Stepping Into Truth: Conversations on Race, Gender, and Social Justice

Talking Elevating the Voices of Girls and Young Women w/ Writer and Actress Kim Sykes

Season 3 Episode 6

Kim Sykes

In this episode I speak with actress and writer Kim Sykes who is the artistic director for Girl Be Heard an organization dedicated to elevating the voices of girls, young women, transfeminine, and gender nonconforming, and gender fluid individuals . 

These  are the future and Girl Be Heard is dedicated to building the activists and changemakers who will be running the world in years to come.

Kim and I talk about the impact it has on them to write and perform their stories, to use the arts to explore their experiences, to find their voice, to be heard. 

In a world that still has rules for how we behave based on gender taking back the power of telling their own stories and envisioning their own futures is powerful medicine. 

This conversation gave me so much hope for the generation coming up now. It also made me think about what my responsibility as an ancestor is. I hope it does the same for you.

Kim Sykes is a writer, actress and Artistic Director of Girl Be Heard, a non-profit organization that builds leaders, changemakers and activists who write and perform their own stories about social justice issues. Kim has written three full-length plays, published several short stories for Akashic books Noir Series and is an actress who has been seen on Homeland, Sneaky Pete and The Affair. Her short story, Arrivederci Aldo, was selected for The Best African American Fiction of 2010 by Nikki Giovanni.

For a written transcript of this conversation click here.

Connect with Kim:
Kim's Website
Instagram/
Girl Be Heard Website

Credits:
Harmonica music courtesy of a friend.