that joyfully and wanting to do it. It’s I always try to make sure that anybody, even people who aren’t like acquaintances, like when they leave my presence, that they feel either good, you know, or better than they came in, like, certainly not worse.

00:09:04:03 – 00:09:24:07
Ayanna
And so that’s just like, for me, like, love is always just the sustain and behavior of, like, trying to make sure that other people’s lives are good. It doesn’t mean that I’m so self-sacrificial that I don’t try to make myself happy too. Right? I love myself first. And that’s how I’m able to love, other people.

00:09:24:09 – 00:09:51:05
Claudia
Yeah. It really is all about integrity, right? And being truthful and authentic. Yeah. Yes. Yeah I agree. So, you said that you were raised by a single mom, and you also shared that that was because you lost your father at an, at an early age, and that this taught you not to take time for granted, which is such a huge lesson.

00:09:51:09 – 00:10:00:22
Claudia
I mean, yes, for most of us. An endless life lesson. And you are confronted, you know, with taking that in and stepping into that at such a young age.

00:10:00:23 – 00:10:35:02
Ayanna
Yes. Yes. My father, I mean my parents actually weren’t married. So my mom, you know, technically was a single mom even before he passed away when I was ten years old. My father was a blues musician. He had a family, and he had. I have eight, seven siblings. And there are four mothers among us. And, you know, when I was young, I was really embarrassed by that and spent a lot of time trying to hide my father and hide like my other siblings to my friends.

00:10:35:04 – 00:10:50:01
Ayanna
I even pretended that my parents were married when they weren’t, when I was really young, because I was ashamed of that. Of course. Because I was the Brady Bunch all the time and, like. Yeah, for me, blended. And when I wonder why I couldn’t have two parents in the house.

00:10:50:07 – 00:10:51:20
Claudia
Yeah.

00:10:51:22 – 00:11:06:18
Ayanna
But what I realized as I got older and my siblings and I, we communicate, we talk. You know, we’re close. Especially my sisters. My father was a blues musician, and so he left us music. And he left us.

00:11:06:18 – 00:11:09:21
Claudia
What a gift. What a gift.

00:11:09:23 – 00:11:28:06
Ayanna
He even rewrote, We did Stevie Wonder’s song Isn’t She Lovely and put my name in it. So like, he left us a lot. And what he left us, though, was my father while he had, you know, these women. I’m the youngest. He made sure we knew each other. And I think that’s such a blessing.

00:11:28:08 – 00:11:51:00
Ayanna
What he did, what I tell people all the time, is that the story of my father is the story of our mothers, because he did a really good job choosing great women who did not allow whatever pain or hurt they caused him to, disrupt how? Like we connected with each other, like his wife who passed away a few years ago.

00:11:51:00 – 00:12:11:08
Ayanna
She would call my son her grandson like she was. You know, she treated us like we were her daughters. And so I that, to me is a gift. And good to be the reason why like, so easily stepped into my, like, step motherhood and, you know. Yeah. Because it wasn’t easy. But understanding that families come in all different types of ways.

00:12:11:10 – 00:12:14:14
Ayanna
So I don’t even remember. I’m on a tangent, I don’t remember.

00:12:14:14 – 00:12:27:16
Claudia
Yeah, yeah. No, no no no. But it was, it was really what you said about your father and that, that time is not endless. Yeah. It’s something can always happen to end it, and then that’s that. And that is also life.

00:12:27:19 – 00:12:45:09
Ayanna
Yes, yes. Yeah. And like I was saying, because I spent so much time trying to avoid him that last year of his life, when we moved to new Jersey and he was close and he would pick me up from school every day, and we started to get closer, and he taught me how to play the organ. He took me to my accordion lessons.

00:12:45:09 – 00:13:08:07
Ayanna
He taught me how to play chess. That last day we played chess together, and he either let me beat him or I legitimately beat him. And he said, see you next week. But I never saw him again. And so that stays in my mind as like a memory and really, like, informed how I treat my relationships with people and don’t like to to go to bed angry, don’t like to leave people.

00:13:08:08 – 00:13:27:22
Ayanna
Now I mean, relationships sometimes have to end, and that’s happened in my life. But I really try to the people who are in my life, I truly try to show up for them and be like, present and what we’re doing so that I can remember the moment just in case. And sometimes it feels like a little doomsday ish, but it also, I think, is me.

00:13:28:01 – 00:13:51:15
Claudia
No, it’s it’s a great capacity. And also, you know, this vast experience you made at a young age are growing up with different people, different siblings, people coming in and out of your life probably laid the groundwork for your way into your profession and education. Yeah. And really prepared you to be in the position of sharing all this and educating others.

00:13:51:15 – 00:13:53:17
Claudia
Yeah. Yeah. Beautiful.

00:13:53:17 – 00:14:01:12
Ayanna
Yeah. Yeah. I do feel like I developed some wisdom at a young age. Made me, an effective teacher.

00:14:01:14 – 00:14:47:02
Claudia
So, yes. You’ve been for over 30 years. You had a career in education and a pretty stellar career as a classroom teacher, professor, textbook publisher and education consultant. But all of this now brought you to Girl Track, where you are the chief of staff. And when I first heard about it, actually from Tanveer Jyotsna, who also has been here on my podcast, I was so fascinated, not only because I was in the process of doing all the research for this Women’s Health panel and salon I organized and curated, but really, because it’s such a fascinating, important national art global now health movement that doesn’t cost anything.

00:14:47:02 – 00:14:55:04
Claudia
Yeah, right. Anyway. But you it’s yours. So you need to talk about Girl Trek, what it is and what it has done to you.

00:14:55:06 – 00:15:20:24
Ayanna
Yeah. So girl track. I’m the chief of staff at girl track. We are a black women’s health movement, the largest black women’s health movement. And like you said, what we ask women to do is to walk, talk and solve problems together. And we have now 1.2 million women, which represents approximately 6% of the black women population who stand up and become members.

00:15:20:24 – 00:15:54:19
Ayanna
And what being a member means first is to commit to walking 30 minutes a day, five days a week. And we know that walking is an effective, disease prevention and health strategy. And so that’s why I like, like you said, it’s a simple it’s free ask of women. And they’ve said yes to it. And on our part what we do is provide culturally relevant programing and, engagements in order to keep them motivated and connected to the sisterhood.

00:15:54:21 – 00:16:24:03
Ayanna
And what that looks like is in, November, for example, after Thanksgiving Day, after Thanksgiving, we asked black families to do a black family, five K, you know, walking off that Thanksgiving meal. So it’s things like that. And we do a prayer trek in the fall with members, all members. But we have someone who is focused on church engagement because we are trying to think about where are black people, where are black and women, and a lot of them are in church.

00:16:24:05 – 00:16:51:17
Ayanna
A lot of them are in the South. So we are focused our strategies on the South, and then we have some someone working specifically on engaging, women in churches. We also have some long working specifically on engaging young women at historically black colleges and universities. So those are the ways that we try to, like, keep women connected to the sisterhood and also use strategies that we know will engage them because they’re culturally relevant in order to keep them motivated, to maintain this healthy lifestyle.

00:16:51:18 – 00:16:52:11
Ayanna

00:16:52:13 – 00:16:54:03
Claudia
It’s growing and growing.

00:16:54:05 – 00:17:16:09
Ayanna
It’s growing and growing. And now we have an app that, is helping us. It’s helping us collect data on our women and allowing us to collect data that will further inform, you know, the strategies that we use to engage them. We’ve just got, you know, approval from Google, on the app, the, the, Apple version has been around for about a month now.

00:17:16:09 – 00:17:36:17
Ayanna
And each each day we get more and more women who are joining. And what’s great about it is that our traditional like organizing strategy was we had people on the ground in communities getting women together. We still have that. We still have women who are signing up to be crew leaders. And what that means is they’ll gather women in their communities.

00:17:36:19 – 00:17:54:07
Ayanna
It could just be two people and that’s a crew. Or it could be some places we have like 30, 40 women who walk together. And, that’s the like the organizing strategy on the ground, but with the app is allowing us to do also is just to create, like to expand the geography of what it means to be a crew.

00:17:54:08 – 00:18:15:08
Ayanna
So now I can have my girlfriends who live in different states sign up with me. And we can be a group which could be more motivating to me if I’m, you know, walking with my friends rather than trying to find a new group in my community. So, so the app is it we, we think is going to be a really powerful strategy for us to to engage even more women across the globe.

00:18:15:13 – 00:18:35:18
Claudia
But not only to engage more women and across the globe, but also to gain, you can track like steps, and ultimately the health impact, right? Yes. I mean, you are able to retrieve some data of the walking and how it improves health. Yeah. And what kind of impact it had.

00:18:35:22 – 00:19:00:20
Ayanna
Right, right. Yeah. So each version is going to, you know, get better and allow us to access even more information. What we can track currently now are the number of steps, the number of miles that we have across the organization, and the number of warrior weeks and warrior weeks are when women, create that habit when they walk five days a week for the first time, for 30 minutes.

00:19:00:20 – 00:19:25:11
Ayanna
And so we’re able to track that, and then we’ll be able to also track when women earn their golden shoelaces and golden shoelaces get earned when you walk 21 days, for, you know, walk a whole month and you walk, do you completing five warrior weeks, essentially. So we’ll be able to track that and then at some point, we’ll be able to collect data from our women on, like, their current health outcomes and then how walking has changed for them.

00:19:25:11 – 00:19:42:01
Ayanna
But what we’re really trying to be mindful of, just because of the history of, you know, black women and the health care system in the United States, is we want to be able to tell women like what we’re doing with their data and really have integrity around that. So we need, of course, with Bill, that piece that.

00:19:42:01 – 00:20:12:06
Claudia
Yeah, yeah, yeah, of course. But it is so important. I mean, in this whole women’s health topic, what I’ve learned is that women period have been under-researched underserved and I assume black women in particular. And there is so much, catch up is to usually of a term for it, but there’s so much to build up and install to really serve the needs of women.

00:20:12:10 – 00:20:16:06
Claudia
Right. And also black women, because there are just differences. Right?

00:20:16:11 – 00:20:38:14
Ayanna
Exactly. There are differences. And I mean, each population is unique. I mean, and I think they’re like specific differences around how people feel about the health care system. So it’s not just about understanding what’s happening in our bodies, like it’s also understanding what’s happening psychologically in our mindsets. Because of either historical trauma or current trauma. And our relationship in the health system.

00:20:38:16 – 00:20:55:16
Claudia
And so the works for women. But I couldn’t imagine that as the household leader usually that they invite their families to join them and that this could even have a different and more impactful multiplier effect.

00:20:55:18 – 00:21:14:20
Ayanna
Yes. We have a woman on staff, Cynthia Thompson, who’s our VP of organizing, and she will tell you and tell us the story all the time about how Girl Trek changed her life, but also changed her entire family, that her whole family was, you know, overweight and inactive and that her husband, like her husband, will come to our retreats.

00:21:14:22 – 00:21:54:10
Ayanna
So her husband, her daughters, her sons, her entire family, they changed their lifestyle because she got involved with girls. So, of course. Yes. And that’s what we’re hoping with our strategy is that if we can target women for example, who are like in the 30 to 40 age range, who are taking care of their children, but also taking care of their parents, or might have influence on their parents, that targeting a population of women, we can actually really accelerate what we believe is should be and is an intergenerational health movement.

00:21:54:12 – 00:22:21:01
Claudia
And your experiences from girl track, do they influence your. I know you have also an educational advisory firm. So do you somehow I mean one never wants to preach to younger adults right. Yes. So that’s the big lesson to learn. Yeah. But can you integrated or do you integrated. You know those whole 30 minutes.

00:22:21:03 – 00:22:37:19
Ayanna
I it just integrated in some of my life. Because it helps me I think. Better you know, my husband is really active. Really active. Like he cycles every single day. He’s also retired so that he has the time.

00:22:37:21 – 00:22:38:14
Claudia
Because like.

00:22:38:16 – 00:23:01:18
Ayanna
Yeah right. He can cycle every day. So, so just being able to incorporate and working at a place that encourages you to do that and is so transformational, like it’s part of our expectation at work. That we walk 30 minutes a day so that we live the mission and can really, you know, be essential to the women who we’re trying to encourage.

00:23:01:20 – 00:23:19:10
Ayanna
So I think it just is integrated into my life in that way that it walking every day and movement every day. And you know, the weights that I try to do every day. I just know that when I do it, it gives me more energy and helps me think better.

00:23:19:12 – 00:23:24:16
Claudia
So I see in the background, the flag of is that your alma mater?

00:23:24:18 – 00:23:26:19
Ayanna
Yes. I went to the University of Pennsylvania.

00:23:26:19 – 00:23:36:19
Claudia
Yeah. Can you explore a little bit on that. You know your time at university and how you think that kind of formed you for the career path that you chose.

00:23:36:21 – 00:23:59:19
Ayanna
Yeah. When I was a little girl, you know when we were younger and we didn’t have computers like my mom, we had a whole set of world book encyclopedias, and I used to read those all the time and just thought it was the biggest honor to be in the encyclopedia. And so I wanted that was one of my dreams to be in the encyclopedia, and also what I would say to people.

00:23:59:19 – 00:24:20:20
Ayanna
And they would ask me, like, what do you want to do? It’s like, I don’t know, I just want to be the person that people can call on when they need help, and I can make it happen. And that was my my dream. I didn’t have a career aspiration. So when I went to college, I, I wanted to be, I wanted to major in communications and because I wanted to tell stories and be on the news.

00:24:20:22 – 00:24:43:10
Ayanna
But it wasn’t when I got to Penn, it was, you know, it’s an Ivy League school. It was really theoretical and not the practical that I thought it was going to be. So I ended up doing an internship at a radio station to get that experience. But I did a summer program, one year community service program that was a service learning program, and it put me in West Philadelphia schools.

00:24:43:12 – 00:25:10:22
Ayanna
And I realized that I still have the letter that two young girls wrote me and one of my college friends after, because that inspired me to find out about teach for America. And decided to join teach for America because I said, you know what, I can do this for two years and figure out what I really wanted to do, because at some point in there I said I wanted to be Toni Morrison and work for a publishing company and make books.

00:25:10:24 – 00:25:38:16
Ayanna
But I became a teacher and fell in love with the impact that you could have as a teacher. And did that for four years and then said, you know I want to try this book thing that I said I wanted to do and use my pen a long resource and ended up making textbooks. So Don, a lot of the things that like I envisioned in my mind, and it was, you know, one day, like maybe in my 40s, I said, you know what?

00:25:38:16 – 00:25:58:17
Ayanna
I actually achieved what I had aspired to as a young girl because I was in several professions or several had several opportunities, and especially as a teacher to help people. To, for people to call me. And that happens to me now as a consultant for people to call me and say they need help and I can help them.

00:25:58:19 – 00:26:23:00
Ayanna
And there were times where I said, should I have stayed on one path and just like become like, you know, superintendent of a district or president company somewhere? And I didn’t, but I think that all of those experiences have helped me be a really effective consultant. And now, like chief of staff, whatever. However you get trained for chief of staff, I don’t know.

00:26:23:00 – 00:26:32:05
Ayanna
But all of those experiences that I’ve had, I think have helped me. Now I’m in this role, which is my first one outside of education.

00:26:32:07 – 00:26:59:11
Claudia
Yeah. Fabulous. So, I usually ask my guests their preferred ways of relaxation or how they energize themselves because I want to collect a little bit, you know, the biohacking stuff and everyone and yours of course we know now it’s the 30, but is there anything else that you actually consciously do to kind of put you into your zone?

00:26:59:13 – 00:27:23:08
Ayanna
You know, I, I love traveling. Before I became that was one of the things that slowed down when I became a step mother. I stayed with my girlfriends. We were just saying hey you want to go here like you know let’s, let’s just get on a plane. That the planning of that or the whirlwind of it energizes me and keeps maintain some energy for a little while.

00:27:23:08 – 00:27:44:09
Ayanna
My husband and I just got back from the tour de France. Any speaking cycles? I gifted that to him. So, like I’m still on that. That high up. Being able to travel and travel with him. So while that’s not like a daily practice, the imagining and dreaming of the next place that I want to go is something that energizes me.

00:27:44:11 – 00:28:03:13
Ayanna
And then I do just like quiet and a long time, you know, I’m technically an only child. And so it was always just me and my mother and my stepdaughter always jokes me because when they were younger I would say I need my alone time. You know, I’ll just go in my bedroom and and and just kind of be quiet.

00:28:03:15 – 00:28:22:16
Ayanna
And she was like, now I get because they didn’t understand it when I was young. Like, I get it now. Yeah. Why you needed that. So like that, that energizes me. I’m an introvert. Extrovert people. Yeah. Are you not using that term now? I need I need that alone time and the walking. Is that alone time for me to to just be by myself?

00:28:22:20 – 00:28:41:14
Ayanna
Really? Is is what it is. And then the other piece is like, whatever kind of exploration I can do, either in a book or a podcast that I really like, like I really like listening to Cautionary Tales podcast, like getting lost in those things. Energize me.

00:28:41:16 – 00:29:01:03
Claudia
Yeah. No, I mean I also walk almost every day, but with my dogs I have two Labradors. Okay. And that’s not really doing anything for me except I’m. Yes of course I’m kind of moving and I’m in the fresh air right. But they are just, you know, they’re not just puttering along next to me. And like, every life is way too exciting.

00:29:01:03 – 00:29:12:11
Claudia
So I spent twice a day, like 30 minutes outside with them, but never this alone time focused walking or with girlfriends. Yeah. So I am very inspired.

00:29:12:15 – 00:29:13:16
Ayanna
Okay.

00:29:13:18 – 00:29:14:23
Claudia
I will take this on.

00:29:14:24 – 00:29:16:21
Ayanna
Yes. Yes.

00:29:16:23 – 00:29:32:00
Claudia
Yeah. So thank you so much. I mean, we heard that for Girl Trek. The next big thing is the app. Developing the app further. Is there anything else on the horizon that the organization aspires or is going for.

00:29:32:02 – 00:29:52:14
Ayanna
Yeah. So we are. So we’ll have a a big announcement that we’re making and about our strategy at the TEDx conference in October. And the other thing that we are, you know, I think I mentioned during the salon that we purchased the building in Alabama that will be our new headquarters.

00:29:52:14 – 00:29:53:04
Claudia
Oh, yes.

00:29:53:04 – 00:30:11:19
Ayanna
Right. I was there King’s old office, the bricklayers Union hall. And so one of the things that we’re trying, it’s big, it’s huge, and it’s just so surreal to be in that space, especially as someone who, like, you know, I grew up watching eyes on the Prize. My mother, you know, gifted those to me. And I didn’t like it in the beginning.

00:30:11:19 – 00:30:31:19
Ayanna
But like, as I got older, I realized, how important was like, and I, I love the I, even my stepdaughters the, the like intellectual one in the household. And she loved those two as a child. So when I’m in that space, I feel so powerful because of the people who occupy that space. And what they did there.

00:30:31:21 – 00:30:54:01
Ayanna
So we are also trying to figure out, like, how do we continue to reclaim those historic spaces that have been either abandoned and or being misused or, you know, in the South and then figuring out how, what is our strategy for reclaiming them and then repurposing them for women and their health?

00:30:54:03 – 00:30:54:16
Claudia

00:30:54:18 – 00:30:55:18
Ayanna
That’s the that’s the other.

00:30:55:19 – 00:30:57:12
Claudia
Oh that’s fabulous.

00:30:57:13 – 00:30:58:07
Ayanna

00:30:58:09 – 00:31:13:23
Claudia
I will follow you tightly on that path. That’s fascinating too. Yeah. What a concept. That’s really great. It would be great. Well I thank you so much for your time. Thanks. Has been fascinating. And the Ted conference where you are doing you are all these announcement is when.

00:31:14:00 – 00:31:16:15
Ayanna
It’s in October and in Atlanta.

00:31:16:17 – 00:31:21:06
Claudia
In October in Atlanta. Okay. Okay. Wonderful. Thank you so much, Anna.

00:31:21:07 – 00:31:21:22
Ayanna
Thank you.

00:31:21:22 – 00:31:24:04
Claudia
And I hope to see you soon. Yes.

00:31:24:04 – 00:31:36:22
Ayanna
You too.

00:31:36:24 – 00:32:07:24
Claudia
30 minutes of walking a day. I find this fascinating. It is such a simple way to have an impact on your day, your mood, your health, at know costs and to create from this space. A national health movement for black women is so completely genius. I love it. I just totally love it. And also, you know, to use it as a platform to create sisterhood, community, and a sense of belonging.

00:32:08:01 – 00:32:22:22
Claudia
There is so much power in this. So the next time you feel stuck, you know what to do. Get out and walk. No less than 30 minutes.

00:32:22:24 – 00:32:47:16
Claudia
Shift happens, has been created and is hosted by me, Claudia Mahler, editing Andy Boroson, social media. Magda Reckendrees. I hope you felt connected and heard by listening to Shift Happens and please leave a review and a rating wherever you listen to podcasts.