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Behind the Keyboard:  Writer Akili King Reflects on a Year of Inspiring Interviews

For as long as I can recall, storytelling has been a very important part of my life. I remember waking up on weekends and lying on the floor of my parents’ room as a child, writing poems and songs while the Chi summertime sun beamed through the window. Other times I could be found flipping through magazines, cutting out photos to make my own art collages, a passtime I had inherited from my late, artist grandfather. But as much as I enjoyed lingering over each page, I didn’t always see young Black girls like me represented. I began writing my own short stories, accompanied by illustrations that resonated with me;  later, during the tumblr era, I would fill my page with quotes from writers I looked up to, and images of diverse models. I was beginning to understand that representation matters, whether I’m fully aware of it or not. Fast forward to today, when I can say that  I’m doing what I love as my job — something I never imagined while growing up.  Here at Rose Inc, I’m able to give my younger self the confidence boost I needed at times through telling the stories of people from a multitude of backgrounds with different experiences and unique perspectives on the world of beauty. 

 

“I didn’t always see myself represented on the pages I would cut from.”

“I think the most challenging — yet most rewarding — part about doing this work is ensuring that I tell someone’s story in the way that they’d want to be seen.”

Write With Akili King

For as long as she can remember, Rose Inc’s associate manager of digital content, Akili King, has been passionate about storytelling. At Rose Inc, she writes for our editorial franchise, The Profile. In order to keep her inspiration flowing and writer’s block at bay, King likes to have a heavy rotation of jazz flowing in the background. Head to Roseinc.com to read about King’s writing journey and how she stays inspired along the way, as well as King’s favorite Profile stories from the past year.

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