Mexico City Mi Amor. CDMX gave me exactly what I didn’t know I needed.
Slow mornings. Beautiful light. Art. Warm baths. Long conversations. Ritual. Rest. Space to hear myself think again.
Somewhere between the markets, the mezcal, the flowers, the movement, the prayer, and the stillness, I realized how long I had been living in survival mode. Bracing. Carrying. Pushing upstream.
This season feels different.
Softer.
More intentional.
More embodied.
More aligned with the life I actually want to live.
I’m learning that healing is not always loud. Sometimes it looks like drinking your coffee slowly. Taking the long walk. Beautifying your space. Resting without guilt. Letting yourself be cared for. Returning to your body. Returning to yourself.
CDMX felt like a portal. ✨
Grateful for every lesson, every mirror, every release, every moment of beauty.
Asé. 🌿
THIS SATURDAY, the conversation continues. Each stop gets bigger and better. On the Road To Essence Detroit, we welcome:
✨Kenya Parham (Chief Growth Officer at SPILL),
✨Alphonso David - CEO & President of The Global Black Economic Forum
✨Dr. Mosley, Founder & CEO, The Playbook
✨Tameka Ramsey-Brown, convener of Black Women’s Roundtable-Metro Detroit, ✨Danielle Atkinson (She Series) National Executive Director, Founder
✨Takema Robinson, Executive Producer of Oscar-nominated film, The Perfect Neighbor
🎙️moderated by Monica Simpson, Executive Director of SisterSong
After the culture-shifting conversation, @teedramoses brings us to our feet for a performance rooted in joy and liberation!🙌🏾
The Road To Essence Continues… See you in Detroit.
📍 Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit (MOCAD)
🗓️ Sat, May 2 1:00 PM- 5:00 PM (EDT)
🔗 RSVP Now: bit.ly/RTE-DETROIT
#BlackJoy #Liberation #EconomicJustice #DetroitEvents #RoadToEssence
Standing in the Gap Fund is honored to join @abfephilanthropy : Harambee 2026 for a powerful conversation on Black stories, Black safety, and the fight against racial violence.
This timely session will feature Takema Robinson, co-founder of Standing in the Gap Fund and executive producer of The Perfect Neighbor; Pamela Dias, co-founder of Standing in the Gap Fund and mother of Ajike “AJ” Owens; @rev_wanda_johnson , justice advocate and mother of Oscar Grant; with Carmen James-Randolph of @womensfdnsouth , and Marc Philpart of @blackfreedomfund helping guide this important conversation.
Together, we’ll reflect on what families and communities truly need after racial violence, and what it means to move from witnessing to responsibility and action.
📍 ABFE’s Harambee 2026
🗓 April 20, 2026
⏰ 3:30–4:30 PM PT
#Harambee2026 #ABFE #StandingInTheGapFund #BlackStories #BlackSafety RacialJustice
Pam’s and Takema’s recent conversation with @vanlathan and @therachlindsay on @higherlearning really resonated. We’re not in the business of hashtags. We’re in the business of human lives—honoring them, ensuring their families are cared for, and telling their full stories, not just their final moments. Thank you both for giving our co-founders space to tell stories about our dear Ajike and the purpose of our work.
They made us into a race. We made ourselves into a people.”
That line—often associated with Ta-Nehisi Coates’ writing and analysis of contemporary Black identity—lands like both a truth and a blueprint.
In this clip from S1E5 (Finale): The Fund—the last episode of Season 1 of the Joy & Justice podcast— our co-founders Takema Robinson and Pamela Dias talk about what our ancestors understood: we’ve always survived by standing in the gap for each other. Community isn’t a nice idea. It’s how we’ve made it.
What does “standing in the gap” look like in your life right now?
🎧 Joy & Justice — Episode 5: The Fund (link in bio)
#standinginthegapfund #wegotus #ajikeowens #theperfectneighbor
#Repost from @chronicleofphilanthropy on our Co-Founder @iamtakema
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How do you move the needle on issues that traditional philanthropy often ignores?
Takema Robinson, co-founder of @convergeforchange , transitioned from moving billions in philanthropic capital through the @standinginthegapfund to produce an Oscar-nominated documentary.
In our latest Q&A, she discusses the “Impact Campaign” behind ‘The Perfect Neighbor’ and why narrative change is the next frontier for nonprofit leaders and donors.
Read how she’s bridging the gap between storytelling and systemic policy change.
Read the full story via the link in our bio.
#philanthropy #nonprofit #nonprofits #fundraising leadership oscars
AJ Owens defended her home and her children. The system failed her. And we refuse to let her story be forgotten.
#WinWithBlackWomen is proud to launch the "Perfect Neighbor" Watch Party Movement — a national effort to bring sisters together in living rooms, community centers, and gathering spaces across the country to watch, discuss, and take action around the continued fight for justice for AJ Owens.
Takema Robinson, Pamela Dias, and Yolanda Cash Jackson are leading us into this movement this Sunday — telling us how to host, how to organize, and how to turn a watch party into a launching pad for real change.
This is what standing in the gap looks like.
🗓️ Sunday, March 8| 8:30 PM ET
📲 RSVP: bit.ly/WWBWSundayCall
#WinWithBlackWomen #PerfectNeighbor #StandingInTheGap #JusticeForAJOwens
This is Joy & Justice—a space for the honest truth, the hard parts, and the healing we still reach for.
In our first episode, we return to the night that changed everything.
Before you listen: take a breath. Then tell us—what does “healing” look like for you right now?
🎧 The Call (link in bio)
#standinginthegapfund #joyandjustice #podcast #ajikeowens
In S1E4: Behind the Scenes, @geetagandbhir of @message_pics (Director of @theperfectneighborfilm ) names what she knows to be true: if you can move people’s hearts and minds—if you can reach them through storytelling—you can change perspective. And that’s the mandate.
What story has ever shifted how you see the world?
#standinginthegapfund #documentary #storytelling #theperfectneighbor #podcastclips
Our next clip is from S1E2: The Heartbreak
Our co-founder, Pamela Dias, shares how she survived by finding other mothers who understood—a space where she didn’t have to pretend she was okay.
If you’ve ever had to be “strong” when you were falling apart… this one is for you.
Drop a 💜 if you believe healing was never meant to be done alone.
#JoyAndJusticePodcast #TheHeartbreak #AjikeOwens #StandingInTheGapFund #podcastclips
This Sunday, we’re launching Joy & Justice — a limited podcast series from the #standinginthegapfund.
In Episode 1: The Call, our co-founder and host names what most people never see: the first hours, days, and weeks after something like this happens — and what it costs the people living it.
Then Nikon Kwantu (producer of @theperfectneighborfilm ) says the quiet part out loud: some things stay with you. You don’t “move on.” You learn how to carry it.
How do you carry something heavy when you can’t unsee it?
🎧 Episode 1 airs this Sunday.
We’ve got 5 episodes we can’t wait to share with you — and we hope you’ll listen, reflect, and talk with us in the comments.
#JoyandJustice #ThePerfectNeighbor #AjikeOwens #podcastclips
On Feb. 10, we gathered in Los Angeles for the first time—bringing community into the room around the work of the Standing in the Gap Fund.
We’ve been holding spaces like this—because this moment in our country demands it. We’re living through a time when racial violence, grief, and harm don’t end when the headlines move on. Families are left navigating trauma, logistics, and financial crisis with far too little support. That’s why organizations like ours exist: to help turn community care into real infrastructure.
Thank you to everyone who came ready to listen, reflect, and lean in. LA showed up—and we’re building from here.
If you’re moved to stand with us in honor of those lost to racial violence, support the Fund at bit.ly/SITGF (link in bio)
#StandingInTheGapFund #NarrativeChange #JusticeAndHealing #LosAngeles
