Greetings Glocal Citizens!

This week, our mic and lens are aimed at Harlem in New York City, by way of Dakar, Senegal. Artist, designer, and experiential creator, Fallou Wadje, whose practice spans mural work, set and scene decoration, tapestry, art installation, fashion and wardrobe styling, digital art, illustration, and full-scale event design shares how the streets of New York found her as a muse and vice versa. Her creative identity is rooted in Baayfall, a spiritual and cultural lineage of self-discovery and elevation passed down from her great-grandfather, Maam Cheikh Ibrahima Fall and it shows up in her work as vibrant, healing-driven visual storytelling.

After moving to the U.S. in 2013 to pursue a graduate studies in finance, Fallou chose to heed her inner voice, which she believes is the guiding spirit of her ancestors. This calling led her to embrace her passion for art and fashion, inspiring her to create a beautiful language of expression through her work.
Her artistic vision manifests in everything she touches, transforming everyday experiences into art. Starting her journey as a street vendor with one table, she has grown her business to include six tables and operated her first storefront on 125th street in Harlem, where she sells custom hats, prints, airbrushed shirts, and African accessories.

The pandemic forced her to close her storefront and redesigned her home to a art studio of creativity and receiving clients until 2025.
This week, Fallou's new creative space, Kawsara (Source of Greatness), will host its first open house showcasing both her studio and a welcoming environment for those interested in her art. As a talented fashion designer and Harlem artist, continues to bridge the physical with the otherworldly through her unforgettable works. Check out our tour of her studio on YouTube in the coming weeks!

Where to find Fallou?
At her Kasarwa Open House Saturday, November 7th
On LinkedIn
On Instagram
On Artsy
On Facebook

What’s Fallou reading?
The Prophet Moses

What’s Fallou listening to?
Isaia Huron

Other topics of interest:
Senegal, the land of Teranga
What’s an Outdooring in Ghana?
More about Hamilton Heights and Sugar Hill in New York City
About Amadou Bamba, founder of the Mouride brotherhood
About Fallou’s great grand-father, Maam Cheikh Ibrahima Fall
Jordan Casteel’s The BaayFalls on the High Line
When is World Children’s Day
About Iesha Sekou and Street Corner Resources

Special Guest: Fallou Wadje.

Greetings Glocal Citizens!

For more than 25 years, my guest, Patricia Wilkins has worked across the United States and Ghana at the intersection of education, community development, youth opportunity, workforce development and social impact. As Founder and CEO of BASICS International, a nonprofit organisation committed to breaking cycles of poverty by creating pathways to education, opportunity and self-sustainability, her journey to this work has not been traditional.

She began her professional career in New York's fashion industry, working in fashion production and textiles before eventually leaving corporate America and moving into international service. Her work took her from New York to Russia and West Africa.

With a strong belief that where a child is born should never determine how far they can go, Patricia has been putting this belief into practice impacting 300,000 lives as BASICS celebrates 25 years of service to Ghanaian families.

In addition to her community development work, last year she penned her first book, So You Started a Nonprofit… Now What? - a practical and honest reflection on the realities of building and sustaining mission-driven organizations. As an author, social entrepreneur and creative, she is especially interested in the space where community, culture, technology, storytelling and good ideas come together to create meaningful change. And this what your’ll hear shine through in our conversation.

Where to find Patricia and BASICS International?
On LinkedIn + here
On Instagram
On Facebook
On YouTube
Show your support BASICS here!

What’s Patricia playing?
Magnetic Chess
Othello
Phase 10
Left Center Right

Other topics of interest:
A Brooklyn Story on Winthrop Street
A brief guide to Flatbush, Brooklyn
A short story about Chorkor, Ghana
About Camp Aklowah
About Shai Hills, Ghana
About Liberia’s Civil Wars
Abouth the Congo People, Americo-Liberians

Special Guest: Patricia Wilkins.

Greetings Glocal Citizens!

This week we’re back to Borderless Building with Black Women in Real Estate. So far this year we’ve showcased the personal and professional journeys of Black women in careers spanning project design, development, investor relations and community engagement with experience from as far east as Japan to the western United States. This week we’re taking a grip down south--south east to be more precise with a finance professional doubling as a farmer. She truly embodies the spirit of land stewardship.
Chanell Henry is a British-Jamaican entrepreneur, with a background in investment operations across hedge funds and asset management in London. After several years working in finance, Chanell made the decision to channel her commercial and investment experience into agriculture, co-founding Clarendon Gold Limited - a 100-acre commercial orchard, with her father, Vendrys Henry.
Together, they are applying all of their crafts and learning all things commercial orchard farm in Clarendon, Jamaica, where their primary crop is ackee - Jamaica’s national fruit. All the while, they are also building the infrastructure, team and commercial relationships needed to develop a wider agricultural business. Self-funded with over £300,000 invested to date, Clarendon Gold is being built with a long-term vision spanning cultivation, processing, packaging and export.
Chanell’s journey reflects her commitment to connecting diaspora capital and expertise with productive opportunities in Jamaica, while contributing to local employment and the development of Jamaica’s agricultural value chain.

Where to find Chanell?
On the farm @ Clarendon Gold

What’s Chanell reading, watching and listening to?
Giovanni’s Room by James Baldwin
Educated: a memoir by Tara Westover
The Office
Michael, the movie

Other topics of interest:
South East London Flavour
About Clarendon, Jamaica
Jamaica’s Argo Parks Initiative
About Grace Kennedy
A documentary about Jamaica after Hurricane Melissa