- 23 hours ago
Nobody explores the intersection of Blackness, disability, and identity quite like Lachi — and she does it with a whole lot of wit. Drawing from her book I Identify as Blind, this conversation digs into what it means to move through the world carrying identities that the mainstream has long tried to minimize, and why reclaiming all of them is the most powerful thing you can do. Funny, sharp, and deeply affirming — this is a session you will not stop talking about.
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00:06Hello. How's everybody doing? Good. I'm so excited. You guys look so beautiful, by the way. So
00:16you are in for a treat. I have two amazing women with me. First off, I forgot to introduce myself.
00:24I'm Alexis. I am the shopping director at Essence and Refinery29. And I would love for my lovely guests
00:33to introduce themselves as well. Hi, my name is Lachi, like Versace. I am just really, really
00:40excited to be here at Essence Fest. I am a recording artist, songwriter, and of course, author. And I do
00:47a lot of work in the disability inclusion space. And I'm really excited to talk about my book,
00:51I identify as blind, and to get into it. Thank you. Hi, I'm Taya. I'm an author. My book is
01:01called
01:01My Person, and it comes out next month with Random House. And I'm from Toronto, Canada. And a lot of
01:08my writing really just deals with race studies, sexuality, and having a good time, really.
01:16Thank you. So I wanted to start off because both of your work is about reclaiming who you are. And
01:24why? I want to know why is it so important to embrace every part of yourself? Yes. Even the
01:31complicated parts. So Lachi, you can take us. Yeah, absolutely. So I love you said that you're
01:38from Canada. I'm from New York. And I wear it like all over my sleeve. So I'm not really sure
01:43why I did
01:43not say that. Go Knicks. So yes. So I actually feel that everyone is masking in some way, shape,
01:53or form. Masking because they're afraid of being seen as too much, or not enough, or whatever. And
02:00I think it's because they're kind of afraid of being pathologized, like medicalized in some way.
02:05You're not good enough. You're not human enough. I deserve more human rights than you do.
02:09And so I figure we mask because we don't have a good way to talk about these things. We don't
02:16have
02:16a good way to talk about disability, neurodivergence, difference. And so it's why I write from that
02:25space. Because whether it's music, whether it's humor, whether it's fashion, I really feel like
02:32talking about these things through the lens of joy is actually going to be one of the ways that we
02:37change the system. I don't know that we're going to change the system by breaking it all down and
02:41having us live in huts. You know what I'm saying? But I do know that the best way to change
02:45the system
02:46is to get the folks excited, like get the folks benefiting from that system, excited to change
02:52it with you. And so this is why I love to talk about embracing your full self, your full you
02:57from a
02:58place of humor, from a place of joy. And I do a lot of that within the content, like within
03:04the pages of
03:05I identify as blind. It's very jocular, very positive facing, very celebratory, not of just my
03:11story, but the stories of so many other men and women who live with varying conditions that have come
03:16to that realization of I am so much more once I embrace the deepest parts of myself, society has told
03:22me to hide. I love that. I really want to piggyback on what you're saying about masking, which I feel
03:29like I've only started to think about it consciously and having it appear in my writing recently, like
03:34now that I'm in my 30s. But I think it was always there. I've always written about young girls who
03:41are
03:41from a particular environment or background or family who are trying to kind of find their own
03:47identity within those barriers and how complicated and messy and unforgiving that experience can
03:53kind of be. And I think a lot of my writing does, I don't want to say mirror my own
03:58life story, but I think
04:00it does come from my own witness account. I'm very fascinated by what it's been like growing up as a
04:08black girl in Toronto. And I love that I use that as a vehicle to talk about politics and talk
04:15about
04:16education and also about joy and love and friendship. And that's still I think for me the basis of all
04:24of
04:24my writing. And without that, without that permission to kind of like go beyond the expectation, I think we
04:30kind of forget who we are in our own roots. I love that. And Lachi, you mentioned getting people excited
04:38to
04:38change the system. So I'm curious to know, it can be hard to get people to motivate it to do
04:46something
04:47that doesn't or seemingly doesn't directly benefit them because it does. So I want to know some of the
04:54advice you have for anyone out there who is trying to get someone to help them change the system.
05:00What can they do? Well, I say first and foremost, fortune favors the authentic. And honestly, I think
05:08fortune favors the joyful. And so when you when you act through a lens of community and wanting to grow
05:16things, people feel that from you, they don't believe that you're trying to take something from
05:21them. They believe when they're asking you for support that they're actually giving you something. And so
05:28like, here's the perfect example. So in the book, essentially, people come to me often and they
05:35say, you know, if I were blind, I don't know that I could do much of like, I don't know
05:42that I could
05:42just get up and just run around and do stuff. How do you do it? And in my book, I
05:46talk about how
05:47the one morning when I woke up blind, and I don't know if it's because I'm a New Yorker or
05:51Nigerian or an
05:52Aries. But when I woke up, I was just like, Oh, all right, okay, how are we gonna deal with
05:56this? You know,
05:57that type of vibe. And that is the lens through which the entire book works, right? It's jokes,
06:05it's fun, it's. But while you are laughing, while you're having a good time reading, you are actually
06:12learning and getting, dare I say, a little bit radicalized. It's why I use this message in music.
06:21So through my music, I reinforce these discussions of, yeah, we're underestimated,
06:27but we can still do what we got to do. And in fact, tapping into that thing that you
06:31overcompensate for is really what makes you strong and unique. Yes, I do it through fashion. I'll come
06:37up to someone and show them my glam cane, show them the heels, and it sparks the conversation.
06:43So in already representing myself through this lens of self-determination, drive and joy,
06:51I'm already saying, Hey, you want to do this with me, because you want to know that the day,
06:58if the day happens that you gain a disability, that you will be just like this, you will be able
07:03to just
07:03get up, go do what you got to do. And so when you operate from a lens, just, just automatically
07:10operating from a lens of community, a celebration, and really actually wanting to make the place a
07:17little bit better than you left it, people are attracted to that. And they don't feel like
07:21they're helping you. They feel like they're actually helping themselves. And that's how you get them
07:26motivated.
07:26I love that. And then Taya, I feel like choosing not to shrink really comes at a cost. And so
07:35I'm
07:36wondering, growing up in Toronto, what has that required of you? What has you deciding not to
07:44fit in and to just authentically be yourself? What did that require?
07:50I love this question. And I feel I've been thinking about this quite a bit with my career
07:56started when I was 23. And I published a short story collection that deals pretty heavily on like
08:02queerness and sexuality. And when I teach in universities, the number one question that young
08:07people ask me all the time is, well, how are you getting away with writing such aggressive sexual
08:13content, such queer content, such a young girl just drinking and having a good time? Like, what does your
08:18family think about that? And when I was writing this book, because I was in my 20s, I was 21
08:24when
08:24I started writing, I wasn't thinking about my family. I was thinking about what I wanted to say.
08:30I was thinking about what it feels like to be young and in love and free. And that's what I
08:35gave to my
08:36writing. It did have a bit of a reaction with my very traditional Congolese family, not very pleased with
08:44a lot of the content of the writing. And that has kind of made me have to have boundaries within
08:51my own
08:52culture, which I never thought of at the moment. And to be able to sit with my mother and explain,
08:58well, I'm going to do this thing because this is who I am. And I love you. And I love
09:03where we come
09:04from. And this is where I'm at with this. And to have my mother kind of, I'm not going to
09:09say agree
09:09completely, but be supportive the way that she knows how has really changed how I approach the page
09:15now. Because now not only am I doing it because it feels good and because I'm interested in the
09:21stories that I'm telling, I'm doing it also because I know that there's a bunch of young queer black people
09:27around the world who probably look and feel like I do and who don't know that they can just be
09:31artists
09:32and be truthful to themselves. And so it feels good to feel like I can do this knowing that it
09:38might not
09:39be what's expected as me as a traditional Muluba girl. And yet I'm still allowed to do it.
09:45I love that. I love that you mentioned, you know, not really knowing what your mother was going to
09:52think about your writing or anything. But I think ultimately like her, it's so beautiful to still have
09:59that support, no matter what, even if they don't understand. So I think that's so beautiful to have,
10:05to be able to have that community that still supports you. And I feel like both of your stories
10:10really explore this like, messy middle of becoming something new. So I would love for you both to
10:18explain like, what do you wish people understood about that part of the journey? We always talk about
10:23like the before and the after, but like, what is it like when you're really in the middle of it
10:28all?
10:30It is very lonely. Shedding layers of expectation to claim who you actually are comes with a lot of
10:39pushback, comes with a lot of empty space. I think that especially the last four-ish years,
10:45of course, as I was traveling for my master's degree, I had to think very deeply of who I wanted
10:52to be entering my 30s. And as you're figuring out, what does every day look like for me? What's my
10:58definition of joy? Who am I as an artist? You do have to kind of like, exclude yourself. I feel
11:05that
11:05I was isolating a little bit, rather it was consciously or it was happening with a strong choice.
11:10Um, yeah, it was very lonely, but then I came out and I was like, I've decided that this is
11:16who I am and
11:17you could take it or you can leave it, but I hope that you join me on this journey. And
11:21now community feels a bit more possible.
11:25Yeah, I totally 100% agree. I feel that a lot. I think that a really big key word for
11:31that moment,
11:32because I love how you frame the question of there's the before and there's the after, but everybody's like trying
11:37to figure out what that pivot moment is. How do you do that?
11:40How do you just make the, and I think a lot of the, the real word is perseverance. And you
11:46know,
11:46I used to think that perseverance was just handling it, dealing with it, dealing, dealing, dealing. Oh,
11:51they don't really believe in me. So let me still be like good with them and just allow them to
11:57like suck my energy.
11:59I thought perseverance meant allowing everyone else to suck your energy and you can withstand it.
12:04The truth is perseverance is being able to recognize what you've got to cut out so that you can keep
12:10moving forward and protect your energy. And when I came to that realization that my energy deserves
12:17protecting my comfort deserves protecting so that I could do this visionary work so that I can live this
12:25artist life. I think that was probably the biggest epiphany. I had several epiphanies in my life and I've got
12:34realizing what perseverance really meant. Because then when you do have that first realization,
12:40it does get very lonely. You're kind of running at the front of the race. And you know, when you're
12:46running first, there's nobody left and right because you're in the front. But then eventually,
12:50when you find yourself, you're able to find your community. And that's when you really start to build
12:56and grow and change things. Do I wonder if I want to know from both of you, do you think
13:03it's possible
13:03to completely get rid of the mask? I think, you know, it's, it's, listen, we will be forever growing
13:17and changing. And liberation is a journey. There is no destination. If you find yourself fully
13:25liberated, then what's the next step, right? And so I feel like there's always going to be,
13:32adversity is a good thing. There's a reason why adversity is part of our evolution. It's so that
13:39we can continue to grow and change and create new things. So I travel a lot, you know, speaking and
13:47showing off the book and this and that. And I remember I had done one speaking sort of situation
13:52and everyone in the audience were like C-level HR folks, right? And so I was trying to tell them
13:58all my little corny jokes and this and that. And by the end of it, they were all laughing,
14:03having a good time. One guy raised his hand and he was like, well, I'm dyslexic. Do I count?
14:07Somebody was like, I'm deaf in one ear. Do I count? And this and that. And again, like I said,
14:10these were all sort of like high, high level, highfalutin HR CEO white guys. And if I could
14:18get all these guys to raise their hands and be like, yo, I'm down for the plight. It made me
14:23realize like a black blind neurodivergent girl, right? And a C-level HR in a suit, like white male,
14:32our plight for liberation are entangled. Like I'm not free until he's free and he's not free until I'm
14:39free. So there is no like taking the mask off until all of our masks are off.
14:46Yeah. I feel very similarly. I think that masking, at least the way that I experienced it, a lot of
14:52it
14:52was a form of survival. When I got to a point where I didn't feel that I needed to survive
14:57anymore,
14:58I just had to now live the mask. I don't need it that much, but sometimes depending on the scenario
15:04that I'm in, it does help to maybe like be a bit more protective of my identity or my true
15:10self.
15:10So I think that it's possible to let go of the mask, but I don't think that masking is always
15:16inherently the wrong choice if it's a matter of surviving. And then if there's anyone here in
15:25the audience today that is maybe struggling to bring something that makes them different to the
15:32light and to just like live in that light, what advice would you give to them?
15:37Oof. Do it. Do it. Well, first and foremost, it's July, so it's Disability Pride Month.
15:45So go ahead and lean into your weird, your wacky. If you're not going to do it any other month,
15:49do it this month. And, you know, all I have to say is, is this. So in some of the
15:57work I do in
15:58the music industry, I do a lot of like accessibility work. And one of the things we do is we
16:02bring sign
16:02language to the red carpet at the Grammys. And, you know, that goes out to like millions of viewers.
16:09And I was like approached by a young deaf girl at one of these kind of like events. And she
16:15was like,
16:16you know, I watched the red carpet at the Grammys and I saw that sign language was up there. And
16:21it
16:21made me realize, like, why am I so ashamed of being able to intermingle with everybody else and just
16:29talk to folks like it's it's right there on TV. So I should be able to, you know, there was
16:34representation. And so the reason I say that to you folks is what if you and the little thing that
16:41you're hiding, the little wiggle or the little wrinkle, what if you are the representation
16:45you showcasing that as the representation, a young little black girl or black boy or girl or boy or
16:52whatever needs to then become like the president that saves the world, right? You could be that
16:59representation that allows the next generation to do the most amazing things. So this is why I
17:06encourage people, it's going to be great for yourself and your own liberation, but it's also going to be
17:10great for our future for folks to not have to go through the hiding you're going through and to
17:16already start life from that next step. Yeah, I really believe in representation. I had a student
17:23tell me recently that I'm the first black professor that she's ever had, which bothered me because,
17:31well, it's 2026. And that was really stunning of information for me because I'm just living my life.
17:38I'm just going to work and essentially cutting a check. I didn't think about what people in the
17:44classroom were experiencing at my presence. And I think that that is always my advice to everyone.
17:50Live your truth. It's going to impact someone. But I think that when I was starting out figuring out
17:55who I am, and especially as a writer, it's really good to have like one person. So if you can't
18:01go out
18:01to the entire world yet with like your big ideas, your big personality, your big soul,
18:06then find one person and do a little personality, a little soul, a little idea and built it. Maybe
18:13the next day, it's going to be two people that you introduce yourself to. And maybe a year from now,
18:18it's going to be five. And that was my entire career. It was one step at a time. I didn't
18:23rush it.
18:24And now when people look at me, at least in Toronto, they think that it's like I came out
18:29like this. No, it took me years to get here. This is yeah, it's definitely not an overnight thing.
18:35I love I love the idea of building community. I just wanted to quickly cosign that like find
18:40your people. And that will help you so much because then you can learn their lingo. What
18:45what were their trip ups when they tried to come out and stuff like that. And you have things to
18:49bounce
18:50off of before you go in front of the whole world. So 100% agree with that. I love that.
18:55Thank you
18:56both so much. You both have been the representation that I needed today. And I feel more inspired to
19:03embrace what makes me different. And to live in a way knowing that it's not a disadvantage. And it's
19:09something that can set me apart. So I have to thank you both. This has been inspiring and amazing. And
19:14I
19:14hope you all also took something from it as well. So thank you. Awesome. Thank you so, so much.
19:30Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Is there another picture? Okay, thank you.
19:50Yeah, I was like she .
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