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
Conversation Series:
*
Conversation Series: *
Sunday, October 5th
She Who Caries the Fire
Honoring the Legacy and Liberation of African/Black Women w/ Siri Brown
This dynamic and interactive workshop invites participants to explore the socio-political, cultural, and spiritual positions of African and Black women—past and present—through an African Centered lens.
Sunday, February 8th
Offers + Needs CDMX
We Got Us w/ Zakiya Harris
A gathering where our people come through to swap resources, share skills, and build self-determined systems of mutual aid—choosing abundance every time, cause we know we got everything we need to thrive.
Sunday, November 9th
Trauma and the Developing Brain
A Racialized Understanding the
Roots, Impacts, and Recovery Pathways w/ Angela Kanu
This engaging and thought-provoking workshop examines how trauma—particularly in childhood and adolescence—shapes the developing brain and influences emotional, cognitive, and social well-being over a lifetime.
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.
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.