How I’ve changed
During my time at HDS, I have laughed and cried, and gained and lost weight. I have also stumbled quite hard, but with and through community and friendships, I was encouraged never to crumble or give up! I was challenged academically, intellectually, politically, socially, and spiritually, positively growing my faith and understanding to new dimensions. I have learned the essence and perspective of ways to make meaning in my leadership and to help and support others to locate the divinity within themselves.
Memorable moment
There are many! I will share one memorable moment when I was president of the Harvard Black Graduate Student Alliance (BGSA). The organization facilitated Harvard undergraduates and graduate students across campus from all walks of life and different religious/spiritual backgrounds to come together to demonstrate unity, community, and kinship during a time of social unrest on our campus in April 2023.
Favorite class or professor
Wow! I have taken some exciting classes throughout my program. From "Theories and Methods" with Professor Holland, "Intro to Ministry Studies" with Matt Potts, and "Administration and Leadership" with Emily Click. To "Christianity, Identity, and Civil Society in Africa" with Jacob Olupona, "Spiritual Care from a Muslim Perspective" with Yunus Kumek, "Spirituality and Healing in Medicine" with Gloria White-Hammond and John Peteet, "Politics of Storytelling" with Michael Jackson, "Religion and Healing: An Anthropological Perspectiv" with Giovanna Parmigiani, and the courses "Change, Adversity and Spiritual Resilience" and" Meaning Making" with Chris Berlin. I cannot name them all here, but these classes stretched, shaped, and transformed my understanding and influenced my scholarship copiously. They have strengthened the ways in which I study and engage not only with my academic work and others but also with my community.
Message of thanks
First, I want to thank all the faculty, staff, and generous donors who saw me, heard me, and believed I was worthy of learning and compositing valuable knowledge, insight, and new ways of thinking at the most prestigious institution in America. Second, to my mom and dad, Jacqueline and Kevin Johnson, thank you for instilling morals and integrity within my very being and, most importantly, demonstrating firsthand what it means to have absolute faith in God and myself. Thirdly, I want to thank my village (my close family and friends) for showing up for me and being a safety net while listening to me vent. Fourthly, I thank my nephews Elijah Pierre and Brian Golf Jr. for making me a proud and lucky aunty. Lastly, I express gratitude to God and my therapist for always keeping a sista grounded!
(The word “sista” is a colloquialism used to refer to women of color, particularly Black women, regardless of their family relations. The term is the dialect form of “sister.”)
Future plans
I will be launching my passion project, MMJOY (Mindfulness & Meditation With Joy), an in-person and community platform for individuals to heal, learn, grow, and transform mentally, physically, and spiritually as a collective and individual body through community engagement. Follow the Instagram page @mmwithjoy for updates and to stay connected!