Today we’d like to introduce you to Akuyoe Graham.
Akuyoe, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
I was born in Ghana, W. Africa and received my primary education in London, UK. Living in London at that time was very difficult, fraught with experiences of racial bias and discrimination. As a result, I grew up really disliking myself especially the way I looked. I knew I was intelligent, even though in my primary and secondary schools in London, many of my teachers challenged my school work because they didn’t believe an African child could score so high on tests or write so eloquently – forcing my mother – on many occasions – to leave work and come to the school to defend me.
By the time we moved to the United States in the early 70’s I was a walking contradiction – on the outside, I had a bright smile on my face and appeared to be well adjusted; however, on the inside, I was full of angst and deeply imbedded insecurities. I couldn’t bare to look at my reflection in storefront windows and summers became my enemy because it meant I was going to get darker… I wrote about all of this in my one-woman play Spirit Awakening – charting my journey back to my true self – the authentic unadulterated Self within me. I used my own name as a metaphor – many African people have both a western name and a traditional name – my Western name is Charlotte – and in order to survive England, I abandoned the name Akuyoe and entrenched myself as Charlotte, later adding Katherine… on the phone, I could pass for a member of parliament.
Writing the play Spirit Awakening was very cathartic and profoundly healing. Thankfully, I received really great reviews and out of that was born the programs that have now become the cornerstone of the work implemented by Spirit Awakening Foundation.
I simply wanted young people not to suffer in the ways that I had suffered. I wanted children and teens to know that there was a way out of the hell that is self-loathing. I wanted to create a space where young people could gather and not have to hide their brilliance, their genius and wisdom. I wanted to help young people unmask their authentic voices and learn to accept and love themselves – to be self-reliant. So I took my fledgling program at the time – “Unmasking your authentic voice” to the jails and prisons – centering my focus on juvenile jails – working with children and young people that had been battered and bruised – those young people that hadn’t known love and acceptance – the young people that society considered throw-aways. I wanted to help them even as I was helping myself – on the road to recovering dignity, elegance and beauty.
Spirit Awakening Foundation is now 25 years old. After initial skepticism of Spirit Awakening programs as being too “touchy-feely” – after the initial rejection of mindfulness practices such as meditation, self-reflection, role-play, yoga, and creative writing, the Spirit Awakening Writes of Passage Program which includes a very vital and necessary visual arts component, is now in demand throughout LA County and beyond. We partner with LA County Office of Education, LA County Probation Dept., LA County Arts Department; and receive support from The California Wellness Foundation, The Weingart Foundation and other major philanthropies and are now in the process of expanding the program nationally. With the support of great staff and trained artist Facilitators, and a wonderful Board, we have received many acknowledgments including being named Best non-profit three years in a row since 2018 and now this year, through the Santa Monica Awards Program have been placed into the Business Hall of Fame.
We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
The road started off actually very smoothly – as my initial Board of Directors was comprised of individuals with bountiful resources which they shared very generously – these extraordinary individuals really could see the vision that was lodged in my heart and trusted me to bring it forth. I am eternally grateful to them all.
Young people in the program also responded really well to Unmasking your authentic voice and because teachers and staff in the facilities could see measurable results – grade point averages improving, students becoming more confident, less emotional outbursts in classrooms and units; students engaged in their education – I was allowed to continue teaching my program. For the first five years, I did not receive any contracts from the sites – my extensive time was voluntary. I wanted to make sure that the program was effective before writing for a grant and honestly, I didn’t even know that contracts existed for the work I was doing. If my program was not effective, no amount of money would have made me continue. I consciously placed my acting career on the sidelines as I felt compelled to do the work of Spirit Awakening Foundation.
As word of mouth from program participants spread, the program was in more demand and so with the guidance of philanthropist Andrew Beath, inspiration from Rev. Michael Beckwith and the Agape Int’l Spiritual Center and initial support from The Hunt Foundation, I created infrastructure and was able to hire an assistant and begin to grow the organization.
The struggle is really systemic – the well documented undervaluing of the achievements of Black women and the lack of support of Black girls and women – which means we have to work harder, achieve greater heights while receiving far less support than our Caucasian counterparts. My focus was to strengthen myself from the inside out – to become “undeniable” – by making sure I addressed the pain and suffering within myself and to heal, and become the best version of myself.
Please tell us about Spirit Awakening Foundation.
Spirit Awakening Foundation(SAF) is an arts organization which I founded in 1995. We are made up of artists – visual artists, performers, writers, and musicians. We specialize in creative arts as a means for transformation and empowerment. We began in high schools and juvenile halls and probation camps, offering trauma-informed practices and wholistic creative arts programs. Spirit Awakening was one of the first of its kind to bring mindfulness practices into the juvenile detainment arena, incorporating meditation, yoga, and inquiry into our curriculum. Art Director Masauso Chiumya established our Visual Arts Department which now offers graphic design, photography, jewelry making, filmmaking. We are known for reaching some of the hardest to reach young people and for offering programs that nurture the whole person. We’ve been called “small yet mighty” and “innovative.”
We are most grateful for and proud of our students that have been able to chart a new path for their lives and begin to live consciously and with intentionality and purpose. Program participants have gone on to Berkeley, USC, UCLA, Howard and other institutions of Higher Learning. We have been able to provide scholarships, stipends, financial aid; we have former participants on our board and also serving as teachers and teaching assistants. So proud that our work has expanded and grown primarily through word of mouth – from students asking their schools and community centers to bring our programs to their sites.
We are grateful for the opportunity to have been able to expand the horizons of our program participants by taking them on leadership retreats and introducing them to Esalen Institute in Big Sur – where we have been leading our retreats for the past ten years – completely underwritten by Esalen Institute. We have also been able to take program participants to Ghana, W. Africa on our International Service Trips – completely underwritten for each student by private donations and through support of our board and the philanthropic organizations that support our work. We took our 3rd such trip in 2019 for Ghana’s “Year of Return” – included in that particular trip was a stay at Ghana’s Mole National Park and a visit to support a local orphanage with gifts of clothes, books and toiletries. Additionally, we also supported Rita Marley’s school in Accra as well.
Being able to expand program participants’ world view – to be able to help them find their authentic voice and realize that they matter and are valued – these are the greatest gifts of doing this work. Producing “Voices of the unheard” each year so that these newfound voices can be heard is not only healing for them – it’s healing for us and the planet.
What sets us apart is that we really invest in program participants in a very expansive and far reaching way. Our Leadership and International Service Trips are not cheap – however, our students are worth it. We serve the WHOLE person and offer very distinctive and unique opportunities and experiences that are not being duplicated anywhere else.
Has luck played a meaningful role in your life and business?
Luck – I don’t really believe in luck – the one definition I can live with is: when opportunity and hard work meet… I am a woman of faith. I believe in Life – Love – God. An Omniscient, Omnipresent, Omnipotent Energy Source that indwells all expression – a Universal Intelligence that ultimately governs this universe.
I have experienced the ecstatic joys of being alive and the pain that comes with being alive as well. I look upon my life and I just feel enormous gratitude – after struggling to find the right fit as far as staff members for my organization, I now work with individuals that I love, admire, cherish, respect and like. We are small yet mighty and work very hard. Opportunities seem to appear out of thin air – however I know there is a method to this creative madness called Life. Opportunities come through the doorway that is a receptive mind. My experiences have shown me that gratitude grows receptivity in consciousness – whether it is gratitude for that which is labeled good or gratitude for having been able to excavate gifts from that which has been labeled the polar opposite of good…
That this dark-skinned African woman, raised by a single mother, (Gladys Lamiokor Boye), has been able to work in Hollywood, (pre Lupita), and then out of nothing but an idea create a foundation that is lauded as one of the best in its field is nothing short of extraordinary. There is a Divine Intelligence that has egged me on through my own personal struggles, failings and shortcomings and has brought me to this moment where I get to witness the world shifting to a more just and equitable playing field for all its citizens. I remain in awe of Life – standing in awesome wonder of its bitterness, magic and beauty. I have been given much, and in spite of institutionalized, oppressive roadblocks that were meant to stop me, I am fueled up, charged up and ready to love even deeper and express even more boldly.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.spiritawakening.org
- Phone: 866.456.8002
- Email: [email protected]
- Instagram: SAF_Voices
- Facebook: Spirit Awakening Foundation
- Twitter: SAF_Voices
Image Credit:
Personal photos taken by SAF
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