President's Showcase
Kimasia Ayers She/They
Supervising Professor: David Montez
Born and raised in beautiful Orlando, Florida, Kimasia Ayers strives to provide a loving and supportive environment for her community. Majoring in Creative Writing and African-American studies with a minor in innovation, she has made it her mission to utilize her love for linguistics and creativity to cultivate authentic stories and experiences. As a Full-Spectrum doula and a community Hoodoo Woman, Kimasia has dedicated most of her life to alleviating and identifying hidden stressors within the Black community. In 2018, Kimasia founded Soulfully Organic, the Tallahassee-based botanica built on the foundations of altruism, affluence, and knowledge; constructed to support the community as an overall resource. Kimasia is also a substitute teacher, teaching her students with an emphasis on emotional nurturing, empowerment, and involvement. When she isn’t teaching, Kimasia is shapeshifting through a multitude of creative channels, navigating the world as an all-around creative. Aside from a plethora of published works, Kimasia is a sociologist, multimedia designer, and community resource, forever driven by her passion for her divine purpose
Abstract
The objective of this qualitative research project is to acknowledge and examine the effects of Post Traumatic Slave Syndrome (PTSS) and its influence on small Black-Owned Businesses in Tallahassee, FL. Through the usage of hybrid interviews, this study voices the unspoken patterns of shared realities and offers a deeper perspective of how PTSS shapes the trajectory of Black businesses in the community. These stories are real-life narratives of systematic racism, community scrutiny, and Black resilience that illuminate patterns of cultural intergenerational traumas, behaviors, and beliefs that shift the trajectory of the success of Tallahassee Black-owned businesses. In doing so, space is facilitated to not only acknowledge these experiences but also address the opposing forces that inhibit these Black-Owned businesses from fully prospering and elevating out of survival mode.
Presentation Materials