// OUR BACKSTORY //
I feel a deep calling to build a place for healing, rest, play, and care for the land and each other that honors what was given to me by my ancestors.
In 1865, my great great grandparents purchased 15 acres of land in Gainesville, Virginia. The land became known locally as ‘The Settlement’. For my family, and other Black families, this land was our ancestral home and sanctuary. 'Down the country' as it is/was lovingly called by my family, was the place where we gathered, connected, healed, thrived in nature, and had our bodies and spirits nourished and restored when the outside world was too much.
That ancestral land is in Virginia, but I carry that wisdom and memory of that time with them with me as I navigate life as a Black American woman living in the United States, Oklahoma in particular; as I seek to build loving community as a mother, responsible for educating and exposing my child to the world, and as I nurture my own healing and ways of self-love and self-expression.
Life has taught me the importance of play, disruptive learning, storytelling/story-sharing, time in nature, and exposure to people who look and feel like me and look and feel nothing like me. My combined life experience and purpose have tethered me to what I’ve decided to call WYLD Futures.
// WHAT IS WYLD Futures? //
Most commonly, something /wīld/ is something living or growing in the natural environment; not domesticated or cultivated.
Our WYLD is an acronym (W.Y.L.D.) — What Do You Love Doing? | Where You Live Differently | Where You Liberate Daily, etc.
WYLD Futures seeks to become a transformative intergenerational community and movement committed to the holistic well-being of all people, but focused on, and created for Black, Indigenous, mixed, and self-identifying People of Color.
WYLD Futures uses:
* Adventure card decks
* Affirmation cards
* Curiosity boxes and adventure manuals
* In-person experiences (day trips, WYLD Card weekends, camping trips, camps, suppers, and other curated events)
to create a deeper sense of space in the world for us — both physical and mental space — where we can explore our identities, cultivate community, and envision a future of our own making. Through these activities, experiences, and events, we foster a deeper relationship with the land, our ancestors, ourselves, and each other, while imagining new possibilities for living and thriving.
Our ancestors created space for their descendants to live, be free, and be loved. I serve to honor my ancestors, and pass it on.
✨ I hope you find what grounds you. I hope you find your WYLD. ✨
// WYLD Futures WEBSITE //
Our website is under construction, but you can get a sneak peek at the rough cut version here 👇🏽
// STAY IN THE LOOP //
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