A Journey to Being Soft and Strong

Do Black women GET to be soft and strong? Do they have the
capacity to be soft, feminine, strong and receptive?  There
are so many layers to these questions, and Ivory Bennett stopped
by to start peeling them all back. 


Join us in today’s episode as she takes us on a journey of what
it took for her to finally tap into being soft, feminine, and
receptive. Ivory admits that arriving in this space hasn’t been
easy, and it is indeed challenging to remain there, but she’s
determined not to go back to that space where being hard was all
she had. She gets really candid and transparent about how racism
and spending seventeen years in foster care made it extremely
difficult to be soft as a matter of fact, she tells a story how
being soft was not an option until she got deliberate  and
intentional about making it one.


Tweetable Moments:


“Being strong doesn’t have to look, sound or feel a certain way,
and being soft doesn’t
have to go against our survival.”


“As Black women we can unconsciously, or sometimes
deliberately
make it difficult for other Black women to rest.”


“We need to get out of the mindset of hardening people up, or
getting them prepared
for the world in a way that is damaging…”


ABOUT IVORY BENNETT


Ivory Bennett (She/Her/Hers) is a Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania native
who is currently a Manager of Teacher Leadership and Development
in Dallas, Texas. Additionally, Ivory is an active advocate for
both education and foster care equity – she has 17 years of lived
experience in foster care. Outside of Education, Ivory is an avid
writer with a particular passion for poetry and playwriting.
Ivory loves international travel, holistic health practices,
vegan soul food, and tending to her plant babies. 


Check out Ivory’s article mentioned in today’s episode
HERE.


Connect with Ivory Bennett on Instragram,
Facebook, and/or LinkedIn.


Your Turn,
Sis!
We’re using our My Strong Is campaign to
encourage our listeners to give up a life of hyper-independence,
hyper-productivity, and hyper-resilience in exchange for one of
play and ease.


My Strong Is is a campaign where we’re
highlighting Black women who are daring to do strong differently
– Black women who are making a conscious and deliberate effort to
give up a life of caping, masking, and hiding.


We would love to hear how you define strong. All you have to do
is complete the statement, “My strong is” and tag us
(@shadesofstrong) on your favorite social media
platform using the hashtags #shadesofstrong and
#mystrongis. Alternatively, you can come
be our guest on the podcast and share your
strong with our listeners. Either way, we want to know!!! 


Connect with Shades of Strong
on Instagram,
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LinkedIn catch up with all things Shades of
Strong at www.shadesofstrong.com.



Catch up on Previous Episodes:


S5 | Ep 004 The Journey Towards, Vulnerability,
Grace, and Ease
S5 | Ep 003 Mental Health, Resilience, and
Postpartum Depression
S5 | Ep 002 Steady, Present, and Free Even When Life Be
Lifing
S5 | Ep 001 Finding Comfort in Stitting with
Uncomfortable Emotions
Superwoman Must Die | Slaying the Strong Black Woman Syndrome