While I’m so honored to have been awarded the Lehmann Emerging Artist Grant with @samfresquez from the Phoenix Art Museum, I think it’s also important to talk about the journey, trauma, and in general shit that you go through leading up to successes or accomplishments. Back in 2017 I got my first job in the art field at the Phoenix Art Museum as a gallery attendant, I worked there for two years before leaving due to an experience that I’ll never really forget. I was 20 years old when I confronted my first experience with racism and sexual harassment in a work place from a coworker at the time. I did what I thought were all the right steps to addressing what happened to me which included making a formal complaint to my supervisors and requesting sexual harassment training and diversity and inclusion training- neither were offered or required at the time I worked there- A year went by and HR never implemented it, they told me my situation had been handled, but I continued to be scheduled with the employee who made the racist and sexist remarks. Another year went by and I requested the trainings again and still nothing. Eventually that employee left and shortly after I did too, but before leaving I met with a white man that was part of the HR department and looked him in the eyes while he told me he simply didn’t have time to address my complaints and implement the trainings I requested after telling him verbatim the racism and sexual harassment I had experienced. I wish I had more words to describe that feeling, being a black woman and being told that my experience didn’t matter, but I’ve never really been able to find closure from that. When I found out Sam and I had been awarded the Emerging Artist Grant from the Phoenix Art Museum, it felt like I had come full circle in an ironic way, now I would be back in the same institution having conversation about race, tokenism, and sexual identity with my work with Sam, but this time on my terms and in a way that can’t be ignored or dismissed. It feels significant. I look forward to using this platform to make new work addressing the collective experiences and trauma black and brown women experience everyday.