The Unpacking Of Our Black Names
LISTEN TO EP 18: ITUNES | SPOTIFY
Last week on the podcast, I opened up about the shame I felt surrounding my Black girl name. If you haven’t listened yet, I encourage you to do so before listening to this interview. You can listen to that episode here. This week, I wanted to dive a little deeper in the conversation about unpacking our Black names and to do so I am chatting with my good good girlfriend and content creator LaVondra Shinholster of Typical BlaQueen.
Being LaVondra
LaVondra shares all the “La-“ names people have called her instead of her actual name.
Throughout childhood, she wouldn’t correct people when they said her name wrong.
I personally decided to go by Ty instead of Tyeisha, but LaVondra has always gone by LaVondra or Vondra. However, she decided to brand herself as Typical BlaQueen.
She recognizes that her German last name makes some people assume she is white. “My last name has definitely gotten me in places in the workforce.”
Proud to be Black
LaVondra made an intentional decision to not choose a Black name for her son. “I wanted something that would be unique but strong.”
We open up about the reality that it often takes us until our 30s and 40s to shed the shame of our Black names.
I share my own experience deciding on a name for my son and all of the things that went through my mind before I ultimately decided on Khari.
For all dark-skinned women and Black women who may feel ashamed… “You are beautiful. Your name is important. Your name is who you are. And you must correct people when they say it wrong. That’s the only way you’ll put respect on your name and yourself.”
She is @TypicalBlaQueen on all social, so keep up with LaVondra on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube. Feel free to reach out to her on her site at TypicalBlaQueen.com as well.
Hope you loved this episode. If you did, please do me a favor and submit a review on iTunes, Spotify, or wherever you listen to podcasts. Also be sure to subscribe to the podcast so that you can be the first to get new episodes. And I’d like to encourage you to share this episode on IG stories, Twitter, Facebook. Make sure you tag me, I am @tyalexander on IG and @lovetyalexander on Twitter. Just share it, girl!
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