Hi! I'm Zaakirah (zaa-key-ra) I help you Go from where you are (stuck, stagnant, scared) and where you want to go in your business and life (freedom). I provide Black and Indigenous creatives with strategies that empower them to achieve their goals through branding and storytelling, and marketing.For the last 20 years, I've been storytelling by any creative means necessary; photography, writing, film, and podcasting.I check all the Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility boxes.I’m a visually impaired, hard of hearing, cancer survivor, chronically ill Muslim Woman. Knowing your history helps you propel and prepare for your future. Entrepreneurship is ownership, and flexibility is key. Sign up for my semi-weekly newsletter!
Your Storytelling Resources for the Week + A Quick Life Update!
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Greetings Reader, It is officially the most wonderful time of the year and understandably that time of year where you want to start winding down and reflecting. It begins, the 30 day countdown until my "Jesus Year" birthday, — a milestone symbolizing growth, purpose, and stepping into your calling. This week has been full-circle for me in the best way. Between supporting new clients, deepening my creative strategy work, and integrating and teaching AI, I’ve also had the honor of showing up in a few powerful spaces that are now live for you to watch. Here are three replays I’m excited to share with you: 🎥 1. Diversability: Build Your Brand Using AI (35 Minute YouTube Replay)✨ The “Build Your Brand Using AI” webinar ✨ How disabled, neurodivergent, and chronically ill creators can use AI ethically and strategically, emphasized the critical need to train AI models with your personal story, bio, values, and specific writing style to ensure the generated content remains authentic to your brand voice. I advised against letting AI completely take over, stressing the importance of human input and editing. We also talked about: How to define your brand through storytelling.
If you missed my live session with Diversability, here’s the full replay, watch here: 🎧 2. HealtheVoices Podcast Compilation (60 Minute YouTube Video)I enjoyed my time at HealtheVoices Conference, the third time attending overall but the first one in person. While there I had the honor of leading an advocacy group. I also had the honor of interviewing five health advocates (Lupus, Diabetes, ADHD, Pulmonary arterial hypertension, and Multiple myeloma), including Dr. Kojo Sarfo who was featured in the HealtheVoices Podcast compilation - a beautiful gathering of voices sharing lived experience, advocacy, and healing through storytelling. : Watch or Listen here: 👁️ 3. NPR Oklahoma Segment (10 Minute YouTube Audio)October which was World Blindness Month, I finally had the Eye Health Fair at the Community Hospital in the area where the orphanage is where I had been volunteering technically for the last year. This event was a year in the making, born from the realization of the lack of professional eye care when I first arrived in Kwale County on the Coast of Kenya November 2024. It required extensive fundraising and relationship-building across language and cultural barriers. The community's happiness was felt, and they are already asking when we will host the next one. I was able to tell the story about it from the media correspondent perspective and I interviewed two of the nonprofit partners, one from Good Vision Kenya, and the other from Kwale Eye Centre. You can hear my segment or the full episode here: I’m speaking at EYE Connect Virtual Conference by Eyehesive on December 6, 2025. Eyehesive is a community of people living with one eye, navigating vision loss, life altering injuries, embracing prosthetics, advocating for disability inclusion, and standing boldly in your stories. This is a collaboration; it’s a movement. From losing vision in my right eye to retinoblastoma cancer at 6 months old to wearing a prosthetic right eye ever since, to delivering a TEDx talk called “Seeing Life From a Different Lens,” to building bridges for marginalized communities, visibility is power and community is everything. At this conference, I’ll be speaking about: 💡 Turning your story into impact and brand power 💡 Navigating advocacy through authenticity 💡 Building inclusive communities that celebrate difference Vision isn’t limited to what we see and don't - it’s about the purpose that drives us. Get your tickets Now! 📅 Quick Update: Brand Building Webinar and Creative Retreat PostponedBecause I recently onboarded a couple of new clients (🙏🏽✨), I want to make sure the upcoming Brand Building Webinar gets my full attention and is truly valuable for you. So the session is being moved to: 📌 Tentative New Date: Saturday, December 13 More details + the updated registration link will go out soon. The January Kenya Retreat is also postponed. Life has been lifing with my immediate family and yours and I can tell those dates did not work for you, also. Thank you for your patience, support, and energy.Whether you’re here to: ✨ Build your brand ✨ Strengthen your storytelling ✨ Pivot your creative journey ✨ Or learn how to use AI with confidence… I’m honored to grow with you. I am still taking clients, so reach out for your consult or strategy call. Until next week, Zaakirah
P.S. Accessibility should be easy. But right now, it’s anything but. My friend Erin Perkins, a deafblind accessibility educator, is building something revolutionary: Successible, the Accessibility Assistant. https://www.mabelyq.com/successible-the-accessibility-assistant |
Your Branding and Marketing Therapist
Hi! I'm Zaakirah (zaa-key-ra) I help you Go from where you are (stuck, stagnant, scared) and where you want to go in your business and life (freedom). I provide Black and Indigenous creatives with strategies that empower them to achieve their goals through branding and storytelling, and marketing.For the last 20 years, I've been storytelling by any creative means necessary; photography, writing, film, and podcasting.I check all the Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility boxes.I’m a visually impaired, hard of hearing, cancer survivor, chronically ill Muslim Woman. Knowing your history helps you propel and prepare for your future. Entrepreneurship is ownership, and flexibility is key. Sign up for my semi-weekly newsletter!
Greetings Reader, Can you believe it's the Final Friday of December? We’re standing at the edge of the year now. Not fully finished, not yet begun — just aware. This is the time of year I pay attention to what’s still echoing: the conversations, the risks, the places that stretched me, and the ideas that refused to let go. Sitting with what actually happened for me this year? What changed me and shaped me? What am I no longer forcing and letting it just flow? After three decades on this...
Reader, Twas' the day before my birthday and it is always a private party. It’s a pause — a moment to look behind me before launching forward. While I get ready to celebrate with cake slices, sparkling juice and rom coms, I wanted to send a snapshot of the stories, work, the stories, and the threads I’ve been holding over the last 350 days. So here are things to watch, listen to, take action on, and read. If you want to read: My year-end recap is now live on Substack — a five-minute read...
Reader, We’re officially 8 days until my birthday, and this year feels… different. Some years/birthdays ask you to celebrate. Others ask you to lock down and lock in because change is coming. This is one of those years. The last two times I felt this exact shift were both seasons that transformed me: 2011, when I was temporarily living with my uncle in the Washington D.C. area, grounding myself before stepping into photography school and a new creative identity. 2022, when my parents took...