by Onika Abraham Lee
An expression of grief may not be what you expect to hear from an incoming Executive Director. I am overjoyed to have joined Blue Sky. Our oneness with nature is the animating force of Blue Sky’s work and my gospel. I am grateful to have been chosen to be part of Blue Sky’s lineage of phenomenal women leaders, Anupama Joshi and Angie Chen.
Yet, it took a lot for me to leave my last organization. Our mission of food sovereignty and radical solidarity both aligned with and elevated my own values. Stepping away from Farm School NYC made space for dynamite shared leadership within the organization. Within me, I didn’t fully realize how much of stepping away is letting go, and how much I would need to feel, acknowledge – and grieve.
Rituals are guideposts through grieving. A belated sendoff celebration with my former colleagues and forever comrades this Friday will help me continue to make meaning of my time there and cultivate space for my growth with Blue Sky.
Rituals also usher in beginnings. As mama Maya Angelou extols in one of my favorite verses, rituals can shift our perspectives and realities, creating conditions for growth:
The horizon leans forward,
Offering you space to place new steps of change.
Those who gathered at the Blue Sky convening in May created a ritual to welcome me that underscored all the reasons I wanted to join this community. They each took some time at the end of our gathering to write on a notecard a blessing, wish, hope, dream or intention for me to hold as I prepared to join them in this organization. The notecards are a tangible manifestation of Blue Sky’s values of care, collaboration and commitment to collective growth and change. They are an inspiration to me, and I hope they will be to you.
I am resurrecting my long-neglected LinkedIn account to share these notecards one by one. The first is the image from my garden that you see above, which inspired this nontraditional note from a new executive director. Join me at www.linkedin.com/in/onikaabraham/ for a regular dose of Blue Sky’s communal wisdom, and some musings on the path we’re forging together.
With mad love,
Onika Abraham Lee