Today we’d like to introduce you to Lauren Whiteman.
Every artist has a unique story. Can you briefly walk us through yours?
I’m from Dallas, I eat Rudy’s, but it’s been a minute since I’ve been to Big T. I grew up near Skyline High school, but attended school at a small private school in Oak Cliff. My childhood looked like White Rock Lake and Kiest Park on the weekends. Feeding ducks spare pieces of bread that didn’t get used for toast with bacon for breakfasts in the mornings and peanut butter and jelly sandwiches at lunch. It tastes like drinking too much of my mother’s chocolate shakes from Good Luck, until she got fed up and began ordering two so she could have hers in peace. It also tastes like Catfish Connection after leaving the hair salon every other Thursday evening. It sounds like a steady stream of music, across genres, all day long.
After high school I attended the University of Oklahoma where I earned a Bachelor’s Degree in Journalism and Public Relations, and a Masters in Adult and Higher Education, and also stumbled and fell into advocacy and activist work. The Trayvon Martin case shook me and made me start examining the world around me differently. My experiences before, during and after the OU SAE incident provided a crash course in being solid, committed to your principles and community, and also how important it is for underrepresented groups to empower and create narratives that actively represent us.
Please tell us about your art.
I am a writer and the editor for GoodCulture.Life, a collective media and lifestyle brand based in Dallas, Texas, created with the forward-thinking urban community in mind. My goal is to share the stories and information that sometimes gets overlooked, to provide intelligent commentary without being so pretentious that the community doesn’t connect to it, and most importantly to highlight the unique contributions and experiences of Black folks here in Dallas and across the country.
My experiences doing advocacy and activist work taught me that one of the major hurdles for communities who want to advocate for themselves is not having–or being comfortable putting together–the words that accurately describe what they’re experiencing and what they need. Not for lack of intelligence or capability, but because of intimidation and systemic issues. I make it a point to write so that people have access to information and conversations, without needing a degree to understand them. I’ve been fortunate enough to earn two degrees from a great university, spoken across the country, and written for publications that have published work from people like bell hooks and Cornell West. But what does any of that matter if the people from the same place I’m from can’t benefit from that knowledge or experiences?
My day-job (haha) revolves around me creating and coordinating men of color initiatives for a large university in the Dallas area. I advise students and student organizations, and oversee and create holistic programs that help students of color in their transition into the college setting, persist and ultimately graduate from the university. Most of my academic work centers on the miseducation of Black and African American college students.
As an artist, how do you define success and what quality or characteristic do you feel is essential to success as an artist?
Success for me looks like creating a life that allows for consistent growth, being able to enjoy life experiences, and the ability and dedication to reach back and pull others up with you. I’ve always been inspired by the principles of Sankofa, which translates to “Go back and get it”, and the ideals behind the Lady Fortitude statue at Howard University, which symbolizes moving forward but reaching back to help others do the same.
I think for any artist, creative, educator, entrepreneur of color, it’s very important to reach back and give back, but that also requires an amount of humility and community-mindedness. Without that balance we risk turning our backs on people who look like us, dream like us, and could benefit from what life has taught us.
How or where can people see your work? How can people support your work?
The majority of my recent work can be found at GoodCulture.Life/cultureink. I have also done some work for New Black Man (in exile) (www.newblackmaninexile.net), and Loving on Me (https://lovingonme.com/).
I’m also a TEDx presenter! My TED talk focused on ways I utilize Hip Hop Pedagogy in my work with college students. You can do a search for my name on YouTube, but the link is: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dCIfvBRHQRY.
People can support my work by following me on twitter and Instagram (@itsmewhiteman) and reposting and sharing links to my articles and speaking opportunities. And I mean, book me. Articles, keynotes, workshops or presentations, I’ve done it locally, regionally, nationally and internationally. I travel.
Contact Info:
- Website: GoodCulture.Life/CultureInk
- Email: Lwhiteman.goodculture@gmail.com
- Instagram: @itsmewhiteman
- Twitter: @itsmewhiteman
- Other: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lauren-whiteman-76188b4b/
Image Credit:
Ely Ibrahim
Getting in touch: VoyageDallas is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you know someone who deserves recognition please let us know here.
