Throughout this season we're highlighting other indie black

podcasts telling our stories. Blackbout Voices shares the richness of black

Southern culture by telling stories from and about black folks down south.

You'll hear from the innovators to disruptors, local legends, and up-and-comers.

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Hey, welcome to You Had Me at Black. I'm Martina Abraham Zalunga. This story comes from

Taylor. She's an avid traveler who grew up in between Maryland and Los Angeles.

She's a videographer.

She's adventurous.

She's creative.

And she has sickle cell disease.

Taylor grew up trying to downplay the physical constraints that Sickle Cell put on her body,

but while on vacation in Mexico, her act unraveled.

Here's what happened. And I am I guess you know like girl magic and all that good

I am definitely a mother-fucking mermaid I took my shirt off I was like oh yeah this cool but they start taking

everything off I was like niggas don't skinny dip black women are healers and

nobody can tell me any different.

You're listening to, you had me at Black.

So the very beginning of this story, you have to know that I have sickle cell.

So when the blood cells sickle over, oxygen is not allowed to pass through, blood cells clot. It feels like your blood

cells definitely can't breathe, but then you also feel panicked and you also feel like you're unable to listen to your body. You know, it takes our

brain needs oxygen, all of our organs need oxygen and when you don't

...