Tell me about Epoch Tribe.
It’s the storytelling and production company that I run with my sister-in-law. We’ve been working together on open-mic nights and arts-based community programming since about 2011. We made it official with the creation of Epoch Tribe in 2018.
We started out offering storytelling workshops and classes to schools, nonprofits, government entities and small businesses that needed to develop or strengthen their organizational story. Epoch Tribe has since grown to include community productions that we lead, mostly in Black communities. We put stories on stage for people who want to experience different perspectives and truths. It’s a beautiful experience. We have expanded from leading workshops to putting on stage productions as well.
Is there a single defining experience that directed you to storytelling?
It was an experience in New York back in 2010. I had joined a speakers bureau for millennial leaders, and the organization brought in speakers from around the country for a training. I was one of only a few participants from Charlotte.
The first night they brought us all to this beautiful building where we had dinner with a speaker who was a big deal in NYC’s cultural and performance space. I told him about the open mic nights and storytelling forums I was planning in Charlotte. He cut me off and said, “Move to New York.” He argued that New York already had that scene with lots of established venues and audiences. He advised me to relocate to avoid the challenge of having to build an arts scene and movement from scratch.
After the dinner I called my husband Jamaal, told him about the experience and asked if he would be willing to move. He was open to the idea, so I went to bed thinking I’d be moving to New York. The next morning during a workshop the session's leader talked about how storytelling was the next wave of social engagement and the way to change our community. Then she started telling us her background. She said she was from a little town you’ve never heard of in North Carolina, called Troutman. My mouth dropped, because I had attended Troutman Elementary School and Troutman Middle School. It was my home.
When the workshop ended, I approached the presenter, shared my story and vision, and told her about the advice I’d received the night before. She basically said it was bullsh*t. Her advice: “You’re a storyteller, and you can tell stories anywhere in the world. Build in the place you call home.”
You mentioned poetry was your first love and focus. How did that come about?
I was a freshman at NC A&T when a friend called and said she was going to sing in an open-mic night taking place in my dorm. Even though she was a best friend, I’d never heard her sing. She started singing over the phone that day and it was beautiful. That motivated me, and I decided to write a poem. Mind you, I had never performed poetry before, but I’d been watching Def Poetry Jam for a couple of years. So, that night I performed at my dorm event. From that point on I just started doing poetry.
Though I knew nothing about the slam poetry scene, I felt attracted to poetry. I grew up in a household with lots of poetry and music and benefited from that. When you are 17 or 18 years old, you have audacity and courage that diminishes with time. Back then, I was open and daring and learned. The more poetry I did it, the better I became.
When I moved to Charlotte, I became deeply involved in the social justice movement and was frequently asked to perform for rallies and vigils. I used my art as a form of resistance and community building. Bit by bit, my poetry career grew from that.
What’s your happy place and why?
My happy place is home. Home, it’s not just the physical place but it’s time with my husband and my family—my nieces and nephews, my sister and brother, the people who really know me. Based on the career I’ve chosen. I spend a lot of time with people who know my art and parts of my heart because they experience my art. However, there is only a small group of people who really know me…and the deep, complicated nature of my emotions. I can be me in my fullness with them. I’m home there, and I’m happy there.
You just came off a wonderful run of I Am Queen. I’m curious, what’s one thing you love about Charlotte and what’s your hope for Charlotte?
I really love the people of Charlotte. There’s a hunger here for more, for greater, for better, for community. It’s a desire to build something new—and still honor what was—in a way that is beautiful and feels safe to me. That’s something I love about Charlotte.
I get to travel to other cities and see what it feels like in those places. There are different environments in each city, but there is something unique about Charlotte. I think it’s because we are what I call “a teenager city”. We are a younger, middle-size urban center still trying to define who we are. There’s some beautiful and free about being a teenager. As a teen, you’re still learning what you will grow into as an adult. That’s what I feel about Charlotte, which leads into the opportunity. My hope is that we grow into our greatest potential.
Sometimes I see us growing toward what is easy, what is quick, and what other cities further along are doing. I want us to grow into our own identity. We aren’t Atlanta. We aren’t DC. We are Charlotte. That is enough. I hope we come to understand that we are enough.
