Amena Brown:
Hey, everybody. Before we get into this week's episode, please note that this episode contains a brief mention of sexual assault. If this topic may be triggering for you, please take care of yourself by listening with caution or simply putting this episode aside for another time.
Hey everybody, welcome back to a new year and a new episode of HER with Amena Brown. And I'm so excited because we are bringing writer, speaker, social worker, activist, co-host of Melanated Faith and author of Remember Me Now: A Journey Back to Myself and a Love Letter to Black women, Faitth Brooks, yes, is in the living room. Yes, Faitth, all you getting all this applause. You getting all this applause? I'm applauding like it's 80 of me in here. Please.
Y'all, I'm just so excited to have Faitth in our living room with us. Because she my friend, she's been here before. We have talked about internet friends here, but also because Faitth Brooks is a wonderful writer. I've been in her life long enough to remember when she was like, "It is my dream. That's a part of my dream. I'm going to write books." And to see this book out right now, Faitth, I feel the feelings. Do you feel the feelings thinking about this?
Faitth Brooks:
I feel a lot of feelings.
Amena Brown:
Oh my gosh.
Faitth Brooks:
When we first met I was talking to you and it was just this dream I had. I had no idea how it was going to happen. And actually that year that we met, I spent that summer working on a book proposal. You had helped me, you sent me yours, and every time I would just kind of go to try to finish it I just didn't get to finish it. It just wasn't flowing. And it wasn't until three years later that I got an agent and then the next year, in year four, I started writing the book. So, really crazy.
Amena Brown:
Okay, I want to talk about this because I have a lot of things I want to talk about regarding the book. It's emotional anytime as a Black woman, you're reading a book that another Black woman is writing to you. She's writing to other Black women, which is very central to your book. So, that's always emotional. And then you add the layer of this is my friend and I'm just listening to her voice. So many feelings. Okay, this is the first question I want to know. Do you remember when the idea or the form for this book, because we are going to talk a little bit more about the form in a minute, but sometimes the forum and the idea don't come together. So, did they come together or separately and how did both ideas, form and idea for the book, come to you?
Faitth Brooks:
Yeah, so in 2017 I had the idea for elements of this book. And so I wanted to talk about my life. I wanted it to be memoir style, but I had a different approach to it. And when it came down to beginning to put this book proposal together, I took elements from what I had started and just because of where I was at in life, my vantage point was different, which this is something I've learned, is sometimes you need things to marinate. So, the core about wanting to share elements of my life and my story always remained and there's some chapters that I actually had from the original thought that evolved. So, everything evolved from what I put together in 2017. The initial idea. But what it grew into was really shaped and informed by my experience in that 2020 and 2021 years of my life.
I knew I wanted to have a book that encapsulated the past 10 years, the '20s if you will, because I didn't feel like I read books by other Black women, especially in faith adjacent spaces that had to do with our life and our becoming. That just wasn't very popular. It was all about how to become a woman of God or whatever that might look like or how to thrive or that other book, How to Be a Badass. And I really wanted a book where it was like, this is just my life and my story because I feel like far too often we as Black women have to stuff that down and I wanted to write something that opened that space up for us to speak.
Amena Brown:
I love that. I love that. I want to talk about the form of this book because you are using one of my favorite things to read, which is epistolary or letter form, and we're going to talk about some Black girl and Black woman books that you love here in a minute. But of course I have to bring the color purple into the chat because there's something so foundational about the words that Black women write to each other that your book is very centered on this theme of sisterhood among Black women.
So, as soon as I got into that letter portion and how that keeps coming back so consistently in the book, I just love that because my first exposure to that, especially when you're thinking about Black women writing to Black women, those of us who grew up in Christian homes or grew up in the Christian religion, we have had the experience of thinking about the letter form that's used in the Bible as a scriptural text. But thinking about Black women writing to each other, the Color Purple was my first time reading these sisters writing back and forth, and you're watching how their lives are shifting and changing in time. So, what made you want to say this is a letter and I'm not just calling it a letter, it is literally a letter, many letters inside this book to Black women at various stages of life, what made that form seem like that's what that book wants to be?
Faitth Brooks:
So, it was an evolution of sorts for how I got to the letters, but I will say never discount where you start. I had a blog called Lyrics and Letters for a while because I love music and I would write songs and that's where my poetry bend comes from. I wrote a lot of songs and poetry when I was younger and I called it Lyrics and Letters because I felt like my blogs and what I was sharing was letters to people. And so I've always had this fascination with being personable and connecting with people on a personal level. And so that's where the letters really came from within me.
But then also as the book evolved, originally I was going to make it pretty general in the sense that I wanted to talk to Black women, but I was going to have a chapter that actually addressed some misconceptions about Black women. And I felt like, you know what? If this is to Black women, I only want to talk to Black women. And so I had to make a shift.
So, I actually shifted after my book was kind of accepted and everything. I was like, I'm changing some things. And I was thankful to have a really great publisher that was okay with that. That was okay with me changing and actually being able to share what I felt like I wanted to share, which was I want to narrow in on my audience. Anybody can read this book, we know that. But I want to write specifically to Black women. And that changed everything for me. It made the book more free flowing in what I was writing. I had more direction because I knew exactly who I was talking to you and I didn't have to go back and forth between talking to Black women and then I'm not talking to Black women.
I only wanted to talk to Black women. And so that made the letters, the poetry, everything come to life. And I got really specific about what I wanted in the book. I wanted to have my own poetry. I loved the idea of having quotes from other artists, but I said, you know what? I want to write my own poetry. And as I was writing, the words just came and then I found other words that I had written before. And so I had been writing pieces of this book for over 10 years. There's some elements of this book I had written in different places. And it's just this culmination and it really does remind me that nothing is wasted because there's so many words on pages. I would've thought, "Oh, I'm never going to use that." And that poetry made it in the book. So, it's been pretty cool to see how all the words from all the different years came together.
Amena Brown:
I love that. I love that. And there's something so personal to having the form of letter writing to be there. And it's also personal hearing your story in this book. So, I don't want to give y'all too many spoilers because I want y'all to go to y'all's favorite independent bookstore and buy five copies. Let me tell you why I'm telling you five copies. Because that way you got one for yourself, you have four to just have around in your home or at the office and that way when somebody walks in that you're like, "You know what? You need to read this book." You already bought them. That's what I'm trying to tell y'all. So, just putting that out there.
Okay. Let's talk about some of Faitth's favorite things. This is my first important question I need to ask. When you were writing this book, did you have a favorite snack that you had to have while you were writing?
Faitth Brooks:
That's a good question. I don't know if I had a favorite snack. I just know that I ate plenty, but I know that I had to have coffee. That was a must. I just had to have it for sure.
Amena Brown:
Okay, let's discuss what type of writing coffee person you are. Are you a person who is just having coffee, it's no cream, it's no sugar for you? Are you a person who's getting involved in a latte? What are the coffee vibes when you're writing?
Faitth Brooks:
For sure. It's either a latte or a cold brew.
Amena Brown:
Come on cold brew.
Faitth Brooks:
And usually a cold brew of the sweet cream. But yeah, latte or cold brew, definitely go to's for me.
Amena Brown:
I like this. I like this very much. Let us talk about, you do talk about hair in this book. I feel like you cannot put out almost any piece of art or literature about Black women without talking about hair because that's a thing that we are constantly discussing. I have met many a Black women whose name I don't even know on the aisle of Target, just being like, "Girl, did you try this product before? What did it do on your hair?" Okay, so we got to talk Black hair a little bit because you are definitely talking about your journey with your own hair in this book. When you were a little girl, what was your favorite Black girl hairstyle?
Faitth Brooks:
Oh, that is such a good question. But when I was little I had a relaxer, so I used to love it. Why? I do not know. There was two styles. It was either I got a roller set, so I looked like Shirley Temple. I loved Shirley Temple growing up. So, you couldn't tell me anything when I had that roller set in. And the other way, when I got a little bit older was, you know how when you had your hair straightened but you bumped the ends out?
Amena Brown:
Come on, come on. Where it was like flipped?
Faitth Brooks:
Yes, where it was flipped. I was all about that flipped hair. That was a big thing for me. So, it was either that roller set or my hair was flipped out and you couldn't tell me anything, to be honest. I knew I looked good.
Amena Brown:
I want to thank you for bringing the flip into this conversation because I had forgotten how much I too enjoyed that flip. Especially back in the day when the French roll was in, those of us who were wearing our relaxed hair. And if I could get the French roll where part of the French roll was up, but then the back was out and that back part was flipped, please don't talk to me in class because I am so cute. Get out.
Faitth Brooks:
And don't forget the bump because there was also the bump and flip. That was a big thing when you bumped your hair and flipped it. That was also in. And maybe it was just mostly in the south, I don't know. But I was definitely bumping and flipping my hair.
Amena Brown:
I am thinking that you and I both have Texas roots and so now I'm like, that may have been ... I feel like we were in Texas at the similar times. That may have been a Texas style because there were certain hairstyles that when I moved away from Texas, people were like, "No, we didn't do that. What you was doing, we didn't do that where we were from." Love to see that. Tell the people more about how you are wearing your hair now and what's your favorite way to style your hair now.
Faitth Brooks:
So, I have stepped into the land of freedom and I have locced my hair. I locced my hair about a year and a half ago and I am the happiest I have been with my hair. I love it so much. I feel so much freedom and mainly because I'm not the kind of person, I've never been the kind of person, that loves to do hair. My mom actually likes to do her hair and so I had an amazing experience growing up with her and bonding over her doing my hair. But me personally, I've never loved it. So I always had my hair in braids. I always had my hair pulled up and I finally was like, you know what? I need to take the leap to just lock my hair. It's braided all the time anyway.
And people would say, you might regret it. What if you want to wear your hair straight? All this other staff. And I just decided I'm going to lock my hair. So, I got micro locs and they're small enough for me to curl them or style them in a different way. But to be honest with you, with these micro locks, I wake up, I roll over, I might spritz it with water and I just either pull it back so it's a little bit out of my face and wear it down or I pull it back in a ponytail and I'm just so happy. I can't even tell you. I do not stress about my hair. I go to my loctation, she washes my hair, we sit down, I come back and see her six weeks or so later and I'm living my best life.
Amena Brown:
I love that, Faitth. Yes. We love for a Black girl to find her own Black girl style that she wants to have with her hair. That in itself is so much freedom, discovering that. And I do want to speak to what you said about the, "You might regret it." I'm like, how many Black women have wanted to make a hair choice and have heard various asundry voices of people? "I don't know if you want to do that. You might regret it." And it's like, "Well this my hair, let me make my choices. Maybe I won't regret it." And if I decide at some other point in life that I want my hair to be different, I'll do that then. But for right now, this is what we're doing.
Faitth Brooks:
Exactly. And you know what? It was really freeing to make that decision. And at the time I wasn't married to my husband yet, we were still dating, but I was like, "I really want to do this. I'm nervous. Everybody has a lot of thoughts." And I just asked him what his opinion was and he was like, "Well if it makes you happy, you should just do it."
And I was like, you know what? I'm going to do it. And it still was the best decision I've ever made. You don't have to worry about what might happen or what if you don't like it. You can take them out, you can do that. You can comb them out or you can cut your hair off if you want to and start over, but your hair will grow back. And one thing that I have realized is how many decisions have I delayed on making because I was so concerned about, "Oh, you might not like it. Oh, it might not be good." You know what? I just need to try it to know. So, I'm so glad that I tried it and now I know.
Amena Brown:
Yes. Because sometimes a thing is coming up in you because you know yourself. You know what you would like or what you'd like to try and it's worth it to you to give that a shot. Love to see that. But it is interesting to think about Black women and our relationship to our hair and how much unfortunate feedback is given as to what we should be doing or what we could be doing to our hair. And just experiencing the freedom of going, that's a decision I get to make for myself and whatever I decide for me, if that's my peace, then that's a good choice.
Faitth Brooks:
Yes, absolutely.
Because my self-esteem was really tied into my hair. How I viewed myself, my beauty, it was all attached to my hair. And so having this level of freedom has been amazing for me. Not only personally, but just in my own self-esteem and how I feel about myself. So, that's why you have to find whatever it is works for you. For a while being natural worked, then it wasn't working anymore. And so I had to find what worked for me.
Amena Brown:
I love it, Faitth. Shout out to Black women being free, honey. Whatever you want to do to your hair, just do it. Do it. Don't let those people talk you out of anything. Do it.
Okay. You have now written a Black girl book. I want to say in part every book a Black woman writes is in a sense a Black woman book or a Black girl book. But there are very quintessential Black girl or Black woman books that we as Black women are like, "This was written for me." That's what I mean when I say that you have written a Black woman book, you have written a book that you want Black women, Black girls, to be able to read and say, "I see myself, I see myself reflected. The questions that faith may have been asking at this season of her life, I'm asking those questions too."
What are your favorite Black girl books or favorite Black woman books? These could be books you grew up with or books you may have read in the latest season of your life. What are some of those that you love?
Faitth Brooks:
So I really love this book by Renita Weems. First of all, let me just say Renita Weems in general-
Amena Brown:
Speak a word today, Faitth, speak a word.
Faitth Brooks:
... Is amazing. I was introduced to her a few years ago, her work a few years ago. And when I tell you so much of what I've written and just sat with has been so inspired by her work. I think I've read was it All About Love by her? I might be getting these titles wrong, so we'll have to link the right ones. And then there was another one. I have to find the name of it because it is going to bother me.
But at any rate, Renita Weems is incredible.
Amena Brown:
Everything.
Faitth Brooks:
Her books completely inspired me during this time when I was writing this book and honestly, I don't know what words would've come out of me had I not read her books before I was writing. Because my letters are so inspired by the way in her books she speaks directly to you. When I tell you I felt, as I was reading her books, the words are just jumping out on the page and she's talking to me. That's how I felt. She's talking to me. I feel like she sees my life, she sees the season of life that I'm in and she's talking to me directly. So inspired by her words. Hands down, biggest inspiration, I have to say, for me.
And then obviously Toni Morrison, really inspired by her words and her storytelling, which was really inspirational for me as I really tried to hone in on that skill, which storytelling was a newer skill to me. And let me tell you all, writing is a skill, as I learned. People think, "I want to write." And I say that all the time, "I just want to write a book." And it wasn't until I was getting into the book that I realized, oh my goodness, this is hard work.
And when you want to write a book, especially one that's not just an instructional or a how to book, you want to actually write a book that's like storytelling. To me, it's even an extra layer. I can write the how to kind of books, that came pretty easily to me. I wrote a journal, an anti-racism journal, and that's more of a how-to, but to actually write a book where I'm telling a story and I want you to feel like you're with me and I want you to feel the emotion and the words come up off the page, it's a totally different aspect. And so those were writers that really inspired me during this time.
Amena Brown:
I love that. I second Renita Weems. I second her work. I am still in the middle of reading Listening for God, which was my entry point into reading her books. And just for me, really looking for Black women who are writing about spirituality and are writing about Christian spirituality in some ways and hearing her say yes, we hear a lot of men writing about the quiet place that they go and find. We hear a lot of men talking about all of the alone time that they need to have with God. And she was like, the reason why they have alone time is because they have employees, they have wives, they have people handling all the other tasks. So, they have plenty of time. She was like, "If God want to meet me, God going to have to meet me here at this sink while I'm washing these dishes." And she was like-
Faitth Brooks:
Yes.
Amena Brown:
... ONE of the first writers I ever heard say that. I just felt so free. Because there's a spiritual books, whatever tradition that you can read that will get into this, "Here is this perfect setting you need to find in order to engage your spirituality." And to hear her say, you can find pockets of beautiful things and all these ways you can experience spirituality in the life you got, not in the cabin that's in the mountains. When you working a job, you ain't got time to find a cabin.
Faitth Brooks:
I want to read that book. I've heard that. That one's really good. So I found the titles. It's Showing Mary, that was the first one that had me weeping. And then What Matters Most. And wow, What Matters Most is so good.
Amena Brown:
Ooh, I want to thank you for telling me these titles so I can get my life together because Renita weems be out here, y'all. Just get involved. Get involved. When you're going to the independent bookstore to purchase five of Faitth's books, you can just add also to your cart, or if you go to there in person, you can get the grab bag, whatever they have, you can just throw five of Remember Me Now in there, grab you some Renita Weems while you over there. That's a thing. That's a thing we need.
Faitth Brooks:
Yes.
Amena Brown:
Okay. I want to ask you about this because your book is memoir as well as having these elements where it is writing these love letters to us as Black women. You were also bringing us to the table to say, here's my story, here are the questions I've asked, here's here are the things I've experienced.
Did you find yourself having to have ... I guess I have double questions, Faitth. My first question is, how did you decide what of your personal story would go in the book? Because I think for us as writers, there's a lot of choices there of what of my personal life do I want to share? And some things may be hard to write or may be hard to say, but I'm going to do that because I know that it could bring freedom to someone else or it could bring to someone else the feeling that they're not alone. So, how did you decide of all the experiences you had in life, I know that all of them are not included there, but how did you decide the things that you're like, "These are the things I want to pull out of my life and share here?"
Faitth Brooks:
Yeah, it took a lot of time and prayer and reflection. I went really back and forth because I do get personal in the book and I talk about being raped. I went really back and forth about if I was going to even talk about that or not because I understand ... another book that I really love by Roxane Gay is called Hunger. And that book ... I was weeping and I read it a few years ago, it really spoke to me. But I listened to an interview that she had done and she talked about how one thing she wished is that there was certain personal things that maybe she wouldn't have shared so much, if I understand the interview correctly. And that really stuck to the back of my mind and so I decided, "Okay, there are things that I will share, but there's other portions and details that I will not share."
So, there's the openness, but there's also a lot that I am vague about, mostly because I don't want certain elements of my trauma to live on paper forever, for me to have to recount. And so I did decide though to share. My family asked me, really, a lot of times actually, "Are you sure? Are you sure? Why? You have to know your why because this might be difficult."
And I said, "You know what? I'm sure and my why is because I'm not the only one." I am not the only one that has experienced this. I am not the only Black woman that has grown up in traditional faith spaces that has experienced this. And there's oftentimes this sense of shame and embarrassment that women carry for things that are just not their fault. And when I tell you that's probably the biggest thing that I've had to continue to overcome, is shame and not letting shame attach itself to me and mark me, I really felt like it is something that I want to share from myself because I want to see other women get free and I want other women to know that that's possible for them.
And so I wanted to share with openness and I wanted the letters and my story to inspire other people because we've all gone through something and sometimes we have misconceptions of one another. I'm the kind of person that people consider to be the strong friend. And I like to say, check on your strong people. And sometimes that badge of strength, per se, isn't a badge that everybody really wants. It's bestowed upon us. But I don't want to have this badge of strength just to be on my chest. I can't rescue everyone and this book is really about rescuing myself. And I felt like this is a message that other Black women need because we spent so much time trying to rescue everybody else, trying to tend to everyone else, trying to care for everyone else, that we lose ourselves and at some point we get too far gone and we have to come back home to ourselves.
Amena Brown:
Faitth, yes. And that we deserve that.
Faitth Brooks:
Yes.
Amena Brown:
We deserve that. We deserve that kind of tenderness and softness.
Faitth Brooks:
Yes.
Amena Brown:
And I love what you said about how you made the decisions of what you were going to include of your life in this book. Because as Black women, we are in some situations where we are made to feel that we owe everyone our story, we owe everyone our time, we owe everyone this, that, the third, those things. And to come into the writing space with power and to say, "Herein are the choices I make because these are stories that I want to help someone and I want to share these parts. But I also have the power and wisdom to say, and these are parts that belong to me, or these are parts that belong to my personal life or belong to the people in my real life who know me." I think even the ability to give ourselves, as Black women, the reminder that we have that power over our own stories. I love that, Faitth.
Faitth Brooks:
Thank you. Thank you so much.
Amena Brown:
I could just talk to her all day. Okay. Let me ask you about this Faitth. Do you have a favorite Black movie? If you can't just narrow one, I will give a top three. But do you have a favorite black movie that you're like in my lexicon of all the Black movies I love, what's the top?
Faitth Brooks:
That's really hard, but I'm going to go with The Wiz. Just like the music, classic. I have such good memories of watching The Wiz with my family. So, it's up there for me.
Amena Brown:
That's a good choice. That's a good choice. I have know some Black people who The Wiz, it's a holiday movie. It's a thing that, "Oh we watch this at Christmas or we always watch it at Thanksgiving." And then I have some friends who it's just this a year round. You have some people who are like, "I'll leave my Christmas tree up all year round." And some Black people are like, and I watch The Wiz all year round. I don't know what the problem is. You don't have to wait for the holidays. It's a perfect choice because there's a lot of layers. I remember crying, child, about Diana Ross. Especially in the beginning honey, when she was playing Dorothy in the beginning and she didn't know what her life was going to be. She was out there crying. I was like, "Me too, Diana, me too. I don't know what my life's going to be either."
Faitth Brooks:
Yes.
Amena Brown:
There's a lot of layers to that film. You talk in your book about what it means to care for ourselves as Black women. How can we give ourselves the kindness that we deserve, the gentleness we deserve, even if the World, America work, whatever other environments we're in, are not always going to give us that. What are the ways that you treat yourself? What are the ways you give that care back to yourself?
Faitth Brooks:
Yeah, I would say this is an area of my life I'm ever learning and growing in and I probably will be for the rest of my life. I am, in personality, a high achiever and I like to get things done and I'm learning daily how not to attach my worth to my work. And so any day that I choose to not do that to myself, that I choose not to attach the to-do list of what I got done to my worth as a person is a sign of care for myself and love for myself. It might sound really simple, but I think we make care for ourselves really complicated. It's not just getting your nails done and all that other stuff. Those are nice things to do, but it really is about your mindset. Where is your mind positioned? What are you thinking about and what are you thinking about yourself with where your thoughts are also going?
Are you aligned? Is your body aligned with positivity about yourself? Are you centering yourself on thoughts that are going to bring you up and not, "Oh, I'm not good as this person or they're doing better than me, I'm not doing good in this area, I'm struggling with this." Trust me, I, like any other person, struggle with those things. And so that's why I say it's a win when you get to choose yourself and when you say, "You know what, I might not have done everything I wanted to today, or I might not have had the best day. I might have said something I shouldn't have said. But at the end of the day I love myself and every day I'm getting closer and closer to developing a life where I embody peace."
My goal is to embody peace within my life. I want to walk around with my soul full of peace and less anxiousness. And so any day where I get closer to that goal of just embodying peace is a form of self-care for me because that means that I'm loving myself. I heard this one lady say, "The person that I need to be aligned with the most is myself because I'm living with me."
Amena Brown:
Okay.
Faitth Brooks:
I am living with myself and this is the person I need to take care of the most. This is the person I need to be gentle with the most. And so to me, self-care is becoming more and more aligned with who I am as a woman and showing more grace to myself and being able to embody that each day. It's like a daily practice for me.
Amena Brown:
I love that. I love that and I love that when you think about caring for yourself or treating for yourself, that that idea is even broader than the beauty accoutrement. And it's no shade. A girl loves to get her nails done.
Faitth Brooks:
Absolutely.
Amena Brown:
Or loves to buy a little cute outfit, shoe, whatever, loves to get a massage. It's not that we do not also need those things. I love that you equated, though, you could get a massage. You could also decide that the job you're working is not the job that you need to stay with because that's not bringing you peace. Or you could decide you need to have a day where instead of you spending your weekend on taking care of everybody else, you going to give yourself the weekend to just exactly do whatever it is you like. Giving ourselves the idea to say no to some things so we can say yes to the things that matter to us is also how we care for ourselves, to make a priority of our health, our mental health, the ways we can care for ourselves. Those things are also caring for ourselves. I love that you gave us that. That gives us some different examples we can think about.
I want to ask you this then I want you to tell the people where they can get their five copies of Remember Me Now. So, we're going to talk about that. I done said it. I'm trying to get it in y'all's subliminals so y'all can have it in your mind. Just really, when a Black woman drops a book, go on and buy five copies. It's good, it's good. Go on and do that. You going to find somebody to give those to. You got extras to give presents. It's very helpful. So, just five. Five, five, five everyone.
Okay. What do you hope Black women gain from reading your book? When you imagine, because I'm sure you thought about this while you were writing and I'm sure there were some tears writing a book ... When you said writing a book is hard, y'all, Faitth ain't lie. Writing a book is hard and especially when you are digging into your own stories and your own experiences in life. It is a challenge to put that on paper.
So, now that the book is out there, you have written it, this thing you've written is going to end up in the hands of so many Black women all around the country, all around the world. When you close your eyes and imagine a Black woman, wherever she is, she gets to that last couple of pages. You know how when you finish a really good book and you close it, I'm still talking about physical books. I know some of y'all get to the end on Kindle and then it says "Other things by this writer." Y'all know what I mean. You get to the end and you have that moment where you're like, "Man." What are you hoping Black women feel or think receive at that moment, at the end of your book?
Faitth Brooks:
I hope that Black women feel seen and I hope that Black women feel like they have space to heal and also to name themselves. I feel really strongly about this because I feel like oftentimes in our society, Black women are named already. Aggressive, ghetto, just list the name of negative things. And yet there's so many amazing traits. Our fashion, how we show up, our hair, that is emulated, taken, stolen from us and I really want Black women to feel seen and also they can name themselves and heal. That's what I hope people feel. My hope was that people would read the book and close it and feel empowered. And so yeah, that's what I hope happens when people read it. I'm excited for people to read it. It's so nerve-wracking writing a book, but I'm really excited to see how the message resonates with other people.
Amena Brown:
To me, it's like the two best parts of writing a book is when you're actually like, "Hey, I got a publisher. I'm going to write a book." That part's great. And then when the book ends up out there, because it feels like when you're writing, you're just in your room by yourself, whatever space. You're writing. Especially as a stage person, it's like I'm used to, "Oh, I just finished this poem, let me go take it to an open mic. Then I'll be able to see right away, how do people respond?"
Whereas when you're writing a book, you're just like, you feel like you're alone for a while. Just writing, writing, writing things. And then the day comes that now other people are reading that. It's a glorious day because you get to see how people are interacting with it. In some of the ways you expected, in some ways you're like, "Oh, I didn't know people would get that from it. But all right."
So, I love that for you, Faitth, because you put in your time, honey, you put in your time writing this book, honey. So, I love for Black women to get a chance to feel loved on, feel written to, feel thought of. That it is not something that you have to try to pull out the parts that are for you. I think that's just going to be wonderful. So, tell the people how they can follow you and know more about you and what are the ways you recommend that they purchase their five copies. Let me say the title for y'all. Five copies of Remember Me Now: A Journey Back to Myself and a Love Letter to Black women. How can the people do this?
Faitth Brooks:
So, you can get the book wherever books are sold. So even independent bookstores and some people have also talked about can I get it in my local library? Yes, you can. You can ask your local library to order the book if you would like access it to it there. And you can follow me @faitthb. I spell my name with two T's, F-A-I-T-T-H, and the letter B. And you can follow me on TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, Twitter. My username is the same in all of those places and my website is faitthbrooks.com. And so if you are like, "You know what? I kind of like what I'm hearing, but I'm not sure." You can go to my website and you can download the introduction and the first chapter and you can just get a little taste, see if you like it and if you do, go ahead, go buy the book, share it with some friends, start a book club. Spread the word.
Amena Brown:
Love it. Faitth, thank you so much. Not only for joining us in our HER living room today, but for bringing your story into so many rooms. There are going to be so many rooms that you may not physically be there with Black women as they're in their living room or maybe riding the train to work. So many places where Black women will be encountering this book. It's also available as an audiobook where you can hear faith read in her voice and so many Black women are going to be spending time with you and your story and it's beautiful that you have given us this love letter to ourselves. That's wonderful. Thank you, my friend, for joining me.
Faitth Brooks:
Thank you for having me.
Amena Brown:
Her with Amena Brown is produced by Matt Owen for Sol Graffiti Productions as a part of the Senneca Women Podcast Network in partnership with iHeartRadio. Thanks for listening and don't forget to subscribe, rate, and review the podcast.