Introduction – Asha Ighodaro
- My family is from Ivory Coast in West Africa, Culturally this is a large part of my life and is a huge chunk of my identity. I often get told I “don’t look African” for reasons I don’t even try to begin to understand, despite that a lot of who I am and what I stand for is because of my
culture.
- Another key fact about me is the fact that I am very accepting and open minded, mainly because I believe that how someone else chooses to live their truth doesn’t affect me and because I know if I couldn’t live life in MY truth thats would cause me a great deal of pain, so as long how you choose to live your life doesn’t physically or emotionally harm people or a group of people I am very accepting.
- I grew up in a Muslim household, to which people react the same way they do when i say I’m African (I understand how it can be confusing since I don’t wear a hijab) I wasn’t really in touch with my faith until I took a trip to Africa to see family and they taught me over there, I learned more about my faith and brought it back to the City, as I grew up it changed and affected my way of thinking and gave me a better sense of the world, this played a hand in my be
ing able to be so accepting.
- My sister and I were raised by my mom alone this is a key fact about me because from a young age my mother taught us that a woman is capable of anything a man is capable of. Of course this also led be to be very strong willed vocal about my beliefs.
- Something that brings me peace, is music, I love music because it can calm me down excite me, and anything else. Sometimes I feel it can even heal me emotionally. I also love the arts of all kinds, this is what inspired me to do cheerleading because it incorporated dance, and the school play. I feel like im better at appreciating and doing something preset rather than making something up immediately. Jhene Aiko is one of the artist that brought me peace last year.
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Hi, Asha! I agree with you, regarding how someone else chooses to live their truth shouldn’t affect us in any way because they are their own person and it wouldn’t be fair for one to judge someone since we wouldn’t like it done to us either. I love all sorts of art too, specifically music and painting.
It must be frustrating when people think they know more about you than your own self. I am glad you got to discover a lot of things when you visited Africa!
it is quite frustrating but over time i learn to approach it and a positive manner
I can relate to people not thinking I’m African when I clearly tell them that I am. You ever think about going back to Africa soon?
I honestly don’t think so although I really want to go again there are just a lot of obstacles in the way of that.
Asha, Thanks for this thoughtful introduction. I am looking forward to learning more about your experiences as a Muslim American woman of African descent! I don’t know the artist you mention, but I will check her out!
Hey Asha, I think that it’s really cool that you’ve gotten in touch with your faith, I’m also muslim and don’t wear the hijab which sometimes confuses people because my mother does. I have yet to really feel like I’m in touch with my faith because I’m questioning a lot of things that have to do with culture and religion but I think it’s really great that you’ve gotten in touch with it.