Introducing COLORWAYS | A Space for All Things Mixed & Multicultural

COLORWAYS

what does it mean to know and use your voice? that is a question that I have thought about and ruminated over for a very long time - 31 years to be exact. my voice is more than an auditory sound. it’s more than a vehicle for emotional expression. my voice is not just an opinion, an outlet or a source of pride. when you begin to listen to your voice, it is like getting to know yourself at it’s very best, at the core of your truth. I guess for me, I have heard and met my voice many times but I never felt that I used it in it’s full capacity. i never knew how. I could see others stepping into their power time and time again and I felt like the rookie. I felt like I was the one living on the side lines, watching others say exactly what I wanted and yet i still feared my own voice.

if I’m being honest, i have known about her (my voice) for some time. she’s kind of like a really cool next-door neighbor, or like someone you might see on the news or even like an actress receiving some award. it has been a long road for me - waiting that is - to finally set her free. I always envisioned myself speaking about the things that mattered most to me with conviction, authenticity and grace. it’s a true skill, a well-respected art. now, after having spent the last decade building, healing, de-coding, re-programming, unlearning, rebranding, creating, living and everything under the sun, I can honestly say that for the first time in my life, i have let this voice out of its cage.

but what is it that has held her back?

well it’s a lot of things - for one, it is this society we live in. it is my intersectionality as a female and a woman of color. it is my profession. it is my age. it is my exterior appearance. it is my upbringing. it is my familial history and ancestral trauma. it is a whole host of situations that have led me to fear myself my whole life.

but it wasn’t until around 2020, after the murders of george floyd and ahmuad arbery and breonna taylor, that i began to feel my body come to a turning point. i’m speaking about my body from the cellular and vibrational level. if you are not a body of culture, this may or may not be something that you have experienced. for me, it feels a lot like a leaking faucet, like being stuck in fight or flight, or being frozen. it’s the constant activation of the nervous system that pressures us to shove our voices down over and over.

it’s not until a particular moment arrives - when you realize that your voice is truly a gift and a superpower when used for the betterment of society. what it all boils down to is our actions and choices. it’s asking ourselves how we can use our experiences for the benefit of not only ourselves but for those around us in a manner that promotes healing and progress. it is through this realization along with other happenings and occurrences that evolve us whether we are ready or not. it is something that happens in the brain and the body when our spirits rise. i don’t know how else to explain this other than the fact that it really is a spiritual experience.

along with this somatic transition, the other attributable moments that catapult the emergence of a voice is when there is a certain amount of positive energy from other human beings that surround a particular individual. it is the physical existence of other bodies and brains that pour into an individual for one reason or another and when that occurs, I truly believe that this person’s spirit has been carried across a difficult path or through another portal of awareness. I could feel this heavily after being surrounded and uplifted by my mentors, friends, family members, colleagues and other entities.

I can recall other experiences that helped me “transition into my voice”. these experiences include being seen and heard as your authentic self, being rewarded for your authenticity, going to therapy, keeping a strict fitness regimen for days and days at a time, eating clean, reading and learning with joy and not by force, standing up for the self in times of conflict, or simply having quiet time. these are the gems that build confident voices. these are my experiences.

and from these moments, i have come back to myself in a way that I haven’t known before. I am beginning to feel the timing of life and have built a bond with this natural process. i believe it happens at different times for everyone but for me, i have been running towards my voice for as long as i could remember. searching for her, then losing her, then finding her, then running from her. and lather, rinse, repeat. I constantly questioned when I would finally be comfortable.

that moment is when the body is ready to release its pain and agony. you would think that it happens when we are happy and joyful and fully healed. but it’s really when the pendulum swings and suddenly our truth is seen and felt by our entire bodies.

my truth is a long and arduous one. it is one that encompasses many beautiful things. but it is one that also encompasses a common theme of mistreatment, racism, enduring micro-aggressions, anger, sadness, mistrust, paranoia and many other side effects of living in this body and in this society. resma menakem calls us a “body of culture”. and he is absolutely right. my body has been polluted and intoxicated by compartments of this society and social system that have not healed. and I have lived in it for so long. i have known and felt it and oftentimes shunned it.

but my body remembers and keeps track of each transgression. and the more it remembers, the more my voice channels these powerful emotions. words are currency and what we say holds so much weight. the words to describe my experience as a woman of color, as a multiethnic mixed girl, have been suppressed and hidden within the fibers of my fight or flight, it has left me frozen. but somewhere in the fabric of my being, my voice has emerged with grace and understanding and less fear. it has come to bear witness to what my body has experienced. speaking on my life is a necessary act of justice for myself and my people of color.

i write this all to say that I am proud to introduce colorways.

colorways is a podcast that i have longed to produce for years (even long before swirlybae radio! lol) and it’s finally time to speak on what I know and what i’ve learned. this project is dedicated to multiethnic bodies of culture, to people of color and those affiliated with the bipoc community. In this series, my goal is to uncover, promote, and protect what is sacred within us and to speak on the very experiences that go unnoticed. i want to dish on all things mixed and multicultural, to share tips about navigating situations of microaggressions, to provide a platform of self-discovery and to unlock and uplift the very voices that have become frozen and silent in their nervous system responses.

the colorways podcast was inspired by the word itself: a colorway is any range of a combination of colors.

i am a combination, or colorway, and that is my superpower - it’s what makes me unique. i hope that you will join me on this journey. i know that i had so much to say but I would say it a million times over. please show our youtube channel some love so that you can help our numbers grow!

for the very first episode, i wanted to kick off the segment by celebrating asian pacific American heritage month or #apahm to discuss all that is affecting the asian american community. we share our thoughts on #stopasianhate, stereotypes, generational differences, growing up in the south and much more. i wish to thank my friends for being a part of this project, big props to kenneth le, andre and jeff wang for participating and representing our community.

thank you for giving your time to support my vision,
jasmine hunt, m.a.