Life Comes At You Fast - Refocusing Foozy Does

Life sure does come at you fast, doesn't it? I must first apologize, it has been some time since I wrote a blog post, April, to be exact. I have been putting a lot of my energy into my doctoral dissertation and several other projects. But that is not an excuse. I started this blog as a way to share my adventures and love of the world and all it has to offer. However, trying to be productive on all fronts can be rather difficult during a pandemic.

I decided to take some time to realign myself and think about what I wanted Foozy Does to represent. And I thought about who Foozy, rather, who Fawziah is. Breonna Taylor's murder really struck a chord with me. We centered on her death but not on her life. People came out to #sayhername because she was another innocent victim of police brutality and overuse of force in America. But who was she? Why was she only visible through her death? Then I thought about social media and her image reposted on all of my feeds and I thought, "I wish I could have celebrated her while she was here." While I mourn for Breonna Taylor and the miscarriage of justice, I want to remember that she was a beautiful Black woman who lived and wanted more out of life. It is in this vein that I wanted to refocus Foozy Does.

Foozy Does started off as my journey to showcase my life and what I was doing, but I want it to be more than that. I want this platform to be an outlet for Black womanhood. I want to center, normalize, and amplify the lives of Black women. We are not monolithic, Black women are and do so many different and beautiful things in the world. It was after a consultation with Hayet Rida, a creative strategist at facebook and instagram, when she asked me, "what are you trying to say with Foozy Does?" that I really stopped to think. What am I doing with Foozy Does. So, I really spent some time thinking about what my message was and how I was going to convey it. I had to become more of a visual storyteller and use my social media platforms to show other Black women what we are capable of. When we look at fashion, lifestyle, home decor, skincare, etc. we are not always centered. Heck, how many times have you looked at an ad, seen a Black person featured as say, "ooh look, we made it!"? We are so used to being a surprise addition, it is time we start to normalize ourselves in all spaces and with regularity.

Thank you for reading and sticking with me through this pandemic. Wishing you all health and happiness.

Fawziah