Even in a mass shutdown, still learning how to slow down and be present. So today, I’m celebrating my first print piece for ESSENCE magazine, out on newsstands now. So many amazing creatives I admire are currently on newsstands in such a pivotal moment in our history and I’m so grateful to have my voice be included. I wrote this for every Black girl looking for a reflection of themselves in media like I desperately did. I also wrote this for little me, who was so impassioned about social issues, who dreamed about moving to New York and seeing my words on pages like Essence while reading it on my Grandmothers’ floor. That version of me I forgot along my journey because the world told me to but now I’ve thankfully refound. Thank you to the brilliant and beautiful @alliemcgev for the opportunity to stretch in this way. It’s never lost on me how these opportunities find me. I no longer put limits on myself — not as a writer, not as a creative, and not as a woman. And in a world that tries it’s best to make me be anything other than who I am, this is/will forever be my loudest protest. What I’m trying to say is, no matter what, never, ever quit your daydream. 🌹 #LenoraSheWrote #SeptemberIssue #BlackGirlsWhoWrite #blackmediamatters #blacklivesmatter #SheSpeaks