We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Kaamilah Mixon a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Kaamilah, appreciate you joining us today. What did your parents do right and how has that impacted you in your life and career?

What a great question! I’d like to start by saying that I’m so grateful to my parents for without them I would not have been born to exist. Both of my parents have done beneficial things that have impacted my life and career. My mother has provided for my basic needs and beyond throughout my life. As a child my mother invested in opportunities for me to be a cheerleader, attend summer camps, be a part of my school’s choir, take part in school plays, take dance classes, model with Elite Model Management at 13 and pursue my education up to the completion of my masters degree. My mother has supported me in being a big dreamer and turning those dreams into reality. I attribute my fearlessness and courageousness to her because I’ve walked through obstacles with the strength of knowing that she supports me. As for my father, when I was a young child, he came to visit with my siblings and I and we went to a mall in Atlanta, GA. We took a picture together and my father got all of us a shirt made with that picture on it. My father was visiting for a short while and having that shirt provided me great comfort throughout the years. He always made me feel loved and valued. He always had great pride about his children and family and that has always driven me in everything I do. Another story that illustrates my father’s positive impact on my life would be when I spent my 8th birthday with him and my siblings in my hometown of New York. There were two things in particular that stuck out to me: my father took me to a hair salon to get yarn braids and I got two blue braids in the front and when we were visiting with my younger brother who resided in New York I made fun of him for being short and my father scolded me. The story of me getting yarn braids with blue hair in the front represents my uniqueness and individuality being celebrated and the story of my father scolding me for calling my brother short represents a moment I recognized that although I was joking it could really be hurtful and it made me more self aware. The life enrichment I gathered from those experiences have shaped me as a social worker and a creative in the community.

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?

I am originally from New York; I grew up living primarily in Georgia and I moved to Orlando after high school where I attended the University of Central Florida. I view myself as an intellectual creative with a profound interest in spiritual evolution. I earned my bachelors and masters degree in social work with a certificate in children’s services. I have serviced youth in foster care, as a mental health counselor, as a child therapist and currently as a school social worker. I am driven by my passion to see youth, specifically those in marginalized and underserved communities gain equitable opportunities and accommodations for education and creative endeavors. Creatively, I’ve performed from a young age in the arenas of modeling, dance, poetry and scholarly organizations. I began modeling at age 13. In regard to the modeling industry, I attended Barbizon School of Modeling & Acting before I was signed to Elite Model Management of Atlanta. I gained development with Ariza Talent & Modeling Agency Inc in Longwood, FL. I am currently further developing myself as a model with The Brand Model Development Network. In regard to dancing, I have always danced for fun since I was young. I attempted to join dance groups as a teen yet that didn’t work out. I began taking West African Dance after starting college and gained opportunities to perform during different celebrations such as Kwanzaa. A few years after graduating college I began taking Afrobeat, Afro Fusion, Hip-Hop and Twerk classes. In regard to poetry, I’ve been writing since I was 15 and performing since I was 17. I began writing in a high school literature class as a sophomore and continue to do so.

Services and creative works that I offer include print and runway modeling, freestyle dance and featured poetry sets. I’m most proud of uniquely chartering my path both professionally and creatively. I have several interests and I’ve been discouraged at times based on other people’s perceptions that I was doing too much. Even with those perceptions, I stay committed to my self-expression and the vision that I’ve always had for myself and my contribution to the world. While my brand is still in development I’d like potential clients, followers and fans to know that some of my future goals include earning a PHD, gaining a role as a professor and starting my own agency that will serve youth in underserved communities. The agency will offer mindset coaching and an array of classes that foster physical, emotional, mental, spiritual and creative cultivation.

Is there mission driving your creative journey?

The goal of creating a non-profit agency for youth to provide a space for their unique self-expression to be cultivated and celebrated largely drives my creative journey. In addition,the goal of cultivating community spaces where everyone is welcome and celebrated in their creative expression is a huge impetus in my creative journey. On my creative journey two dance businesses (LIVE2MOVE & Timeless Rhythm) have cultivated community spaces that have inspired the evolution of my goals and also drives my creative journey. LIVE2MOVE introduces people to West African dance, creates a positive environment to learn dance and helps participants receive mental and physical benefits that can be used to accomplish their personal goals. Timeless Rhythm represents freedom, a safe space and a chance to be yourself through the expression of dance. My creative journey has been fueled by dance largely because it is a goal of mine to dance through life and continue to grow in my creative self expression.

What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?

A lesson that I’ve had to unlearn is that if a person didn’t grow up with the same cultural knowledge as me then I needed to “save them” with the knowledge I had access to. I grew up in a community with a basis in Kemetic knowledge. It was commonplace for people in the community to take different books and go to different parts of whatever city they were in to talk to strangers passing by about the knowledge in the books. While I respect that as a choice some people make and while that may be helpful for some I had to unlearn that. I don’t think it is my place to save anybody or even be qualified in knowing what it means for a person to be saved. That took me years to unlearn and I would often martyr and sacrifice my time and energy in detriment to myself prior to releasing that mindset. Currently, I enjoy being of service and assisting others in ways that empower their self-determination.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: mystic_scholar
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kaamilah-mixon-msw-0120964a/

Image Credits
Max Austin