LIVING ROOM CONVERSATIONS:
Where the Black Global Experience Comes Home
An intimate gathering where stories, laughter, and wisdom flow with ease. We center the beauty, brilliance, and bold truths of the Black experience across the globe—braiding together our histories, visions, and dreams in a space that feels like home.
Sundays 1pm-3pm
FREE RSVP
LIGHT REFRESHMENTS SERVED
LOVE DONATIONS WELCOMED
Sunday, September 28th
She Who Carries The Fire w/ Siri Brown
This African Centered and interactive workshop invites participants to explore the socio-political, cultural, and spiritual positions of African and Black women—past and present. Together, we will uncover the deep wisdom, enduring power, and pivotal roles Black women have held throughout history and across the African diaspora. Grounded in historical context and lived experience, our discussions will illuminate how African/Black women have shaped movements, nurtured communities, and led the charge for liberation with an internal spirit of Maat. This workshop is not only a celebration of our legacy but also a call to recognize and honor the vital contributions we continue to make in shaping our collective liberation.
Conversation Series:
*
Conversation Series: *
Sunday, February 8th
Offers + Needs CDMX w/ Zakiya Harris
Join us for a transformative gathering where our community in Mexico City comes together to explore and strengthen self-determined systems of mutual aid. Drawing on the rich history of Black cooperatives—spaces historically built by African and Black communities to resist oppression, pool resources, and create economic independence—this session will reflect on the enduring importance of cooperative economics as a tool for collective empowerment and resilience in our current moment.
The gathering will also include an interactive offers-and-needs practice, providing an opportunity for participants to share resources, skills, and support in real time, deepening connections and fostering tangible networks of mutual aid. Together, we will honor our legacy, strengthen our community, and actively practice the principles of cooperation that have sustained Black communities across generations.
Sunday, November 9th
Keeping The Score w/ Angela Kanu
Our stories are not only held in memory — they are carried in our bodies and our brains. Trauma, whether personal, historical, or systemic, leaves an imprint on how we think, feel, and connect. Yet while our brains may keep score, our cultures carry deep traditions of resilience, belonging, and healing.
This workshop opens up a conversational space to explore what neuroscience can teach us about trauma and recovery.
Together, we will look at:
The Developing Brain and Early Stress – how childhood experiences shape the nervous system
Interpersonal Trauma and Epigenetics – how stress can be passed down across generations
Stress Response Systems – why the brain shifts into survival mode
Resilience, Repair, and Community Healing – how connection, culture, and care support recovery
This is not just about science — it’s about making sense of our stories, recognising our strengths, and reclaiming pathways to healing, both individually and collectively.
MEET YOUR GUIDES
As a passionate and committed educator, Dr. Brown has served as a tenured African American Studies professor at Merritt College, and as a part-time faculty at UC Berkeley in Ethnic Studies for over 20 years. During 5 years of her academic career, she served in administration including as the Vice Chancellor of Academic Affairs and Student Success for the Peralta Community College District.
She holds an M.A. in African American Studies and Ph.D. in U.S. History with an emphasis in Early American, African American, and U.S. Women’s history from The Ohio State University. She is a two-time Fulbright recipient of a research project on the African cultural heritage of Salvador Bahia, Brazil where the focus of the work was on the role of African spirituality in the history of resistance to slavery in that region, and South Africa where the focus of the project was on post-apartheid resistance, reclamation, and social justice movements. Recently retired from Merritt College, while still teaching for UC Berkeley, her current focus is as founder and CEO of Global Academics a non-profit organization that takes African American youth to explore the Black World especially to Cuba, Brazil, Jamaica, Belize, and Ghana.
She is the proud mother of two recent HBCU graduate sons and is currently living in Mexico City, Mexico.
Workshop title: She Who Carries the Fire: Honoring the Legacy and Liberation of African/Black Women
This African Centered and interactive workshop invites participants to explore the socio-political, cultural, and spiritual positions of African and Black women—past and present. Together, we will uncover the deep wisdom, enduring power, and pivotal roles Black women have held throughout history and across the African diaspora. Grounded in historical context and lived experience, our discussions will illuminate how African/Black women have shaped movements, nurtured communities, and led the charge for liberation with an internal spirit of Maat. This workshop is not only a celebration of our legacy but also a call to recognize and honor the vital contributions we continue to make in shaping our collective liberation.
Zakiya Harris aka Sh8peshifter is a dynamic futurist, educator, and entrepreneur whose work seamlessly merges creativity, spirituality, and social impact. Hailing from Oakland, CA, this thought leader and polymath has left a lasting mark on the creative landscape. Her work explores the intersections of culture, cosmology and community, reflecting a deep commitment to support purpose-driven creatives in the reclamation of their inherent gifts to catalyze the collective consciousness.
Zakiya is the co-founder of multiple award-winning Bay Area nonprofits including Impact Hub Oakland, Grind for the Green and Hack the Hood. She produced the first solar-powered hip-hop music festival in the San Francisco Bay Area, released two solo music projects, and is an inductee in the Bay Area Hip Hop Archives. The author of Sh8peshift Your Life: a creatives guide to personal transformation, Zakiya is a sought after creative coach and founder of Sh8peshift Society Collective, a thriving community that offers Masterclasses, Sound Healing and Wellness Modalities to purpose-driven creatives across the globe.
Currently, she serves as the Lead Vision and Strategy Steward of BlacSpace Cooperative, a capacity building organization for Black Led Cultural Arts Anchors in Oakland. In 2023, she traveled to Osogbo, Nigeria were she became initiated as a priest of IFA in the West African Spiritual tradition of Isese. Awards and recognitions include the Ella Baker Center Future Leaders Award, Culture Bank West Oakland Fellow and YBCA 100. She currently splits her time between Mexico City and Oakland, CA. In the third space, you can find her near a body of water, reading Octavia Butler, chilling with her daughter.
Angela Kanu is a social worker from London with over 30 years of impact. She specializes in childhood trauma and how early life experiences shape the developing brain. Now based in Mexico City, Angela brings a calm, thoughtful approach to her work as an Emotional Well -Being Coach. Her focus is on helping people understand their stories, make sense of their emotions, and take practical steps toward healing.
Workshop Title: Keeping Score: What the brain teaches us about trauma and healing.
Our stories are not only held in memory — they are carried in our bodies and our brains. Trauma, whether personal, historical, or systemic, leaves an imprint on how we think, feel, and connect. Yet while our brains may keep score, our cultures carry deep traditions of resilience, belonging, and healing.
This workshop opens up a conversational space to explore what neuroscience can teach us about trauma and recovery.
Together, we will look at:
The Developing Brain and Early Stress – how childhood experiences shape the nervous system
Interpersonal Trauma and Epigenetics – how stress can be passed down across generation
Stress Response Systems – why the brain shifts into survival mode
Resilience, Repair, and Community Healing – how connection, culture, and care support recovery
This is not just about science, it’s about making sense of our stories, recognizing our strengths, and reclaiming pathways to healing, both individually and collectively.
GOT QUESTIONS?
Email us at admin@sh8peshiftyourlife.com and we will be in touch shortly.