Niambi

HAPPY BLACK HISTORY MONTH! If you know me then you know that movies are literally the key to my soul. They’re often times how I relate to the world. Between 2022-2025 I spent a lot of time not engaging in the things that made me happy and not pouring into myself at all. I kind of decided that stops now. I figured video essays are a good way to engage with the movies and books and music and everything I love and allow myself to share these things with others. Allow myself to know myself and be seen. Anyways watch Love Jones it’s really good. Also I had to cut so much of this down for instagram 😭 There’s a longer version of this video on TikTok but I thiiiink I might just upload full videos and written essays to substack? That might work!

HERE YE HERE YE!!! MY SECOND BOOK IS HERE AND IM NOT BEING CHILL ABOUT IT!!! This time IM CELEBRATING!! 🥳 💓 On April 19th we’re going to my favorite poetry wine bar @goldensardinesf where I’ll be reading alongside my homies @auraaacle and @jeassainesz ✨ RSVP link in my bio 🙌🏽 it’s FREE.99 and we’re having a good time! Come sip wine, listen to some poetry, and grab a book. “A Cup Full of Bees” was truly a labor of love to create and I want to introduce it RIGHT! 🥹💗 ALSO! @breaayo made my flyer!! I swear my sister is the coolest cat in the whole world😭🫶🏽 (she’ll be there too!) so if you come you also get to meet my sister, the real celebrity

Blackbird: A Prayer/ An Affirmation after Nina Simone I’m so grateful that I got to perform this poem again. I wrote it after a long history of self deprecating poetry. I wrote this poem after realizing that words not only hold power but magic. I wanted a poem that could act as a mantra and a spell calling all of us to walk in our light, to witness all of what we can do, to understand our power. A very very special thank you to @j.ehren for curating this space and creating these beautiful garments and allowing me to get up on a mic and talk my shit😭 this was such a beautiful experience I will never forget ✨ @bychelseamari (makeup and video)🫶🏽 @j.ehren j.ehren (designer)🫶🏽 @metalthoroughfare (jewelry)🫶🏽 @lucymallorystyling (styling/assistant director)🫶🏽 @castsf (venue)🫶🏽 • • Also want to add that I changed the lyrics from “ain’t ever” to “ain’t never” and “will always” for the purposes of the poem. Nina Simone’s song speaks to the undeniable sorrow felt when experiencing racial oppression. It is a powerful ballad and I wanted to call on that sorrow and pain and voice how we will fly despite all the systems that thrive on keeping us grounded. We dream of new futures. New realities. We will overcome. I know this to be true.

PUNK-SHIT, CAMPFIRE! - Really excited to share what we’ve come up with for this one, so please come thru! Tix are pay what you want! - Friday, May 22nd @ 7PM @northstar.stvdios Vallejo, CA Link in Bio!

BOOK LAUNCH READING WAS A SUCCESS 🥳🥳 Thank you to everyone who came out! Thank you to everyone who got a book! This was such a dream come true. I still can’t believe it. Still in happy shock. Life moves so fast. ‘Cup Full Of Bees’ was a very vulnerable project to undertake and I’m so grateful to be done with it 😂 and have it in the world! The book completely sold out at the event SO if you want a copy shipped to ya the link to both my books is in the bio! Love you all! • • Thank you @goldensardinesf for hosting us! • Thank you @jeassaines & @auraaacle for reading ! • Thank you @breaayocrochets for making my dress! • Thank you @breaayo & @debbiedollas_ for the pictures!

If you saw this video earlier…no you didn’t. ANYWHO Home videos are an art form and I’m bringing em back into my life in a big way! My love language has always been putting a camera in people’s faces and making compilations afterwards. For a while I stopped. Maybe because of nervousness. But! I’ve always wanted to be the kid with the camera documenting all the moments for my homies and I to look back on fondly. I have some of coolest people on the planet in my life rn. I am so lucky. I want all the proof. That we are here that we exist at the same time and (to an extent) that we did cool shit. I love my friends so much🥹 it’s good to be alive🙂‍↕️❣️ • • And if the quality is off this time & not in a “I used a cool vintage style camera (which I did) for this” way I’m suing.

Life truly is a dream 😭I feel so grateful for the experiences I’m getting to have. Wow. designer: @j.ehren venue: @themarkersf jewelry: @metalthoroughfare styling: @lucymallorystyling

Note: I wrote this poem before America started dropping bombs on children in Iran. And so I also want to specifically say that this is also a prayer to stop those atrocities as well. Damn. Even to type that sentence feels like…we truly live in terrifying times. I cannot do this poem without tears welling in my eyes but I will do it anyways. I don’t know much but I know my heart aches every day and it was hard to get to the mic yesterday. I mean to physically get out of bed and move towards a mic. I’ve been feeling what Nikki Giovanni wrote heavily. I’ll put her full poem here: For Saundra i wanted to write a poem that rhymes but revolution doesn’t lend itself to be-bopping then my neighbor who thinks i hate asked – do you ever write tree poems – i like trees so i thought i’ll write a beautiful green tree poem peeked from my window to check the image noticed that the school yard was covered with asphalt no green – no trees grow in manhattan then, well, i thought the sky i’ll do a big blue sky poem but all the clouds have winged low since no-Dick was elected so i thought again and it occurred to me maybe i shouldn’t write at all but clean my gun and check my kerosene supply perhaps these are not poetic times at all -Nikki Giovanni So I thought the poem is written. What more do I have to say? That is how I feel. But my pen had other plans. So out came this poem. A poem that acts as a prayer, yes, but also a threat. I will not forget or write over what is happening today. If nothing else, I commit to speaking the right words. To saying what I stand for. And I encourage you to do the same. Thank you @decenteredarts for having me

My version of “meet me in Montauk”. This is my safe place. The last couple of weeks have been crazy for me. Vulnerable. Overwhelming. I finally got sense enough to step back and recenter. Everything was moving too fast and I’ve always been one prone to meandering. I’ll take the scenic route every time if I can. So I needed to slow down. Truly. Let the emotions flow through me. Dance amongst sprinkles. Cry upon little hills. Scream beyond the ocean. Feel everything. I found this little patch of beach almost 2 years ago to the date. On accident. I’ve experienced so much here. And yet there are no ghosts of me present. It lets me go so I can come back and experience whatever is going on in the now. This is peace. I’m grateful to know where she lives.

BLACK HISTORY MONTH CONTINUES AND SO DO MY THOUGHTS! I love this movie but I do not recommend showing it to your 14 year old this is a GROWN FOLKS movie😂 and make sure you have tissues beside you. I was going to do a different movie as my next entry in this video essay thang but then I started thinking about all the black women in my life and all the love they deserve. All the crazy experiences they deal with. I thought of my mom, my sister, my aunt, my grandma, my best friend. I dedicate this video to them and hope they know how wonderful they are. A damsel in distress is often seen as a regressive term and I’m not here to say women are out here needing to be saved by a man NO. No. Don’t go around thinking black women can’t do it all and then some. I am here to say, it’s okay to ask for help and to receive it. So often black women HAVE to do it all on their own. People forget we are soft too. We need some care too and Beyond the Lights shows how being held and truly understood can uplift you to your greatest potential. To be loved is to be seen. 🙂‍↕️ I’m going to release a full essay on substack BUT for now here’s a little video.

I think I need to start wearing wings and Eden agrees 🙂‍↕️🙂‍↕️ Part infinite of Bambi doesn’t know how to post selfies without making a little collage first. Very casual update on life:So it goes. I’ve been rewatching adventure time and rereading A Visit From The Goon Squad and listening to the poetry unbound podcast and I recommend all those things. Or I recommend reconnecting with what you know brings you joy. It’s the little things too y’know. I’m not saying anything new but I’m saying things I need to hear. Go at your own pace. Embrace the things that bring you joy. Yadda yadda. Blah blah. Selfie. ⭐️

Oh it’s 2026?? Guess it’s time to show yall what I REALLY wanna do. This song is called ‘Blah’. It means a lot to me. I’ll put it out soon. Very soon