What happens when your work is rooted in educating others?

Not in a textbook way, but in a lived, breathe, passed down through generations kind of way.

When you're a content creator or a leader or just someone who knows how to bring people together,

your work often starts long before the camera turns on or before people begin to show up.

It's in your family history,

in the way your great grandparents lived, in the stories that shaped you, even the ones that were unimaginably hard to carry. And sometimes your content or your intentions can get misunderstood.

Sometimes people just don't get it.

And that can take a toll, not just on your creativity, but on your spirit as well.

But we keep going.

We do the research.

We double check our sources.

We try to make it easy to digest while still making it mean something.

And in the middle of all of that,

Joy has to stay in the room. Someone who does this very well and exudes joy is Taylor Cassidy, the 22-year-old content creator of the viral video series Fast Black History, who's built a

community of over 2.2 million followers by making black history

accessible, relatable, and full of life. Even while navigating the pressure that comes with

the fame of it all and the responsibility, she exudes joy not just as a break in her day to day,

but as a tool, as a survival skill, and as play.

And all that means is giving herself time for hobbies that don't make money,

the parts of life that aren't attached to output.

Because staying rooted doesn't mean staying heavy.

Sometimes it just means remembering who you are, what's going on in the world around you, and choosing joy anyway.

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