We recently connected with Tameeka Castillo and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Tameeka, thanks for joining us today. What sort of legacy are you hoping to build. What do you think people will say about you after you are gone, what do you hope to be remembered for?

This has to be one of the most difficult questions I have asked myself many of times before. Because I have been one of those persons who suffered in silence, pertaining to that of depression, hope that many would not have to do the same. I hope many find or create spaces and places where they are free to be and free to build. I hope my story would be one where many can say “if she did it then I can too.” For me, it has and would always be the essence of being able to save one parson and by extension saving a future generation.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

Currently, I am the youngest radio presenter at i95.5fm. I do not think I have the correct words to express how fulfilling of an experience these couple of months has been for me. It is the job I never thought I would have landed. But here I am and I bask in every moment of me having to interact with the nation. It has gotten to a point of me realizing my impact on others, something I did not know I posses. It’s walking into that studio and reminding myself that three years ago I had no idea this is where I would now be.

For many who don’t know I have been struggling with depression for a really long time and one of my best escapes was that of sleeping. I would lock myself in my room when the depression got the better of me and I would disappear from the world. However, now I am in a place and space where the challenge of showing up and showing out is more demanding because I have persons who depend on hearing me. I am learning that my words make a diffidence. I am seeing more and more that my presence is needed and that I happen to be a light for many.

Within , my love for media there is no denying that writing has been my first love. It was my prefect escape from not only myself but the things I had going on around me. Being a creative comes with a lot of internal pressures. You tend to think that your work is never good enough. You sit and wonder whether or not it would be received in the manner in which you would like it to. However, being a creative gives you an avenue to be all the things you would like to be. It gives you freedom and expression and it many ways it allows you to discover who and what you are.

Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?

The most impactful lesson I learnt was the lesson of showing up. My depression got the better of me too many times before and my go to route was to always hide. I felt as though the world saw me breaking into pieces. I would always think that everyone knew that something was wrong with me and it was in that case that I was always hiding. I was always believing that I was never enough. And its only after sometime I realized that I just needed to show up. Show up as my authentic self. Show up with my broken pieces. Show up with my scars and my fears and my doubts. Because it was through this process I understood that my words and my ideas and my beliefs had and still have a way to helping others who just wants someone to show up on their behalf.

We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.

I lost my daughter’s father while I was in the process of writing my second book and from the looks of it I was not going to complete it. To make matters worst Covid came and added to the pressures of the world I was already existing in. But I remembered him falling ill and was not able to attend the launch of my first book while promising me he would be present for the second one. But as life has it, he was not present for any. However, something about those words, which I am yet to find the words to explain how it pushed me. And for months I sat and created and recreated then recreated some more, “Something In Between.”

It was on the completion of this project I realized that I conquered all the notions in my head that was forcing me to believe that I wasn’t suppose to create what I created. And for someone like me, who passionately starts something but never completes it, it was a finish line that did not come easy. It took more psychology power than the physical creation of the book for me to be able to say “In spite of everything I created Something In Between.”

Contact Info:

• Instagram: castillotameeka

Image Credits
Aaron Nicholls for the pictures of me in the leopard suit and the one with me in the studio