On this week's episode, I talk to Melissa Denizard, a native of Haiti, who is a 20-year-old activist, documentarian, and senior at Babson College. She shares the challenges of being an activist and an organizer and we talk about vulnerability and feeling comfort in discomfort as well as the loneliness epidemic that is facing so many young people.
As an activist, Melissa uses her many talents, including public speaking, film, and the written word, to bring attention to the intersections of race, gender, and social class in the United States’ political framework.
Melissa runs a blog that focuses on the intersection of race, gender, and social class in pop culture and politics. In 2018, her YouTube video, Unbraid with Me: Is Hair Political? was featured on Brut Media and Refinery29. Later that year, her blog post, "Don't Tell Me to Smile: A Commentary on Harassment in the Service Industry" was adapted into a TEDx talk for TEDxTarrytown.
As an alumna of the Young People For Fellowship, Melissa had the opportunity to expand upon her technological social venture Voice, which is an online platform for contemporary activists that aims to make digital organizing more accessible and efficient.. Partnered with Babson College, Melissa is also currently creating an initiative that will aim to help Flint, MI's entrepreneurs cultivate entrepreneurial skills to build wealth that will accumulate to help the city eventually emerge out of both the Flint Water Crisis and decades of poverty.
You won't want to miss her honest self-reflection on growth and self-care and her insights on the ways we can use pop culture to analyze race, gender and cultural clashes.
