We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Giovanni Dortch a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Giovanni , thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Can you talk to us about a project that’s meant a lot to you?
One of the most meaningful projects I’ve worked on to date is the Reproductive Justice and HIV prevention comic book LUNA: Unleashed, published by the Black Women’s Health Imperative (BWHI) under their On Our Own Terms initiative . This project was incredibly important because it was a combination of years of community service, my personal experiences, and my work as an activist.
A little over a decade ago, I relocated from Texas to my hometown in Memphis, Tennessee. A few months after my arrival, a good friend of mine who was an HIV advocate reached out and asked for a donation to AIDS Walk Atlanta. I happily sent her a contribution and didn’t think anymore about it. Within the next three years, I experienced a series of HIV related deaths in my extended family, among my friends, and within my community. While the losses themselves were devastating, what was more devastating was the fact that no one spoke out about what was happening. I knew HIV was preventable, but there was very little messaging around the issue, and despite the leaps and bounds in medical advancement for treatment of HIV, people were still either unaware that HIV was still a health issue, or simply refusing to even discuss prevention due to the stigma surrounding it.
I began to find opportunities to volunteer, speak publicly and engage in advocacy around HIV prevention. This was a familiar experience since I earned my Girl Scout Gold Award ( the highest award in Scouting) as a teen by completing a series of sex ed workshops for middle school girls at various public housing projects in Memphis. I eventually joined the board of an organization founded by the aforementioned friend and we began building programs to disrupt the barriers to health for Black women and girls to allow them to live healthy and whole lives. In the course of our work together, I was able to partner with BWHI and join their team as the writer on the comic book. LUNA features a super-shero Luna Munroe, who uses her parkour skills and psychic abilities to save the women and girls in her community from unhealthy relationships, predatory politicians and risky activities that could contribute to them acquiring STIs/HIV. This was a full circle moment for me, as I had worked for years behind the scenes with Legends Press Comics founder Quinn McGowan on many of his comics and artistic installments.
Writing and building out the LUNA Unleashed comic was a great opportunity to blend my background as a sociologist, my writing and editing skills as principal consultant of Zenzile’s Way Consulting and my community health/health advocacy skills from being an reproductive justice advocate and yoga instructor. The writing process was challenging, because as an academic, my writing has to be specific and expansive, which is the opposite of comic writing. Comic writing requires relatively sparse text to allow the art to express aspects of the story. I got to practice serialization of stories, plotting character arcs and story arcs while also educating readers on safe and healthy relationships, HIV prevention, maternal health, colorism and a host of other social issues prevalent among youth and young adults. Overall I had a great experience, and still got to utilize my academic skills by including reference pages for readers who want to learn more information.
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.
For me, music, art, literature and creative writing were always a part of my life. My mom taught me classic jazz songs as a child, and started me on piano lessons in elementary school. Although music was not my forte, I developed an appreciation for live performance that has lasted a lifetime. I was a theatre kid throughout high school and spent many weekends volunteering at Theatre MemphisI was always an avid reader, and I would read everything from liner notes to magazines to recipes and literature. I spent many early mornings at the beauty shop reading black hair magazines, and even created my own reading curriculum as a middle schooler because we never read books by Black authors at school. The local library was definitely my happy place.
In the early 2010’s, I began writing for the music culture website NeoSoulVille.com, under the direction of Memphis music legend Tonya Dyson. I was also able to offer support for and gain more experience in producing live events, festivals, performances and fashion shows as a part of the NeoSoulVille team. I began my consulting firm, Zenzilé’s Way Consulting shortly before joining NeoSoulVille. As principal consultant, I offer writing, editing, sensitivity reading and program development services. In my capacity as an editor, I was able to work with authors from across the country to tell their stories through novels, autobiographies and poetry. I was also involved in theatrical productions at Harkin’s House Productions under the direction of Memphis playwright Chandra Kamaria. Lastly, I spent a few years as Front of House Manager for the only all African American burlesque troupe, The Mahogany Covergirls, founded by the late Malaika Salaam.
By the time I began working in comics, I had a broad range of work in various spaces within the entertainment scene. I started as administrative support to Quinn McGowan, an artist, emcee, and founder of Legends Press Comics. In this capacity, I was able to learn the processes involved in publishing a comic, developing stories and character arcs, as well as build my network in the industry. When the opportunity to write for LUNA: Unleashed came along, I was able to blend the administrative and creative sides seamlessly. I even had a connection with the original writer, the late Shay Youngblood.
Through my experiences, academic training and community relationships, I was able to truly bring the main character Luna to life on the page. Developing her character, exploring the city of Atlanta— where the story was set, building her family, friends and enemies on the page was an exhilarating experience that I am still grateful for to this day.
My work on LUNA: Unleashed proved to be a shining example of the importance of practical knowledge, scholarship and creativity coming together to build a product with broad impact. This is the skill set that I bring to every project I work on for every client I serve. It is rare to find the perfect fit” and in this case, I was able to work with a team that truly kept the goal in mind, and developed a magnificent offering. This level of expertise is something truly great projects deserve, and I look forward to being able to continue working in the creative arena building out epic projects so they can have the impact they truly deserve. My background in sociology and public health, the arts and entertainment, and activism culminate in brilliant work that always support clients in increasing their visibility and profitability.
What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?
As an activist and advocate I’ve been able to blend my understanding of the world and my lived experience as well as my academic training into a vehicle that informs my creative work. As a person who grew up reading authors like Angelou, Morrison, Baldwin, Hansberry, I was very aware of the practice of both telling one’s story, and the power in telling one’s story. I learned that there is a certain level of integrity one has to have as an artist, of any genre. I earned my undergraduate degree in Political Science and spent significant time studying social movements in the area of human rights and labor rights. I was able to ready and study firsthand the role that creative have in social movements, I learned that there is a certain level of integrity one has to have as an artist as well as the commitment necessary for movement work of any type, be it civil rights, women’s rights, environmental preservation etc. One lesson I had to learn was that everyone else in social movements may not carry this same respect or value for the work. That even in movements for justice people will behave unjustly; that even in the process of creation, people may behave unethically. For me authenticity both in character and in practice are things I value highly and make an effort to live in. Because of this, I have leaned to choose the people I work with carefully. I prefer to have alignment with clients on the mission and the means in order to safely do my best work. When you’re in business, the reality is everyone may not share those ethics. So for me, it became a practice to not take things personally, while at the same time, investing a certain level of my personal touch, skills, experience and training to bring excellence to the project.
Are there any resources you wish you knew about earlier in your creative journey?
I think one of the resources I wish I had known about earlier was the skill of how to navigate getting the support that I truly needed in the beginning from both the capital side of business and the mentorship and advising aspect. Now, business coaches are everywhere, you can scroll any social media site and see people giving business advice all day. There are podcasts, newsletters, online groups. Professional groups are online now as well.
I really wish there was more practical support for people new to entrepreneurship. I remember visiting small business centers and really being treated rudely, being told no one was familiar with my industry, and generally being discouraged. The library became my biggest resource for trainings, learning processes, contracts, specialization and processes. A lot of creatives end up having to take losses because they have not done what needs to be done on the business side of their business. Since I work with other creatives and have found myself engaging in creative work as well, I’m acutely aware of the importance of education.
If I were to start my business over today, I’d have a completely different strategy, because there are infinitely more opportunities to learn, connect and grow. On the other hand, I have not seen much change when it comes to funding and financial resources for new business owners. There are so many things to learn, and I’d love to see input on both the advice and investment sides for new business owners.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.giovannidortch.com
- Linkedin: /giovannidortch
- Other: https://Www.ZenzilesWay.com
Image Credits
Pic 1 . Giovanni Dortch in library with blue suit Photographer : Ryan Stewart
Pic 2 & 3 Luna Unleashed Issue 2 and 4 covers Image credit : Quinn McGowan
Pic 4. Comic Con Presentation Flyer Featuring LUNA Unleashed Writer Image Credit: Lorran Garrison