We were lucky to catch up with Antionna Fuller recently and have shared our conversation below.

Antionna, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today I’m sure there have been days where the challenges of being an artist or creative force you to think about what it would be like to just have a regular job. When’s the last time you felt that way? Did you have any insights from the experience?

You know, I do sometimes wonder what it would be like. I appreciate the security and stability a consistent paycheck brings in. I catch myself browsing the internet for jobs but can never quite find “the one.” I pray for opportunities flexible enough for me to work and fund my creative dreams. Sometimes I spend hours brainstorming creative ways I can pay my bills. To sum it up, it’s hard being a creative.

It’s hard putting your life into your work, just for others to critique it, ignore it, or persuade you to do something else. It’s hard to gauge when you should keep going or pivot. It’s hard having a list of creative ideas without finances to execute them. It’s hard being the only one that can see a vision that God gave you. It’s hard being trusted to see it through with little to no support.

I’ve learned however, you must choose your hard. What’s the alternative? Doing something you hate? Living life unfulfilled? Living your life for others? For me, the answer is easy. I spent a lot of my life doing what others thought I should do. I spent a lot of years unhappy. As a creative and entrepreneur, I am free to do what I love. And that – freedom – makes me happy.

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.

My name is Antionna Fuller. God calls me Love, Hope and Servant. Others know me as a law school graduate turned Founder of Healing Households. Healing Households is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit located in Columbia, SC dedicated to breaking generational cycles of pain and poverty. We seek to heal families holistically through our five pillars: Healing and Reconciliation, Family Engagement and Exposure, Love and Healthy Relationships, Generational Wealth Building, and Spiritual Nourishment and Growth. Our greatest hope is to make life easier for the generations coming after us.

We recently celebrated our first birthday! While operating in our first year, we faced many “newborn” challenges. For example, many grants require nonprofits to have operated for at least one year. Because of this, we were ineligible to apply for grants this year. However, we did not let this stop us. We learned that sometimes you have to do the best you can, with what you have, where you are. We stewarded well this year by researching, preparing and crafting our signature programs. This December, we launched our first service program to begin in January 2024!

There are many parenting concerns when it comes to growing up in a minority household. We listened to children voice concerns relating to the way parents communicate, discipline, support financially and more. We created our Intentional Black Parenting Program to communicate the common concerns in Black households, combat these experiences by teaching parents healthy and culturally conscious alternatives, and to strengthen the parent-child connection. It is a seven-week program covering seven common concerns. Our goal is to reduce shame and blame by inviting parents and children into the other’s stories. We recognize that in most cases, our parents are repeating what they’ve experienced. They, too, did not always feel safe or seen growing up. In this way, we provide opportunities for parents and children to heal together.

Although I am not a practicing attorney, I am still a zealous advocate. In my free time, I am the voice of Reforming 1996, a faith-based movement dedicated to reforming the 1996 Welfare Reform Bill. Here, I advocate for single parents and “deadbroke” dads, to empower unmarried families to see the welfare and child support agency as the enemy instead of one another.

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

Letting go of entitlement and pride was a lesson that helped me become a better person, a more intentional leader, and a more effective creative. In my case, I felt entitled to relief. After being in a prolonged helpless state, you start to believe everyone, even God, owes you. This is not true.

During my time in law school, I had the opportunity to speak at an Anti-Poverty Symposium. During this event, I promoted the demand for equitable need-based funding in higher educational institutions to protect first-generation students from returning to a life of instability and poverty. I also shared my personal experience and frustration with not receiving a University-sponsored scholarship that would have prevented me from doing so.

The scholarship offered free tuition to incoming students committing their law degree to public service. The problem was I applied later in the application cycle (common for minority students,) so scholarships had already been awarded for my class. Still, knowing my financial need and loyalty to public service, I “shot my shot” by asking if I could “walk on” as a scholar. They were unable to complete this request and I completely understood. To me, it was worth asking! However, when I would learn about incoming students turning down these scholarship offers, see current scholars take corporate, rather than service, opportunities, or receive an email seeing millions being donated to the University, my heart would break.

As these events took place, my faithfulness to service remained. I received awards for my devotion to public service, secured internship opportunities fighting for the vulnerable, and held leadership positions in almost every student-run public interest organization at the University. Yet, I would be graduating from my law school in six figure student loan debt, of which I felt this free-tuition scholarship could have relieved me of. On top of this, I experienced housing instability, worked two jobs, and became a Resident Assistant overseeing 40+ undergraduate girls to obtain free housing. Coming from a low-income background, I was terrified and tired! When will I get a break? Where was my relief? I easily saw myself in the people I wanted to represent. Like them, I wondered, am I invisible to those with the resources to help change my circumstances?

I received a standing ovation from those in the audience yet received quite the opposite response from my University. While healing and reflecting on my journey towards forgiveness, I realized I felt entitled to the scholarship because of my struggle and commitment to service. The scholarship was never mine and never due to me. Looking back, I made unfair and erroneous assumptions about their intentions and budget. I also made a genuine mistake in publicly announcing my debt estimate without reconciling my finances to categorize debt by specific school. Most importantly, I realized I wanted acknowledgement but failed to acknowledge the ways they were there for me.

God helped me to see that my University was actually a breeding place for miracles. Even more, they were in collaboration with Him to help me on my journey. Though I struggled financially, anytime I was in need, they were there to assist. God showed me that what I lacked in finances, He provided in great faculty and lasting friendship. Today I can confidently say that I am grateful for my experience, for the beautiful people there, and for my University. Overcoming pride and entitlement has taught me beautiful and necessary lessons on gratitude, grace, perseverance, accuracy, and humility.

Is there a particular goal or mission driving your creative journey?

My nieces have always been my why. They are my everything. Watching them grow up in similar situations that I grew up in motivates me to end the cycle for good. Looking at them, I feel I have a duty to make family and life better for the next generation. I want to expose them to possibility and show them that nothing is impossible.

Recently my goal has turned even more personal. In December, I turned 27 years old. This ignited my fire even more. I don’t think we realize that as we get older, so are our parents. I want to give back to my parents so that they don’t have to work as hard. I want to become more stable, secure, and independent for myself. I want to consistently make enough to live and give. The only way to do so is to keep going knowing that one day, one door will change it all.

Living a life of faith as a creative is not easy. It takes a tremendous amount of courage and vulnerability to share your pending journey with the world around you. However, I know that God will not humiliate me or put me to shame (Isaiah 54:4.) I am excited for all to come!

Contact Info:

• Website: www.healinghouseholds.org
• Instagram: @antionnaf | @healinghouseholdsofficial
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@HealingHouseholds

Image Credits
Sonia Fuller