We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Shanita Dildy-Goings. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Shanita below.

Shanita, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. We’d love to go back in time and hear the story of how you came up with the name of your brand?

My stage name is The NubianBaddGoddess, but there is no way for you or anyone else to understand the layers of my self-given name or the journey it took to choose this name. The collection of emotions, fine film of grit, the canvas of scabs and yet, like Kintsugi–the Japanese art of filling pottery cracks with gold–there is an undeniable polish to it all. So when my best friend and I finally got together to start our business–birthing a new being into corporate America’s rat race–I think I felt the weight of naming our “child”. What metamorphosis would our creation’s name go through? How would it make people feel? Would it end up being undeniably polished despite any possible obstacles or cracks?We’d toss a bunch of suggestions into a brain salad of words we felt represent our future brands image, the work we would be doing under its name and most importantly will it attract our targeted demographic–Black and/or African Americans from all walks of life and with varied interest. The first few tosses of our brain salad of course offered up some hilarious and down right nonsensical names that I unfortunately have let slip my mind. Reminds me of Mad Libs. By the end of our meeting we had nothing concrete but we had a few themes to sleep on. We wanted to start a podcast that allowed us to utilize and enhance our creative skills as black creators; a podcast that represents our culture in all aspects; and finally a podcast where we can talk about whatever we wanted, “‘Cuz it’s our show, not (theirs)”-UNHhhh. Next meeting though turned into a chore. All previous creative flow had come to a stand still and we were fighting for our previous progress but kept coming to the same conclusion: we were already where we needed to be, we just needed to simplify what we had. One thing we kept revisiting is how the podcast we enjoyed watching are just recorded word vomit–the words that come out of your mouth without any thought–and very often when my friend and I are rambling with each other it’s exactly like the most entertaining word vomit session ever. Like silent-screaming, knee-slapping, halfway-drooling-gasping-for-breath sessions of word vomit banter between friends. That’s what I needed our podcast to be. Black. Word Vomit….Me and my best friend seemed to hesitate within our disbelief and anticipation. We were co-partners, we were going to be co-founders of something we created together and we finally had a name for our baby: Black Vomit LLC.

Shanita, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

I go by The NubianBaddGoddess and I am a 29 year old African-American woman. I affectionately refer to myself as a nerd, have been my whole life. My interests are vast but typical for a nerd; I enjoy reading, writing, art, watching shows, movies, and anime. There is nothing that makes me happier than inside jokes, pop culture references, and learning interesting yet useless fun or morbid facts. But it all began with just one book. My mother would make me read as a punishment, write a summary or answer her questions about the book to make sure I was actually completing my juvenile sentencing. I wasn’t too old but I was definitely too young to be reading the books she made me read. Thick, hard-covered tomes with titles like Black Beauty and Heidi engraved in gold; musty, green, leather adorned with branching filigree. It began with one book. My mother had to find some other way to discipline me. I was hooked, line and sinker. At first it may have been how the weight of a good book felt in my arms–important and mystical like a grimoire– and in my head while I read and after finishing–every book became a friend and I had so few of those back in those days. All I had was what my mother passed along to me: a love for the diverse written word and the imaginative stories woven with them. It wasn’t long before I began to want to spin my own imagination into something more than daydreams. I wanted them to be as real as any other of my favorite authors’ creative, flawless tapestries. I was a child OBSESSED. I’d dream about story lines, wake up and journal them, draw my characters, their outfits, weapons, their homes. And then I’d stay up past my bedtime under my sheets with a flashlight just trying to get one last chapter in. It began with one book. I knew I would be a writer but it, of course, was not that easy. Most people assume writers have an easy job. The, “You just write, right?”, question just annoys me. I think of the times I sat at my computer or notepad for hours at a time with writer’s block, being on the fourth round of edits, I don’t even want to talk about grammar! I consider myself to be an Afrocentric, science fiction, fantasy, romance novelist but I don’t always get to write what I want and I don’t get much free time either. I write for what pays and they don’t call it a starving artist job for nothing. When you truly love something you stick it out despite the bad. In my opinion that is why the artist is starved. We are hopeless, tragic romantics to the craft. I chose writing even though I was told it was a fruitless endeavor. I chose writing when the odds were against an African-American female living in an urban area who wants to write fantasy novels instead of urban novels, or typically “Black” themes. I chose writing even when advisors told me not many universities have good creative writing major programs and I should just go for technical writing, journalism, or become an English teacher. So here I am today, harvesting the fruits of my own satisfaction more often than the fruits of monetary gains. Witnessing the rise of the African American voice in genres that regularly excluded black creators like horror, fantasy, and superheros. Even though COVID set me back by a lot I plan to continue my education and complete my degree at one of the best schools in North Carolina for creative writing majors. That is what I think sets me apart from others: self actualization. The moment I labeled myself as a writer I was a writer. No publications, no experience, no validation but my own. The rest followed. What I had already seen in myself was slowly becoming tangible to others. My firm grip on a dream that was cultivated in doubtful, turbulent spaces only finding solace and growth within myself has never–will never–lax. I manifest in a way that seems pessimistic to many. I call it being realistic and fully prepared but I do not deny some pessimism. There is duality in all things. How else could I claim I am undeniably fated for greatness while also being consistently prone to faults. I persevere through these faults because I know what I am to become, much like the characters in my stories and cannot afford to NOT exhibit main character energy. As the main character of my story, of course I have a hobby turned side gig that I am immensely proud of. Me and my best friend finally got together to create a podcast we affectionately named BlackVomit! It will be two years old in May and I have never felt more accomplished, confused, and broke in my life! BlackVomit is a podcast that ingests and digests anything and everything around the world, regurgitating content specifically from and for the African-American perspective. You want Black culture? We put that stuff on everything. We have so far covered topics like, “Is Porn Cheating”, reactions to Death Battles and vlogging with more to come. As one might guess one of the main things I want potential clients, followers, and fans to know about our brand is that we cater to the black/African-American culture, voice, and audience in all things in as many perspectives that we can, especially those that usually do not get much attention from general or African-American society. This is very important to me as representation is key to cultivating more creators who are willing to break out into new spaces. I know because I wouldn’t be the writer I am today without it. Look at Jordan Peele for example and what he has done for the Black horror scene. I still remember being told I was an “oreo”, I couldn’t like, talk about, or be into certain things just because I was Black. “We don’t talk like that”, “We don’t read those books’ ‘, “We don’t have those opinions”. Well it took some years but I learned that it was all bull. First of all there isn’t much Blacks haven’t had a hand in. Secondly, as a Black woman anything I am into, dress like, slang used, opinions taken are inherently Black because I am into it, dress like that, talk like this, and think like that. And that is what everyone will know when they encounter BlackVomit, we are unapologetically Black. Hopefully what stays with people when they leave us is that BlackVomit isn’t the end all be all on Black voices either, just another perspective.

Is there mission driving your creative journey?

I do not have a particular goal or mission statement for BlackVomit but there is a quote by James Baldwin that I feel to be the overall vibe, which reads, “It took many years of vomiting up all the filth I’d been taught about myself, and half-believed, before I was able to walk on the Earth as though I had a right to be here”. Whew! Gets me every time, let me tell you. James Baldwin was an author, civil rights activist, and an openly gay African-American. He is one of my idols, was friends with G.O.A.T. ‘s like Malcolm X and Martin Luther King Jr., a minority creator forcing his way into the room–despite the hell promised to people like him in those spaces–and pushing boundaries unapologetically. Baldwin’s life astonishes me. His quote resonates with me at every stage of my life and though I wasn’t aware of Baldwin or this quote until I was in college–too late if you ask me–when I read the words like a mantra to my inner child I feel seen, I purge, I begin to heal. One thing that came up in the naming of BlackVomit was whether or not ‘vomit’ was too visceral or graphic for use–especially when our abbreviation BV already stands for a bacterial infection, but I digress. We went forward with it because ‘word vomit’ was a central theme as I have touched on earlier, but honestly, I held some reservations. Then I stumbled upon Baldwin’s quote doing some research and things just clicked. It was the way he used the word ‘vomiting’ to describe the expunging of poisonous ideals his society imposed on him; ideals he almost nearly accepted as truth just so that he could live as a human rightly should. And this process of purging is done multiple times, every time the poison is ingested, supplied, forced. It is supposed to be visceral, graphic, even violent. It is supposed to invoke some deeply rooted reaction or experience. Most important of all though, ‘vomiting’ serves a function. It is a defensive mechanism. A mode of clearance. I want people to react deeply to BlackVomit. I want BlackVomit to create experiences that connect emotionally, culturally, socially. Let BlackVomit’s function be providing a safe place for all of the black diaspora to feel seen, to purge, to begin to heal. Get mad, disagree with me, call me out when I am wrong, support me when I am right; join us in our joy, our sorrows; share my interest and introduce me to others. Together lets all vomit up that which burdens, enlightens, impedes, entertains, and oppresses so that we may all walk as if we have the right to be here. I may have found a mission statement after all, would you look at that.

For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?

For me, there are multiple rewarding aspects of being a creative. One such aspect being the actual act of creating. I don’t know if anyone can tell from my stage name but I do indeed have a little bit of a god complex. What’s more god-like than wielding power over destruction and creation, bringing forth that which was once intangible into reality? Creating art, writing, filming, editing literally empowers me–even if the empowerment usually comes at the completion of a project–I feel giddy when I string together loose thoughts in my head and manage to perfectly translate them to the soft glow of my computer screen as coherent streams of consciousness. The first few strokes of nonsensical lines upon empty canvas connecting themselves to figure and form, eventually manifesting vastness where before there was just the clean void of space; this is my spell casting, my witchcraft. And what good is a spell that does not have an effect? This ‘effect’ is the other rewarding aspect of being a creative. After all work towards the creation is done–the gathering of ingredients, finding the most auspicious day and time, the mixing and spellcasting–placing the work into the hands of others and seeing what resonates with them can be an almost spiritual experience, whether they like the creation or not. Now if they felt nothing from it at all that would be my idea of the worst thing to happen to me as a creator as it means I didn’t do my craft justice. I feel my magic has worked the best when finding kindred souls who not only resonate with my creations–negatively or positively–but understand the cogs and gears that are at play. These kindred souls I consider to be like my coven and are the final rewarding aspects of being a creative in my opinion. Sharing and interacting with other artists and creatives sparks inspiration, innovation and intellectual environments in which a creative such as myself could truly settle in comfortably. Art is so diverse, finding people who get your specific craft and can understand the witch behind it is something so valuable at times it is the only reward required. So for me, it shall always be my talents, its effect, and my coven.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/blkvomit?igsh=MTJ6OHo1NjdiajY4aw==
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/blkvomit?mibextid=ZbWKwL
• Twitter: https://x.com/blkvomit_?t=l-YO21PdDxC90o1x3cH7jQ&s=07
• Youtube: https://youtube.com/@blackvomit2215?si=Fy1Za6WY8c2NhodY
• Other: https://www.tiktok.com/@blkvomit?_t=8kyx9bcDYIk&_r=1 https://patreon.com/BlackVomit?utm_medium=unknown&utm_source=join_link&utm_campaign=creatorshare_creator&utm_content=copyLink

Image Credits
J-Writes (Joshua Whitfield, Co-host)