Today on the show, guest host Josh Miller of Josh Miller Ventures and IDEAS xLab talks to Marija Abney as part of his Uncovering Your Value series. Abney is a community organizer, the arts curator at The Soapbox Presents, a Broadway performer and actress having starred in movies including both Black Panther films and Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame. Learn more about her work at The Soapbox presents here.
Covering: downplaying, hiding or filtering parts of ourselves at work, with different social groups, at school and with family.
In this episode, Miller and Abney discuss:
The ways we are encouraged to code-switch or cover from a young age,
The role of imagining and creating change for future generations,
The importance of accomplices and collaborators in the workplace, and
Standing in our “No” by putting in place boundaries that embody our values.
If you are interested in learning more about the topic of covering, delving into Miller’s Uncovering Your Value newsletter or getting in touch to share your story or about public speaking, visit www.joshmiller.ventures or connect with him on LinkedIn!
Click here to listen to the episode.
Quotes from the conversation have been condensed.
On the process of uncovering.
Abney: "I actively work in my personal life - outside of being an artist, outside of being a producer - to uncover, to be myself in my fullness as a Black woman as I navigate the world. To know what that is and to better understand what that is. I think it's something that will always be active. For me, it's something that will always be a process of uncovering. And I look forward to the me that is tomorrow, the me that will be five years from now, me that will be 10 years from now and my understanding - that person's understanding - of womanhood and Blackness, which I know is going to be different than this person's understanding of womanhood and Blackness. It's always a process, and I am excited by the process."
About her work through The Soapbox Presents.
Abney: "In Harlem, I love what I do for community because it works against all of that. It celebrates Black people and all that we have done and the brilliance of all that we have done, and our cultural contribution contributions not just to American culture, but to global culture... I love that I'm able to take to the streets and celebrate, that I'm able to show little brown girls and little brown boys what we look like in all of our forms, and to celebrate the brilliance that that is. One of my favorite images of us activating on the street is, you know, we work with this incredible bassist, her name is India Owens, for little kids to engage with and see this beautiful Black woman on this bass, on an upright bass killing it. And to see this for the first time. That to me is magical. And then the impact of that, the ripple of that is huge... So I'm very thankful for what I do in the community."
Whose imagination are you working in?
Abney: "I think that's a very interesting question... I think for me, it's dual. I have to simultaneously realize the reality that we are in, and for me, that is also recognizing what happens if I don't act, which is living in somebody else's imagination. If I don't participate in building something new, something different, if I don't execute what's in my imagination, then I'm allowing somebody else's imagination to become the reality. That - to me - is a very dangerous situation. I am unwilling to be a non-active participant in my own future. I'm unwilling to be a non-active participant in my nieces future, and in the future of any prospective children that I may have, or you may have. That's too much of a risk. For me, it's very important for me in all aspects of my career to actively participate by building if you want to see something changed, do it, change it, participate in changing it."