In preparation for my long flight to Tokyo, I ordered a copy of The Best Man: Unfinished Business. In perhaps the least surprising news of the year, I’m a big memoir and business book reader. I don’t get many novels in, but traveling to the flip side of my workday gives me more air to breathe, more space to think, more capacity to decompress. I decided to indulge in a little escapism.
I won’t go too deep because I don’t want to spoil it, but there’s a scene relatively early in the book where Jordan, a former media executive who traded an east coast high rise for west coast beach living, goes back to her old stomping ground to pitch a show concept close to her heart. The reception from people she’s worked with—and even advocated for—is lukewarm at best.
She knows her idea is important and timely, and that there’s a built-in audience for it. Still, she’s unceremoniously reminded that mainstream gatekeepers need mainstream assurances, and that sometimes, when your vision extends beyond what people can yet see, you must cross the bridge without them. Back in the real world, I’ve had to step out in exactly that way, and I’m so grateful people are meeting me on that bridge.
A few weeks ago, I saw a post from Dr. Jade Singleton, founder of IKONI Collective, about a film she’s birthing called Ninety-Two: The Rest Rebellion No One Saw Coming.
Dr. Singleton describes the project as follows:
“As every element of our history is threatened by erasure, Ninety-Two: The Rest Rebellion No One Saw Coming stands as a powerful testament to Black women’s response to the sociopolitical fallout following the 2024 election.
Coming in Fall 2025, this documentary follows the healers at the heart of a quiet uprising—teaching Black women how to breathe, rest, and restore in a nation that too often demands their exhaustion. Through intimate storytelling, it reveals a movement reclaiming rest as resistance, and healing as a radical political act.”
I messaged to her immediately. This is the very audience that You Are Before the World is inspired by, and I wanted to support Jade and this project in any way that would be helpful. I had no expectations when I reached out. I simply followed a very clear and strong prompting. Our first conversation was beautiful, and it has led to the sweetest, most genuine alignment imaginable.
Not only did Jade invite me to participate in the documentary as a Black woman who has been (and is continuously being) restored, but today I was announced as the Executive Producer of Ninety-Two. My heart is full. My soul is satisfied. I am most certainly in my alignment era. And it wasn’t until I stopped chasing outcomes (and people) that I could see the path more clearly—that I understood where I might be most needed, and how. For me, this is the way.
How are you seeking alignment these days? And how do you know when something is calling you to it—when your help is not only wanted, but ordained?
Please share in the comments. I’d love to know. And if you want to support Ninety-Two or keep up with the latest and greatest on the film, this is a great starting place: https://www.ikoni.org/92-project.
Tara Jaye Frank