When I think about my issue of capitalising on my trauma, I firstly think about where it all started – when I began to learn the basics of campaigning. The art of storytelling was essential to getting people to support me and my youth campaigning work and better yet, join us.
My campaigning script, about my experience of colourism and texturism, would be one that I would recite in front of teachers at education conferences or investors who were considering funding the youth groups I was associated with.
I started off with a punchy line: “I started bleaching my skin around the age of 12/13, I started perming my hair out of self-hate at 13 and by 15 I planned to have lip reduction surgery and get a nose job.”
No matter the size or demographic of the crowd, this line would make people listen.
I learnt to speak slowly, as an energetic ADHD-er I often speak so fast that I mumble entire sentences. I learnt the art of storytelling and I was good at it.