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Black mental health is at the forefront of the Olympics and I love it

Savannah Morning News - 7/30/2021

Jul. 29—Mental health was not discussed much growing up. I knew what it was vaguely, but it was referred to primarily in clinical terms or phrases. (my mom had a psychology book from college she kept).

Often in Black communities, if someone struggled with mental health, , it was assumed something was extremely wrong . These were considered problems associated with white people.

In elementary school we learned about mental health but in a roundabout way: We learned about emotions and how some people feel sad or are not always performing at their best because there's a mental block. Our school counselors would come to classrooms and talk about this occasionally.

But still, mental health was just a hushed topic, no different than suicide. You were expected to hold that pain in and carry on with your day. Now, that I'm an adult, I don't see how my parents did that. They were raising two children and had their own responsibilities apart from us.

Who did they talk to? How did they deal with this juggling act of adulthood? Those were just some of the questions I wondered about them growing up.

So, it's refreshing to see Naomi Osaka and Simone Biles prioritize their mental health in a world that is unkind to Black people. And frankly, I don't blame them. This past year has been a doozy. We're still in a pandemic and to continue functioning at pre-pandemic levels on a large platform is a heavy weight to carry.

But no matter the circumstance, Black people do have mental health issues and they should be taken seriously beyond when we're in a crisis. So, as you head into your weekend, take care of yourself and remember your mental health matters.

Raisa Habersham

The 912 newsletter will highlight a local Black artist every two months as the header image for the weekly issue. This month's artist is Sharonna Ray.

Follow Sharonna at her website and on Instagram:

Website: https://sharonnaray.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ronniesworldofart/

I first knew about Somayah McKinney, also known as Mayah the Maker, through Elondia Harden who was previously featured in The 912. I went to her social media page and immediately fell in love. "A woman who works with her hands?!" *Swoons* McKinney spoke about her woodworking passions, her entrepreneurial upbringing in Reidsville, Georgia, and her role in human resources.

Raisa Habersham: I was looking at your Instagram page, and I said, 'Oh, this is nice.' Could you tell us just a little bit about your business?

Somayah McKinney: What I like to do is just make stuff, truthfully. I've kind of cornered myself a little bit; I'm trying to get out of this, this unique corner that I've created for myself and woodworking. But I started years ago with event planning. I had a lot of issues trying to find quality vendors to make those little intricate things that brides like to have like gift boxes and robes.

So, I purchased a Cricut, and I started making cups, robes, hangers, things of that nature. Then I became what I like to call a vendor's vendor. So I just kind of teamed up with other event planners to create a nice little market for myself. And then I realized I wanted to make other things. So, I hard stopped at event planning. I was still using my logo and my event planning brand, but I just felt like it was further boxing me in.

So, I created Mayah the Maker, just so I could make stuff. Honestly, that's what I want to do. I just want to make stuff. It doesn't matter what it is, doesn't matter how difficult it may seem, I just kinda like to build and work with my hands. So, anything from glassware, acrylics to wallpapering and woodworking if it's something that can be created. I feel like I should be able to do it. And most times I can.

RH: I like that and I think that's the vibe I got looking at your business. I was like, 'Wow, she's like actually using her hands to create things. That's something that I would love to be able to do, just create with my hands. Can you talk about the time and effort that goes into making the signs? Because I think people look at it and assume it's easy. And it's not.

SM: Oh, no, absolutely not. I tell everybody, each sign has a piece of my whole home in it. So, I start normally crafting the sign in my head, I sketch it out generally. And then if it's not something that I've done before, I want to put a twist on it. I always am in competition with myself to try to make it better than the last time that I made something similar or the last time that I made something that could be compared to it later.

So, initially, I was making all paint vinyl signs. Now, I've upgraded some of my equipment and now I can double up on wood signs. But the thing I think that people misinterpret is that these signs are quick. They're not. Most days, most times when I'm making a sign, we're talking probably 120 plus hours of just compilation. So, if I'm scrolling a sign with my scroll saw, it takes — for an eight-layer, five-inch piece —anywhere from 10 to 45 minutes just to get that one piece. And normally, I've got two to three feet of coverage. So, it takes me three or four hours just to make the wood unless I'm lasering it.

And then once I get it how I want it, I have to sand it. And then I prime it. And the prime requires 24-hour dry time or it will bulk up. And then I sand it some more the next day. And then I wait and then I paint it, or I scratch it and I start over. So, there are times where I'll go three days working on a project and something happens that I have to start from scratch. So, my lead time normally for a quality, all wood sign, not even factoring in if I've got to include acrylic, is about a week and a half. And that's just to get it finished. If I really want it to be cured and everything, I'm looking at like two weeks. So yeah, it's fairly time-consuming.

RH: Oh, wow. And it's just you.

SM: It's just me. My dad built our home when I was a little girl, and so he is an old-school woodworker. So, everything that I do, all my tricks and other stuff, I get from my daddy. So, sometimes my dad will come and he'll help me cut rounds and things of that nature, but for the most part, it is me. My husband's horrible with his hands (laughs). So, it's a struggle, we have a very unique relationship. He can cook like nobody's business. I don't cook. I do all the fixing. So, anything hung in my house or fixed in my house, I've done it. My husband, if it's food or something that smells or tastes good, he's done that.

RH: I understand. I am not the cook in my house. I know my role is to eat in life. So I understand. Your dad comes down to help you. I read you know that you also maintain a day job in addition to doing this, how do you balance that? And are you planning to go full-time with your entrepreneurship?

SM: Everybody asks me that. I am one of those crazy busy people.- I've always been that way. When I was in high school, I was a cheerleader, I played basketball, I ran track, I would play on the girls' basketball games and cheer during the boys' basketball games. I just always have been all over the place. I've been a full-time entrepreneur before; I hated it. And I think it was because I really wasn't all in with event planning.

So, my plan is to try it again, maybe next year. But I love human resources. Human resources is a passion of mine. That's my full time. job. I don't call it my real job because, in my mind, both of my jobs are my real job. But all in all, my passion is to help rural African American girls become exponentially successful. And I feel like African Americans are shorted sometimes when it comes to corporate America. So that was my plan for being in HR.

In every role that I've had, outside of this current one in human resources, I've been the only African American and the youngest on the team. So, I feel like if I leave too soon, I'm not helping some of the people that I need to help. I talk about my daddy all the time, he's retired. He was working for the state of Georgia for 40 plus years, and he's been a barber for 56 years almost. So my whole life, I remember daddy going to work all day and then getting off, we're going to play sports and he's going to the barbershop. He's 71 years. So, my goal is to do that full-time. I have a 2022 deadline, a hard set, but I'm still really shaky on it.

RH: I like that you're following your heart on this. And, you're thinking about your calling and what that means for Black girls and Black women coming up behind you. I think that's why a lot of times some Black women don't leave industries because they know if they leave there'll be one less.

SM: It's a love-hate relationship, honestly, with self and with purpose and community. I'm from a small town, Reidsville, Georgia. And I remember being in a gifted internship. I was the only Black girl in the program who got a real job. All of my other friends worked at Dairy Queen, Subway, and stuff like that. I worked at the Bank, and it was a big deal. I remember the whole community being proud of me. My uncle is the first Black mayor there, and he just got elected [a little over] two weeks ago.

So, it's always been very, very ingrained in me to make sure you take care of our people, if you don't do anything else, take care of us. And even now the role that I'm in, I'm required to do the hard job, not just separations. But I always try to give them something back and say 'Hey, here's where we are now. But next time, you need to do this, this, and this. And if at any point you want to come back call me. Let's work through this and let's try to find something different for you to do.'

Raisa Habersham: I like that. That's, that's inspiring because I think we saw last year during the height of the Black Lives Matter protests, and even continuing this year, women are leaving, and just black women particularly are leaving industries and forging their own paths. So it's really nice to know that you're in a position of power and you leverage it to try and help people. I want to ask about the entrepreneurial bug that's in your family, though. Because your dad is useful with his hands, too. Did he kind of inspire you in this?

SM: Yeah, daddy is my guy. I'm a daddy's girl to the death. Ask anybody between here and probably Waycross, if you say Sam Murphy, "My My" coming right behind it. I've always seen my daddy work. My daddy owned the barbershop. He had a hair store and he had a convenience store in Claxton, Georgia. And this is in the 70s, it was unheard of.

And his uncle, his [grandfather], and his [grandfather's] brother, were entrepreneurs in the early 1900s. So, it's always been, 'you got to have your own.' You can have the great government job and all this stuff, but I went to college on tips from the barbershop. Everything that I've ever done in life from pageantry to sports, I had to go by the shop. The shop is my home, truthfully, and the whole community has been around me.

So it's always been understood you gotta find a skill. My dad went to Savannah State, he has an accounting degree and he also has another higher-level degree, I think in social work. But Daddy, before I went to college, said, 'Listen, get a trade while you there.' I cut hair for a while. I actually still have an apprentice license; I just don't use it.

But dad, he's always said 'you got to get your own. You make sure if something happens, you can get out there and hustle it out.' Because you can have all of the degrees you want to, but if you don't have a skill or a trade, you're not going to have anything to fall back on. Which I'm grateful for because bam, boom COVID happened and here we are.

RH: You bring up a good point. I think that that's something that's not drilled in people as much anymore: find a trade. Why do you love the 912?

SM: Savannah is a big small town and I am a diehard country girl. It gives me enough city that I can go to the grocery store and not know everybody in the store, but not so much that if I needed to find somebody in the store I know I could if that makes sense. So, it's the best of both worlds, and Savannah is so beautiful. It's right next to the water. I met the love of my life here. Savannah State is here it's just Black enough without being Atlanta.

I'm two hours away from home. If I want fresh food, I can go to a farm very easily. I don't have to see highway every day if I don't want to. So to me, it's the perfect balance. It's a big small town. I've left before and I came back. I left again and I came back again. So, I guess I'm just stuck.

You can find Somayah McKinney's work on her website mayahthemaker.com. You can also follow her on Instagram, @mayahthemaker.

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