Faces of Antyx: Empowering Our Melanin
We’re so excited to switch things up for this weeks Feature Friday with Empowering Our Melanin, founded by Dayanara and Erin. In this interview Dayanara and Erin talk about the journey of creating their organization, where they are now, and what they hope to achieve in the future and we can’t wait to see what they accomplish!
Q: Tell us about the journey and creation of Empowering Our Melanin.
A: We started EmpoweringOurMelanin after the Black Lives Matter protests in August. We had a lot to say about the racism and police brutality that was going on in our country. So, we went IG (Instagram) Live on our personal accounts and talked about how we felt. Inspired by the engagement of our followers we realized other BIPOC youth needed a safe platform as well. Then we created EmpoweringOurMelanin, an Instagram account, and eventually it became a podcast as well meant to uplift and empower BIPOCs.
Q: What has surprised you the most since starting your platform?
A: The support we have received and the growth that has happened has really encouraged us to keep going with this platform we didn’t initially expect to be such a big thing. Although we only have 217 followers which may not seem like a big number, we feel the support from everyone of our followers and listeners.
Q: Tell us about some of the people you’ve met on your podcast!
A: Coronavirus has shown us to find different ways to network with people online but our past guests have all been people we know! We’ve had Lucy M. Thomas F, and Kendyl. who are outstanding individuals with great motivations join us on our podcast. To learn more about them visit our page to read their bios or listen to their featured episodes. We are hoping to branch out and have people from various areas around the country/world who we may not be familiar with, come and join us on our podcast!
Q: What do you think people should know about this organization?
A: People should know that EmpoweringOurMelanin is an open space for BIPOCs. We talk about social justice and the issues in our community. In addition we have fun conversations about our experiences without worrying about being judged or out of place. We put a lot of effort and work into our content to accomplish this goal. EmpoweringOurMelanin is for us, by us!
Also we (Erin and Dayanara) love hearing feedback from followers and/or listeners in regards to EmpoweringOurMelanin. Don’t be afraid to reach out to us.
Q: What do you think will change about EmpoweringOurMelanin over the next year?
A: Over the next year we both know EmpoweringOurMelanin will have an immense amount of progression. One of the things we are currently working on is growing our audience and outreach which we feel is a crucial step for our account! We love to collaborate with other accounts with similar goals, along with the youth in our communities to produce podcasts. Soon you’ll see a lot more of that.
Q: What has been the biggest opposing force that you encountered on your journey?
A: An opposing force that we’ve encountered has been coronavirus. Though many events have gone online, some things can be harder online. For example collaboration, a big part of our podcast is collaboration and featuring new guests but recording podcasts with our guests online has been a bump in the road to producing podcasts. Coronavirus has also made it harder to collaborate socially and naturally. Although we are having a hard time connecting with other people, we know that we have been lucky to make a lot of progress in a short time.
Q: What’s the best piece of advice you’ve ever been given?
A: The best pieces of advice we’ve ever given have come solely from our experiences and stories which we share through our page and with our podcast. We are still so new to this process so all we can really share is what we’ve been through. We are still getting advice from other more experienced people. So with this, at the moment I guess the best advice we can give is to learn from your experiences and those of others, be confident in yourself, and ask for help if needed. Don’t feel pressured to be the leader at all times, it is okay to learn from others first; sometimes you must follow before you lead.
Q: What is your biggest motivation?
A: Our biggest motivation is to create communities and spaces for BIPOCs to be themselves and to have fun. Since the beginning we’ve said “uplifting and empowering our melanin”, because it’s what we aim to do. We saw a gap and now we are working to fill it! This is absolutely needed in our community, we’ve seen that in the positive responses from our followers and collaborators. We are motivated by them because we see ourselves in them. Our community and its chance to thrive is our biggest motivation.
Q: What is your dream project or goal?
A: We hope to grow as podcasters and use our platform to make a positive impact on BIPOCs and our community. As for a specific project we can’t say yet, but we want to look back on our work and feel proud (hopefully others will be proud as well).
Thanks so much for featuring us on the Antyx Blog! You can keep up with us @empoweringourmelanin or on our website. Here is our official podcast page. Thank You!