My name is pronounced “Shay,” as in Shea Butter.

I apply my background in critical race theory to fighting texturism as a licensed Natural Hair Specialist and educator based in Occcaneechi, Shakori, Cheraw, Mánu: Yį Įsuwą (Catawba), Skarureh/Tuscarora, and Lumbee Land—also known as Durham, North Carolina.

I am an Affrilachian, AfroIndigenous, brown-skinned person who grew up on Nacotchtank/Anacostan land (colonized as Washington, DC). My family lives and labors in the southeast region of Turtle Island. We have specific ties to plantations and company towns throughout Appalachia and along the Atlantic coast.

I am autistic and autigender. This means I experience gender fluidity in uniquely autistic ways—ways that are core to how I experience the world through all five senses.  Being autigender and neuroexpansive means I am a trans, nonbinary person with hidden disabilities that uniquely prepare me for life. This also means that I have personal experience with specific cultural traumas, including the sensory overload of tender headedness.

Beyond my work as a Natural Hair Specialist, I am a PhD student in Higher Education at the University of Pittsburgh and a student in the Early Childhood Administration program at Durham Technical Community College. I am also a member of multiple artist collectives, including Saltwater Sojourn, Anticapitalism for Artists, and Creative Space Incubator—a Black feminist artist space for creatives.

To get to know me more, check out my Musings blog here.