Episode 11 - Healing, Faith & Finding Your Voice with Roshonda Blackmon
By Jessica Garrison
Get ready for another week full of insightful guests, inspiring messages, and endless resources! Roshonda Blackmon has been a Together We F.E.E.L panel guest before in the episodes “Honest Conversations on Parenthood,” “Come As You Are,” and “Women’s Wellness, Empowerment & Authentic Living,” but we haven’t had her on the podcast before, so this may be the first time you’re hearing from her. Roshonda is peaceful, loving, fearless, inspiring, and an encourager.
Roshonda shares that she has an emotional journal to write down and understand her feelings. She writes one feeling and then one thing she’s grateful for, coupling a win with a defeat, while still feeling both as much as possible. Like most of us growing up, Roshonda was taught to stuff her feelings, so she’s had to unlearn that concept and then learn how to express her emotions in a healthy way.
As a woman of faith, Roshonda has heard people say they don’t believe in therapy because God will guide them, or they don’t need professional help when they have the help of God. However, Roshonda made a great counter statement by saying that God created therapists so people could get help—the two go hand in hand. God helps those who help themselves and He isn’t just going to hand you what you prayed for on a silver platter, but rather He brings the opportunity for you to do better or achieve what you’re asking for.
Roshonda’s goal is to create a safe space for women, and she does so much of that in her work. She talks about how she used to dumb herself down until she didn’t have a voice, but your voice is your most powerful asset. Change doesn’t come by staying quiet, and it’s more important now than ever that we rise up and use our voices for positive change. A lightbulb went off in Roshonda’s head when she was 30, and she wanted to create a safe space where, no matter who you are, you are able to use your voice. Honestly, we need more spaces like this where women can open up without fear of judgement or retaliation, but it can be difficult to find a space you trust, especially if you’ve been burned before in a space you thought was safe. But I can say with absolute certainty that Roshonda is a reliable source and has the best of intentions with supporting women in living unapologetically.
With her own podcasts, Matters of the Heart and The Girlfriend’s GIRL-FRIEND, The Girlfriend’s GIRL-FRIEND which Roshonda describes as “mental food for the soul,” she is consistently doing the work to create a world she wants to live in. Roshonda’s energy and honesty make this an episode you will not want to miss. While listening, you’d think Roshonda and Melissa have known each other all their lives, but I think that just goes to show how connected the community is. There is a strong support system where you can use your voice without fear.
Ways to Engage: Journal your emotions. Try at the end of the day, during lunch, or before bed and use whatever you find works best for you and you find yourself most consistent with. Acknowledge those feelings and understand where they’re coming from while remembering that there are no bad emotions—they are clues for you to understand yourself and your layers on another level.