Reatna

Who are you?

I feel like I’m light, like a sense of peace; not sure how to really describe that. In general I like to see different perspectives and a center of peace. There’s so much going on in the world. I like to be light and airy but not enough to be stepped on. So if I had to say who I am, I'm at peace. Light.

Are you the black sheep?

I would say because I want to say no but in general I kind of am; not necessarily treated like one but I stand out among my mediate family. Both parents are from Panama, my mother came when they got married, and my fathers been in the states since he was 13- so he’s more Americanized and is pretty aligned with black culture and his Latinidad. Growing up it was a mixture of Luther Vandross and earth, wind and fire, then on the other hand he was listening to Celia Cruz and a bunch of other salsas. growing up i didn’t understand where i fit in between that. I think back when he came the times were different where the juxtaposition of being black and speaking Spanish wasn’t too understood. In the areas I moved to, the difference was highlighted and that’s where the black sheep feelings kind of came about.. until I went natural actually and that is a whole different story.

What is your message to yourself?

Personally, I like to try to do everything from a place of love. I remind myself that everything I’m doing is from a place of love, love for myself, for others, for peace, for sanity. try to be love. it helps me to remind myself, “hey, it's bigger than you, it's bigger than whatever’s going on”. I like the 4 agreements and the one resonates the most is don’t take everything personal. a lot of times when someone pops off or something happens it turns you off from them but there’s so many things that can be going on for them and it doesn’t necessarily have to do anything with you. So yeah, those two would be it: be love and don’t take anything personal.