Encore: Living Out Loud with Jenjii Hysten

I’m honored to bring you a final episode in a weekly series I’ve released this May in honor of Mother’s Day and the Mother’s Quest Manifesto Challenge I facilitated in the private group. The other morning, as I searched my intuition for what episode to end the month with, in a flash I thought about this conversation with my friend Jenjii Hysten. At the 40 minute mark, the discussion, real and vulnerable, in which we talk about not only our differences as women of different races and religions, but also our common humanity as mothers of sons, still stands out as one of the most powerful moments in now over 60 conversations I’ve recorded. So much has changed since we released that episode. Trump, recently elected at the time of recording, of course has now been President for several years and his administration has only deepened the divides and injustices that were already with us. My son Ryan did decide to visit Jenjii and Franklin’s ministry, an experience that profoundly touched him and impacted the speech he shared at his bar mitzvah, a beautiful event that Jenjii and Franklin attended with their two sons. All our boys are now years older, and all deepened their own social awareness in ways both painful and empowering. And Jenjii and I have each stepped into our own activism in different ways, each committing to powerful conversations to build bridges of awareness, understanding and transformation. Ones that I’ve recorded with Mothers Against Police Brutality co-founder Sara Mokuria and with Trayvon Martin’s mother, Sybrina Fulton are linked here. Jenjii says that she is still committed to Living out Loud, the guiding theme you’ll hear her talk about. But now she has a much clearer sense of what that really means. She is currently writing a book, and though she and her husband decided to close their ministry, their consulting business is thriving, they’ve joined another church where they preach, and she says she has learned that her life is her ministry. When we spoke today to catch up, I told Jenjii that sounded to me like one powerful Manifesto and possibly the title of her book. Whether you heard it once before, or its new to you, I hope you enjoy this episode. And that these reflections and the conversation that follows may spark you to claim your own manifesto, to reach out to build your own bridges of awareness and connection, and to live your own Life Out Loud. Much appreciation,

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Living Out Loud with Jenjii Hysten

I am honored to bring you this intimate, inspired conversation with Jenjii Hysten, a mother, coach, and community leader who I deeply admire.

I have known Jenjii for almost a decade now, through my connection with her husband Franklin. But in recent months, Jenjii’s raw and vulnerable sharing about what it is like to be the mother of two black boys and fear for their safety, caused me to move past my worry of saying or doing the wrong thing and reach out to her in a whole different way.

Our honest conversation about the ways in which we’ve stepped out of our comfort zones to live out loud and forge connections with one another based on our common humanity, as mothers of sons, was one of the most powerful moments I have had yet on the Mother’s Quest Podcast.

Jenjii is an advocate, teacher, student, facilitator and a voice for the voiceless. She was born in Los Angeles but says that Oakland raised her. She studied Interdisciplinary-Studies with an emphasis on Urban/Economic Development at UC Berkeley, holds a CompassPoint Executive Director certificate and is an ordained minister.

In her early 20s, she worked with the Children’s Defense Fund for a program called Freedom School and says it saved her life. This is where she learned the beauty of Servant Leadership, which is one of her core values. As the Founder of SOS, Saving Our Sisters Saving our Selves, over the course of 10 years, she served hundreds of girls throughout the Bay Area. In her 20+ years working, Jenjii has served as a Program Director, Executive Director, Dean of Students, Curriculum Designer, started New Life Ministries with her husband Franklin, and is currently the Co-founder and CEO of Hysten Consulting, LLC.

I hope you enjoy this episode as much as I did. I was struck by the concept of rhythm, and how it can manifest in our lives, our children, our bodies, our communities, and perhaps most importantly, our collective humanity. I hope you will leave the conversation, as I did, inspired to think about the ways in which you can find your rhythm and live out loud in your own E.P.I.C. life.

• Being on a quest to “live out ...