Remaining awake isn’t about knowing everything.
It’s about refusing to look away, choosing joy anyway, and listening to the wisdom of children before fear teaches us to sleep.

In this MLK Day episode, Amber and her daughter Emma explore what Remaining Awake Through a Great Revolution asks of us now—through youth courage, good trouble, and the daily practice of building the Beloved Community.

This episode marks one year of Living in 3D Power. A conversation that began as a simple mother-daughter experiment has grown into a space for reflection, truth-telling, and collective learning.

In this anniversary episode, Amber and Emma look back on the moments, questions, and conversations that shaped the past year — from humor and honesty, to Black history, leadership, creativity, and the power of truly listening to children.

Rather than a highlight reel, this episode is an archive of what mattered.

Vision Boards, Joy, and Gentle Intentions for the New Year

In this first episode of the new year, Emma and I slow things down and do something a little different. Instead of resolutions or pressure-filled goals, we explore joy-centered vision boards—using curiosity, imagination, and reflection to envision how we want the year to feel, not just what we want to do.

Together, we talk honestly about grief, grace, manifestation, creativity, care, and becoming—while building digital vision boards in Canva using questions that invite softness, clarity, and hope.

This short, reflective episode of Living in 3D Power was inspired by a question posed by a trusted friend, Hattie B. McCarter:

 “As we get ready for the end of the year, with a grateful heart, what are three blessings you are grateful for this year? One of them being one you never saw coming.”

As Emma and I sit with this question during the holiday season, we explore gratitude through the lens of grief, joy, faith, and unexpected connection. In a year shaped by loss, big transitions, and surprising blessings, this conversation models what it looks like to be honest about tenderness while still naming what has sustained us.

Together, we reflect on community support, creative callings, faith milestones, family closeness, and the importance of being gentle with yourself when gratitude doesn’t come easily.

This episode is an invitation to slow down, reflect, and practice gratitude without pressure or performance, especially in hard seasons.

This episode of Living in 3D Power is unlike any other.

Recorded for Emma’s 11th birthday, this special episode centers community, love, and the power of being seen. What begins as a birthday surprise unfolds into a profound reflection on joy as a superpower, the courage of youth voice, and what it means to be held by a village across generations, geography, and lived experience.

Friends, family, community members, educators, authors, faith leaders, and loved ones sent messages affirming Emma’s light, wisdom, and impact. Together, Amber and Emma reflect on the themes that emerged from these messages, creating space to sit with gratitude, emotion, faith, and belonging.

In a year shaped by grief, loss, and collective heaviness, this episode is a reminder that joy does not disappear in sorrow. It expands. It ripples. And it is often carried by community.

In this week’s episode of Living in 3D Power, Emma and I once again turn to Tracey Michae'l Lewis-Giggetts’ Black Joy Playbook to explore Day 17: “Grief Is Not the Whole Story.” As the holidays approach and grief sits close to the surface, we discuss the tension—and the truth—of holding joy and sorrow at the same time.

Together, we walk through the “Hope Tree” exercise, reflecting on our personal hopes, faith, the legacy of ancestors, school dynamics, family relationships, and the courage to choose joy as a daily practice.

This episode is an invitation to pause, reflect, and reclaim joy in a season when grief and celebration often coexist.

This episode was filmed the day before my brother Avery died, and releasing it now feels both tender and timely. Emma and I explore liberation through Dr. Dani Martin’s Rebel Writes, weaving joy, justice, and community care into a conversation that children seem to understand with more clarity than adults.

On one of the coldest mornings, Emma and I ran the Girls on the Run 5K — and discovered how movement, joy, and community can hold us through grief. This episode explores leadership lessons, emotional awareness, and the healing we found in motion as we continue honoring my brother Avery.

Honoring Children’s Grief Awareness Day by holding on to hope, remembering Uncle Avery, and lifting up the wisdom and grief our children carry with courage.

In this week’s episode of Living in 3D Power, Emma and I explore The Power of a Name—the stories, history, and love our names carry. We reflect on how naming connects us to legacy and belonging, and how claiming our names becomes an act of remembrance, healing, and liberation.

Storytelling is a sacred tradition in our family — one that bridges generations through laughter, faith, and love. In this special episode, 10-year-old Emma leads her very first solo interview with her great-grandmother, “Big Emma,” on the eve of her 80th birthday. What unfolds is a tender conversation between namesakes, filled with humor, wisdom, and joy. It’s a living archive of legacy — reminding us all to sit with our elders, ask the questions, and record their stories for generations to come.

This week, Emma and I reflect on what it means to honor those who came before us and celebrate those still here. Inspired by the legacy of Dr. Rita Smith-Wade-El and our Gram’s 80th birthday, we explore remembrance as a joy practice—and how love continues through memory, grief, and community.

In Episode 28, Emma and I dive into Tracy Michelle Lewis-Giggetts’ Black Joy Playbook and her joy list practice. Together, we reflect on childhood delights, intergenerational wisdom, and the challenge of reclaiming joy as adults. We invite you to write your own joy list and choose two practices to bring back today.

In the Season 2 premiere of Living in 3D Power, Emma and I explore the difference between joy and happiness, reflect on unfinished journals, and dive into a Mad Lib from Sonya Renee Taylor’s workbook. Together, we ask: What would it look like if joy was our strategy, not our reward?

In our Season 1 finale (recorded live!), we reflect on creativity, chicken nugget wisdom, and what it means to raise free Black children in joy-filled spaces.

Emma shares a candlelit teaser, a 90s R&B singalong, and a joyful invitation to join our first Living in 3D Power livestream finale.

“All of us are creative—we just don’t know it yet.” In this week’s episode, Amber and Emma reflect on their experience with artist King Prolifik and explore what it means to see yourself as both the canvas and the creator.

This week’s episode explores the power of celebration—Juneteenth, Maya’s tea party, and the everyday joy that makes freedom real. Emma shares what fireworks feel like in her body, Amber reflects on rest and remembrance, and together they remind us that freedom is not just history—it’s how we choose to live, play, and be seen today.

This episode of Living in 3D Power brings Emma back to the mic with joy, honesty, and wisdom beyond her years. We talk about the power of taking breaks, telling the truth even when it’s hard, and why joy can be as simple as saying “swimming.” Emma’s final reminder—“Don’t be a robot”—is the mic-drop moment we all needed. Tune in for reflections on summer, belonging, and what it really means to feel and be seen.

What do you do when telling the truth feels like too much? In this episode, I explore rupture, repair, and the quiet strength of choosing restoration over retreat. This one is sacred, y’all—and deeply personal.