Shemika Renee

Do what you love, and you'll never work a day in your life.

I would advise them to be very certain that this is a path that they want to go down. Putting on the mantle of these dresses, these costumes, you incorporate a little bit of who these women were into yourself. There was one woman that I portrayed for a number of years whose story that we told was of her son being sold away. And there are only so many times in a day when I can say, as a character, they sold my son away, before it starts to really hurt my feelings. Every woman that I portray, I have something in common with, and I am a mother, so I'm able to make the connection of the fear that these women had with their children being sold away. After a while, telling these stories, they become a part of you, and there is a true level of fatigue that people who work in the museum industry go through that they may not realize is what they're going through, or they may not be able to articulate it. Just knowing that there are going to be times when you're going to feel burnout, or you're going to have emotional fatigue, or you're going to feel the trauma of these historical figures that you may portray. But finding the people that you can talk to, the support system, recognizing those moments in yourself so that you can take care of yourself and get the support that you need so that you can continue on doing the work.

The biggest challenge would be some of the restrictions that have been placed on educating all of our history. However, I've gotten a lot of opportunities because since those restrictions have been coming down, people, some people are more resistant to that, and want to be certain that the truth is told, and that the history is told. There are times when I'm seen as an entertainer, and not a lecturer, so that is helpful in getting into places that otherwise may not have been able to bring me into their institution to perform or to present. The more people are told you can't do this, the more interest they have in what it is that I do. Some of the other challenges that I face are the generational trauma that is in our country because of the history. People are afraid of what I do until they see what it is that I do, or until I explain to them what I do and why I do it. And then they're more receptive. They're fearful of the feelings that these topics bring up. But sometimes, when I portray the women who were enslaved, there is a fear from the audience, because they don't know what to expect, or how I'm going to handle it, or the language that will be used, or just negative feelings that may come up. My goal is to bring honor and respect to those women's names, if we know their names, because what they went through, they weren't enslaved because they were bad people. It was bad that other people enslaved them. Once people understand that I'm trying to tell these stories with love, respect, and honor, then they become more receptive to it. But initially, sometimes a wall comes up, and I just have to find a way to get around that wall.

Honesty and integrity are most important to me. If I can't be honest about the women that I am portraying, then it defeats the purpose of what I'm doing, because I'm just continuously going to be perpetuating the myths that have already been put out there about them. It goes back to the core values of when I was in the Air Force, and how I was raised. If there is no truth, then you don't have anything. There's no foundation.