Sign up for the Black Women Stitch quarterly newsletter!   Check out our merch here Leave a BACKSTITCH message and tell us about your favorite episode. Join the Black Women Stitch PatreonAmazon Store QueenQueen is a Bronx native with a Harlem heart, did college in Queens, currently resides in Brooklyn, and like most New Yorkers forgets Staten Island exists. Creating safe, nourishing spaces for Black femmes and folks impacted by misogynoir through digital media and live events is her style of activism. She is one half of The Tea with Queen and J. podcast and centers dismantling white supremacist patriarchal capitalism, because why the fuck not! Always encouraging healthy community building, her podcast’s annual Black podcast meetup, #PodinLiveNYC, has grown into the largest Black podcaster meetup in the world! Ms.Vixen, her online magazine, has been running 7 years strong, and with the addition of live events and workshops through the Ms.Vixen IRL series, plus Ms. Vixen The Podcast, she continues to deliver incisive, witty, lit womanist perspectives on pop culture, media, and politics. Queen’s work has also been featured at Afropunk.com, AMny, and you can catch her as a panelist on the youtube series, The Grapevine. Always someone with something to say, her goal is media domination, to always have huge hair, and to always stay fly. J.J. is a cultural critic, podcast producer, and a womanist race nerd from the Bronx focused on dismantling white supremacist patriarchal capitalism while laughing, drinking tea, and indulging in various forms of Black joy. For over five years she's created audio content centering Black women and Black femme-identifying individuals, exploring America's caste system, allowing herself to learn and be challenged publicly, and sharing her journey through mental health. As a podcast geek with a commitment to increasing visibility and access for people of color, she co-founded #PodinLiveNYC, the largest annual Black podcast meetup in the world. In addition to freedom and liberation, Janicia loves cosplay, believes there's a special place in her heart (and hell) for body paint, and lovingly asks that you do not call her a "lady". Lisa WoolforkLisa Woolfork is an associate professor of English specializing in African American literature and culture. Her teaching and research explore Black women writers, Black identity, trauma theory, and American slavery. She is the founder of Black Women Stitch, the sewing group where Black lives matter. She is also the host/producer of Stitch Please, a weekly audio podcast that centers on Black women, girls, and femmes in sewing. In the summer of 2017, she actively resisted the white supremacist marches in her community, Charlottesville, Virginia. The city became a symbol of lethal resurging white supremacist violence. She remains active in a variety of university and community initiatives, including the Community Engaged Scholars program. She believes in the power of creative liberation. Insights from this episode:Making spaces like music festivals feel more welcoming to queer folksCreating intergenerational events that appeal to everyone and avoid ageismThe effect of marginalized people thinking from a scarcity mindsetWho gets their work published and whyWhy it’s important to remember that there is always room for your voice and your storyThe role of capitalism in holding us back from pursuing our interests Quotes from the show:“The community activated to provide a kind of care, and I think that is something that you really can’t harness or you can’t force.” – Lisa Woolfork, Stitch Please, Episode #195“I think as a marginalized person you’re always thinking about the deficit; you’re always thinking about the scarcity. On purpose you’re made to think there’s not enough for everyone, so you don’t ask for more. If there’s not enough, you won’t ask for more. If there’s not enough, you won’t require more. If there’s not enough, you won’t expect more. That’s just what is stuck