Meet Melanie Shaw

Today we’d like to introduce you to Melanie Shaw.

Melanie, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
I always dreamt that I would become a writer. I wasn’t expecting to be the next Alice Walker or Ta-Nehisi Coates, but I did want my words to hold relevance in how individuals that became familiar with my work began to recognize their own existence and presence in their bodies and the world. I wanted to be a fun, transparent voice for Buzzfeed or maybe a popular blog featuring stories written by Black Women. 

I found myself romanticizing the idea of telling people that I was a writer if they would ask the question of my profession during dates or social gatherings. I wanted to amaze the Los Angeles crowd of young aspirants that wanted to crossover into a similar industry of work. Think of Carrie Bradshaw but black, some thigh meat, and with big curly hair. Now think about that image with Melanie Sherri Shaw in an artsy, industrial, shoebox apartment in Downtown, LA. The mental illustration became delusional even if it were a dream that I cooked up for myself.

I found myself working a shit retail job at the end of 2016. I sold expensive bags to very cheap clients and found myself not wanting to grow as a “retail lifer.” Like a snail covered in salt, I began decaying in my body. I was dating someone that did not love me, while I was pushing away someone who did. I was fired from my job at the beginning of that Fall, and I survived on unemployment while failing to live a hasty lifestyle of getting kicked out of bars weekly, waking up to my own vomit, and managing to do it all over again the next day. I went from graduating with my MFA that summer from Antioch University, Los Angeles, to being out of work and abandoning my goals. At this time in my life, my only focus was to be loved. However, I could not figure out how to devote that feeling towards myself. 

At the beginning of December 2016, I woke up from what seemed like a quarter life crisis. I reconstructed my resume, polished my cover letter, and applied for over a hundred career opportunities. My mother reminded me that I had my education, and it was time that I began to apply myself even if my college degrees were a part of my biggest insecurities. I had forgotten my own worth. I applied to various types of universities, even religious institutions, and predominantly white-privileged, private high schools. My new goal was to teach Creative Writing. I wanted to be like Hilary Swank in Freedom Writers, but once again, just black with a hint of Salsa Verde. I was finally finding myself in new ambition. I even built up the courage to email an old mentor from CSUN and emptied my heart out about being unemployed, struggling through clinical depression, and seeking an opportunity to build a career.

My mentor emailed me back quickly. He was glad to hear from me but expressed how sorry he was that I had been experiencing a low point in my life. His email also came with good news. I was told that there was a job opening in the Department of Africana Studies for a Public Speaking section and that he wanted me to apply. So, I did, and I got the job. I was hired to start working Spring Semester, 2017. And I have been a part-time lecturer at California State University, Northridge ever since.

Here’s what people do not understand about being a part-time lecturer, payment for your time and value are not tantamount with independent financial stability. Your salary is based per class, which means if we are only contracted to teach one class each semester, we are only paid for one class. I’ve known professors to need government assistance and take on either additional work elsewhere in retail or apply for unemployment. Both are needed to live comfortably in Los Angeles. I started with one class my first semester. However, the idea of being a professor is so highly recognized as being desirable that so many people were proud of me for making it to such an idolized profession. I was just happy to finally be employed. Never did I begin questioning fair payment until I began listening to the struggles of other part-time faculty. These people are parents, homeowners, and fellow depression bearers. 

Although I am still currently hired as a part-time lecturer, I have worked hard to maintain 12 units per semester, that is four classes. I have even been hired to be a part of EOP’s faculty where I have happily remain up until this day. I have been welcomed to be a part of the Department of Africana Studies’ Black History Month Committee, where I’ve successfully facilitated two big events where I’ve welcomed writers from the hit shows, “Atlanta” “Black Monday,” and “Insecure.” I have also invited the admired, spoken word poet, Rudy Francisco to campus to give our students an outstanding performance. 

I have also been invited to be a recurring Faculty Guest Editor for one of our department’s student research journals, CAPTURED. My second year working at CSUN, I also earned recognition by winning an award in the English Department, Excellence in Teaching Writing for the Course ENGL 208. I went on to being a part of my first panel at my very first convention for AWP where I took part in offering my voice to, “Emerging Female Writers on Building Community and Organizing.” I finally landed my first publication in the Atlanta Review, May of 2020 spring/summer issue where my poem, “Sleeping With A Single Father,” can be read.

I have been teaching in the Department of Africana Studies and the EOP Program since I was 26 years old. And now at 29, I have worked my way to a position where I can honestly say that I am absolutely in love with my job.

I never thought I would be teaching Public Speaking, and I never saw myself being deeply invested in practicing nonconventional approaches to how to reach my students. I believe in transparency. I believe in communication, and I believe that once we can bridge our commonalities, we are then able to create a healthy learning community.

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?
My challenges have been living through the continuous uncertainty of whether my position is promised each year. Being a part-time lecturer/adjunct professor comes with more downs than ups. This includes never being sure if classes will be dropped or if I will be receiving a healthy income to sustain me.

Other challenges come from my own insecurities with being given my position so young. I am constantly around tenured professors that are older and more established than I am and are very set in their positions. There are obstacles with building their trust, their support, and their acceptance. However, my department feels like home. 

We’d love to hear more about your work and what you are currently focused on. What else should we know?
I am a Professor for the Department of Africana Studies and EOP at California State University Northridge. My favorite class to teach is Public Speaking. I lead my class built on my FOUR C’s Culture. The Four C’s are Communication, Connection, Commonality, and Community. The idea is that we build our comfort with speaking to each other first through various forms of communication. This also includes energy and nonverbals. Once we move ourselves to find the courage to COMMUNICATE, then we often CONNECT to each other based on our compatibility. After establishing a connection with one another, we are then moved by all things we have in COMMON, this can be identity, this can be the neighborhoods we grew up in, this can also be our goals. Finding COMMONALITY will bridge us closer together. We find comfort in all things familiar and all things that we can find within ourselves. This is when we can finally build a COMMUNITY. And a healthy COMMUNITY is established by healthy COMMUNICATION. By developing this culture within my classrooms, I am able to lead my students. I am proud of being able to connect with my students and to be more than a professor, but also a mentor to many.

So, what’s next? Any big plans?
I want to go back to school. I pray that I am accepted into a doctoral program pursuing African American Studies. I want to construct a stronger career for myself and enchant my life in all things Black. 

Who knows, maybe I might become a writer one day. Maybe Buzzfeed will accept me?

Contact Info:

• Address: California State University, Northridge
  18111 Nordhoff St, Northridge, CA 91330
  Department of Africana Studies
  SN 221
• Email: [email protected]
• Instagram: melb414

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