🌴 From the Westside with Love 🌴 . . . Being born and raised in LA (Inglewood to be exact), is nothing short of an honor. Every day, there’s experiences I had growing up that taught me something so important about how to maneuver through this world. From LaTijera to Darby Park. From living on Osage to living on LaBrea. From the baseball games at Ladera Park to the football games at Sentinel Field. From volunteering in Leimert Park to volunteering in the Imperial Courts. From living in Hawthorne to living in Westchester. From the UniverSOUL Circus at the Forum to the Taste of Soul. From my brothers and their friends shooting dice on the porch to the Tommy the Clown birthday parties. From the Elote (corn) man to the ice cream trucks who’d give me free candy for having good grades lol. My mom had me walk home in high school after drill practice at Inglewood High. In hindsight, I hated having to walk so far. But I got to see the beauty of Inglewood along the way, every single day. The community protected me. I made “walking home friends” in the neighborhood. The community made my experience enjoyable. The community made me unapologetically me. I am unapologetically LA not just because I was born here, but because LA was born in me. 🌴