Naje Badu Love
"You want to learn as many skills as possible, following the direction that circumstances lead you to, but only if they are related to your deepest interests...value the process of self-discovery and make things that are of the highest quality. Avoid the trap of following one set career path… but you are taking full advantage of the openness of information, all of the knowledge about skills at our disposal."
Robert Greene, author of Mastery.
Stay with me. I promise I am going somewhere with this.
For starters, I was born Kimberly E. Banks, and my chosen name is Naje Badu Love. I tell the story of my evolution in my literary works. All of the works on this site are for Naje Badu Love. For all other works written under Kimberly, click here.
Now that we are clear, I’ve been creating, drawing, coloring, sketching and dibble-dabbling with graffiti since I was about 8 years old (maybe earlier, not quite sure). Yet, it wasn’t until I entered my early 30’s that I began to take my gift seriously, which ironically, is around the time I developed a love for writing (more about that in a moment). I think it is my fascination with lines and how they come together to create an image, and how shades of color work together to add dimension, that compels me bring pen to paper. I’ve always been intrigued with coloring books, cartoons, and animation. So much so that I have spent many hours designing characters for animated series, greetings cards, apparel, etc. What I also know, today, is that creating, especially illustrating, serves both as a form of meditation and an outlet through which I can express my ideas around feminism, equality, cultural awareness, music, and other topics I find valuable and meaningful.
Once my art pieces began to grow in both size and subject matter, I began to feel restricted in the way I wished to express myself, or even to tell a story. That, coupled with my immense passion for reading which also started at a very, very early age (to give some perspective, I was reading my mother’s novels by the time I was 11 or 12 years old), compelled me to learn the art of using words to sculpt the stories and messages lying dormant in my heart and mind. The more I nurtured the creative genius inside of me, I found that words, sentences , and paragraphs granted the space and freedom to expound on my ideas and thoughts in a way a piece of paper or canvas could not. I dibbled and dabbled with short stories, prose, and essays before attempting to write a memoir as my first project, and then learning that I…well…let’s just say I had more development to undergo. Years later, I penned my first book, Let Go Of You But! A Woman’s Guide to Self-Love and Fulfillment. From there, I have written a plethora of articles, blogs, proposals, and a few ghostwritten projects.
Fast forward to 2019, with eyes now wide opened to the multitude of injustices and inequalities playing out in our society, especially in America, and especially as a woman of color, I surrendered to a commitment to utilize my gift to help other people bring their stories to light, and also, to bring awarenesses to many of the joys and challenges we experience within the Black community. As Toni Morrison, James Baldwin, Michael Eric Dyson, and Ta-Nehisi Coates are some of my favorite authors, I’d love to follow in their footsteps in creating works that leave traces of what we’ve endured during this era, and to also highlight the beautiful ways in which we as people of color explore our truths. In effort to bring such a dream to fruition, I am currently working on Risen: An Anthology of Essays and Short Stories (a collection of writings about Culture. Class, Race, Womanhood, and Gender.
With respect to Graphic Design, I’ve been designing for 20+ years, specializing in web design, promotional material, greeting cards, apparel, planners, planners, book covers, album art, and magazine projects for small business owners and self-published authors. Something most people find intriguing is that I have been quietly accrued over 5 year’s experience in podcast production (The Power of You in 2011 and TheRhyze in 2019) . YES…I handled guest scheduling, pre-production tasks, recording, post-production, marketing and promotions, social media campaign, and more.
I’ve owned two small businesses of which I am very proud - TheRhyze! (a culturally conscious organization providing opportunities for creatives around the world to bring awareness to social injustices and inequality; no longer running) and more recently, Journey Up! (a company created to help people level up their lives through the art of journaling). What most people do not know is that I also have a day job as a Senior Business Analyst/Project Manager for IT Software Development at a Fortune 500 organization.
Whewwwwww!!!! I know, it’s quite a bit, but I am uber grateful for it all. So, what do I do when I am not creating? Great question. Some of my favorite pastimes include reading content centered on culture, spirituality, personal development, women’s empowerment and memoirs about current and past music artist. When I am not reading, I love listening to podcasts, working out in my home gym, watching movies - or a great series, and lounging on beautiful beaches.
That’s it for now. Thanks for stopping by. I certainly look forward to working with you.
LOVE AND LIGHT!!!!