Black Girl's Guide to Surviving Menopause

“If there's a book that you want to read, but it hasn't been written yet, then you must write it.” 

-- Toni Morrison

When I was a kid in the 1970s, School House Rock, short educational cartoon vignettes put to music, were ubiquitous on Saturday mornings. We learned about grammar, math and how the government work (kind of) all with a catchy tune. There was a particular School House Rock titled Mother Necessity" and it extolled "with Mother Necessity and where would we be without the inventions of your progeny"?  Where would we be indeed! The Black Girl's Guide to Surviving Menopause was born out of both a desire and need to create a safe and sacred space for conversation around menopause, midlife and aging for Black women women-identified and gender expansive people. We knew there was a conversation, a story and some good wisdom waiting to be found, illuminated and shared. Jamyla Bennu, of Oyin Handmade, knew the same thing about the products available to Black people on their natural hair journey in a society that told us our hair is a problem that needs to be solved. She saw the need and got into her lab (also known initially as her kitchen) to create products that are all natural and made for us, by us. In this episode of the Black Girl's Guide to Surviving Menopause, we explore:

• Creating new realities and new medicine
• Entrepreneurship
• Offerings to our community
• Intergenerational stories and throughlines
• Our menopausal journeys and being more than one thing

We also did a deep dive into her menopausal journey at the intersection of her multiple identities, roles and paths. Enjoy this walk down memory lane and future building between an Aries and an Aquarius!

Episode Notes: 

Jamyla Bennu https://www.instagram.com/heyjamyla/

https://oyinhandmade.com/about-us/

Jamyla Bennu is the creator of Oyin Handmade, a line of natural, unisex personal care products formulated for the moisture needs of highly textured hair and dry skin. She is a maker, a mixtress, a lover of laughter & dance, a voracious reader, a gregarious introvert, and a self-described nerd. She is an advocate for independent small business, work-life balance, and making things.

Her interests include nutritional density in both food and hair products, joy and delight as a facet of intergenerational justice, neurological diversity as a key to human potential, and the power of creativity as a form of self care and world shaping.

She lives and builds in Baltimore with her partner, artist Pierre Bennu, and their two sons. To access a 20% discount on Oyin Handmade products, use, "BGG2SM"

References:

The Crown Act, https://www.thecrownact.com/

Our Bodies, Ourselves, https://www.ourbodiesourselves.org/

Daughters of the Moon Tarot Deck, https://www.abebooks.com/Daughters-Moon-Tarot-Book-Morgan-Ffiona/31060777668/bd?cm_mmc=ggl-_-US_Shopp_Trade_20to50-_-product_id=COM9781880130018USED-_-keyword=&gclid=CjwKCAjwu_mSBhAYEiwA5BBmf2G7uCyCjulU3E_B08xcG4eTe4eqpc7v3QDV3cKGUA7BWNI0bTpDUxoCBRQQAvD_BwE

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www.blackgirlsguidetosurvivingmenopause.com

https://www.patreon.com/blackgirlsguidetomenopause

Produced by Mariah M.

Hosted by Omisade Burney-Scott

Theme Music by Taj Cullen Scott

We are excited to have our local NPR station, WUNC, North Carolina Public Radio, as a sponsor for Season 4 of the Black Girl's Guide to Surviving Menopause

https://www.wunc.org/