COMMUNITY I had the pleasure of talking to Ms. Trinitee Stokes who is wise beyond her years. She was one of the keynote speakers for the Many Shades of Colour Conference which took place on March 2nd, 2019. I was in awe of her maturity for only being 12 years old. I was touched by her words and I believe you will be as well as you read the interview below. Can you tell our readers who you are, what you’ve done, and what you’re currently doing? Trinitee: I was on KC Undercover on Disney Channel for three years, I’m reoccurring on Disney Channels Coop and Cami Ask the World, and I hosted Disney Channels first live game show Quizney which was fun. I just released my new book Bold and Blessed. You are a young person doing many different things and wearing different hats so how do you balance it all? Trinitee: Sometimes it can get a little tricky because I still must balance my academics, balance having fun, and relaxing. So during the day I do 4-5 hours of school and after that I’ll do something creative, hang out with my friends or do something else that I enjoy doing like reading a book or coloring something, but I’m always working on my craft so I try to balance it by doing a little bit everyday of something that I’m working toward. You’ve talked a little bit about your book. Tell me the name of your book? Trinitee: Bold and Blessed Tell me a little about where the title came from and what it is that you want your readers to get when they read the book. What does phrase Bold and Blessed means to you? Trinitee: Picking the title was very difficult, I think that was one of the hardest things to choose because the title is what everyone is going to remember so we were kind of thinking what is something that is going to stick out about me and what do I want to stick out about other people and I was thinking well, I’m a very bold person and I just happen to live a very blessed life so we were like bold and blessed and then it’s like how to stay true to yourself and stand out in the crowd. It’s something that I do, and I think it’s something that others kind of need to do as well so that’s how we came up with the title. What I want my readers to get out of Bold and Blessed is that they can do anything. You have to be able to stand out in the crowd and be you and be unique because God created you the way that you are and everything about you and the way that your designed is perfect to a tee. You may have one eyebrow that is higher than the other, you might be able to reach someone specifically with that so everything about you is perfect, and you don’t want to change that, and I want to convey that to the readers. Bold and blessed to me means being who you are, just loving yourself unapologetically no matter what and being able to say hey this is me, I love myself, I know myself value, I know my self-worth, I have high self esteem and self confidence like it or not that’s me. What led you to bring Trinitee to the Many Shades of Color Conference this year: Valerie: That, I’m going to share with you what I shared with Trinitee’s mother when she first came in. Trinitee had come across my social media and so I’ve been seeing different things that she had been doing so, I had her in my mind as a keynote for this years conference and it was Valora who called me one day , the day I was thinking we should go with Trinitee she calls me and says, “What about Trinitee?” it was supposed to be. It was totally about everything she just said her message of being true to herself really let that be what guides you and leads you though it all and not comparing yourself to what everyone else is saying and holding yourself to some superficial standard but bringing what you have from within to share with the world as she has done so beautifully The Urban Experience 27
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