There are times in life when you feel that things are moving so fast, you don’t actually have time to breathe. You feel like there is no time to take in the present, no time to absorb the now, no time to enjoy the moments with the people you’re taking the journey with.

I can say I’m guilty of that. In the last 12 months, I haven’t had time to sit down and really absorb the growth of this platform. In the first year of running Black Ballad, I felt every tear, every high, every low, every scathing comment that came my way for running for a platform solely for black women.

Yet in year two (we turn two today! Whoop! Whoop!) I haven’t had time to feel anything. Every piece of criticism has bounced off my back like a boomerang, every fear I’ve prayed away and every high has been reduced to “I’m just doing my job and serving what I believe is my purpose”. For those that don’t know, my purpose is to create a place that feels like home for black British women and normalise our experiences.

In fact, I’ve been so focused on this purpose I nearly forgot that the 19th June was the day that Black Ballad entered into the world. Yet this experience of not stopping is so common among black women. We’re so busy and probably consumed by working out ways to survive the system, figuring out new ways to fight misogynoir, that we rarely enjoy our accomplishments and it’s exhausting.