We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Devon J Hall. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Devon J below.

Devon J , thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. So let’s jump to your mission – what’s the backstory behind how you developed the mission that drives your brand?

So in 2018, I had a massive panic attack on an airplane. I had been gangraped several years prior, and on the plane, suddenly it hit me. I had been gang-raped, and I was headed home from Winnipeg, to deal with it, and I was afraid, so hence, panic attack.

The airplane attendants had me arrested, and I was screaming, because I was scared, while also trying to explain that I couldn’t breathe, and couldn’t catch my breath, the cop, a white man, and his white female partner, called me a loud mouth brown bitch, and I promised I would make it the most powerful brand in the world by ensuring I never forgot how in a moment of weakness, I was kicked, bruised, thrown against a wall and onto the floor. I would never forget the bruises on my body that night or the coming days, or how afraid I was to return home to deal with everything I had been ignoring for years, out of a need to keep my sanity.

Six days later, Loud Mouth Brown Girl was born, and now we discuss mental health, sexuality, cannabis, intersectionality, and diversity.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

When I got home from the panic attack from Hell, I had a choice. I knew I needed help, deep psychiatric help, but I also needed something right away! I needed something to numb me because I felt a huge tsunami of emotions coming up, and I couldn’t breathe, even at home. I was breathless in ways that I don’t know how to explain, so I decided to start smoking cannabis.

I knew others who said it had helped with their anxiety and depression, and it had on the rare occasions I smoked it, always helped me to sleep, so I started with that, while I looked for therapeutic options.

Cannabis changed my life. Suddenly I started painting, and I was really good at it, I enjoyed it, and I couldn’t stop painting. For a full year and six months, I painted every canvas, wooden box, and pair of pants I could get my hands on.

I also started writing Loud Mouth Brown Girl, every day, writing about my mental health, what I had been through, who I thought had set me up to get raped, who I thought was involved, and there was a long list. I was wrong about a lot of stuff, so I deleted those posts, but they were there, me in my full “I was a victim and I am not any more” glory.

Now I focus on writing about mental health, my journey with racism, sexism, classism, and poverty, as well as diversity and intersectionality. I’ve self-published two books, one a book of essays called Uncomfortable. And a second called Uncomfortable II: Fundamental Foundations For Mental Health Content Creators. It includes journal prompts, activities, essays, and all kinds of new and old ways to get to know yourself outside of today’s socially conventional ideas of how to learn who you are and how your brain works.

I’ve made friends all over the world and because of them, I’ve been encouraged to start designing t-shirts, coffee mugs, digital prints, and other goodies with my work on them. I couldn’t be more proud of how far I’ve come since I had that panic attack, and all of the easy and not so easy details are on my website at Loud Mouth Brown Girl (dot) com.

We’d love to hear the story of how you built up your social media audience?

People want to feel valued. They want to know that they are more than just customers. In 2022 I lost my Twitter Account for a short period of time and switched to my official account for LMBG. Almost all the people that followed me on one account followed me on the other, and that’s because I’ve worked hard to build genuine friendships with folks through social media.

I don’t talk at them I speak with them, we enjoy spending time getting to know each other, and they buy my products or promote my work because they want to see me succeed. I’ve been very lucky that social media has been so kind to me when it has been so cruel to so many others, but it’s also a great deal of work to prove that I genuinely want to get to know the people that I am speaking to so that I know what it is that I want to say.

Is there something you think non-creatives will struggle to understand about your journey as a creative? Maybe you can provide some insight – you never know who might benefit from the enlightenment.

As I write this, due to a series of events out of my control, I am living in a hotel. I am still trying to write every day and be creative. I am not always successful, but before I do anything else LMBG comes first. It has to, it’s the foundation of my future, I may not be where I want to be yet, but I absolutely will get there. I am unafraid of my future because I know I am doing the work to prove that what I say I want, is what I really want.

I want Loud Mouth Brown Girl to inspire all people, but specifically girls with brown skin, girls who don’t believe that they are allowed to be loud, or girls who are trans, and who are told they don’t have a right to exist. I want this brand to represent one day, all girls, of all shades of brown, whatever that word “brown” means to you.

Loud Mouth Girls deserve to have their shot in the sun, they deserve to shine like diamonds, they deserve to be told they are beautiful and have it not be a lie, and I want to be a part of making sure those doors get opened for girls like me and stay opened.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.loudmouthbrowngirl.com
• Instagram: www.instagram.com/originallmbg
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/originallmbg
• Twitter: www.twitter.com/devonjhall

Image Credits
Photo Credit, Devon J Hall