"Until the lion learns to write, every story will glorify the hunter." - J. Nozipo Maraire
Rehumanizing the Mother Continent
Awesome Resources
Hi! So this is a list of resources that I have either used in the past and loved or continue to use in my daily life. It is not an exhaustive list; I will continue to update it and add to it. If you have any recommendations you think would be a great addition to this page, please do reach out to me here or via the green chat box in the bottom right corner of the page, or via email. You never know when something you're using is the key to someone else's breakthrough so let's share the love please!
Educational:
Great Courses Plus - thousands of video courses on various subjects. Has an app.
TED Talks - speakers on a range of intriguing topics. Also has an app.
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Mental Wellness & Other Apps:
Meditation/ Relaxation:
Oprah & Deepak 21-Day Meditation Experience
Binaural Beats - soothing music for focus, study, sleep etc. You can set timers to auto-stop the music and can use without wi-fi!
Insight Timer - guided meditations or join live group meditations and talks
Calm - meditation, relaxing music, sleep stories, and masterclasses
The Yoga Collective - thousands of virtual yoga and fitness classes, meditations
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Brain exercises:
Lumosity - fun brain games to train your mind
Elevate - fun brain games designed to sharpen mental skills
WordBrain 2 - find hidden words with increasing levels of difficulty... SO GRATIFYING when you do.
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News curation:
Feedly - add all your go-to news publications into a single feed and stay up to date in one place
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Music & podcasts (and a ton of other cool things I often forget to check out):
Spotify - my go-to for EVERYTHING music and podcasts but they have tons of other cool content like languages, comedy etc.
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For Muslims:
Athan - best Islamic app I know of for local prayer times wherever you are, compass for figuring out the Qibla prayer direction, ramadan calendar, reading the Quran, duas etc. You can set alarms to be notified when it's time to pray.
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Social:
Meetup - join or host in person or zoom events and meet new people, join groups based on your interests
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Mental Health Resources:
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NVISION - mental health support relating to vision issues.
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Skill Building:
Skillshare - online classes to learn tons of new skills and flex your creativity muscles!
Masterclass - hundreds of classes taught by experts in their field
My Favourite Books:
This is probably the most difficult list of all simply because I have too many favourites to list here. So I've whittled it down (many a tear was shed if you must know) to the books that I hold closest to my heart that I never tire of rereading and that have had the biggest impact on me.
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Fiction:
Harry Potter series by J. K. Rowling
Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho
Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi
The Girl Who Saved the King of Sweden by Jonas Jonasson (this. book. is. HILARIOUS. One of the most memorable protagonists I've ever read about in fiction).
Behind Her Eyes by Sarah Pinborough
The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold
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Non-Fiction:
Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell
The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell
Born a Crime by Trevor Noah
The Journalist and the Murderer by Janet Malcolm
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Self-Help/ Personal Development:
The Power of Your Subconscious Mind by Dr. Joseph Murphy
The Power of Now by Eckhart Tolle
A New Earth by Eckhart Tolle
A Return to Love by Marianne Williamson
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Childhood Gems (Harry Potter top of this list but already listed above):
Charlotte's Web by E. B. White
The Chronicles of Narnia series by C. S. Lewis
Little House on the Prairie by Laura Ingalls Wilder
Goosebumps by R. L. Stine (!!!! LOVED these especially the choose your own ending ones)
The Babysitter's Club by Ann M. Martin
Jacqueline Wilson books
Sweet Valley High by Francine Pascal
Frog and Toad series by Arnold Lobel
Arthur series by Marc Brown
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Podcasts I Listen To:
Africa / Diaspora / Blackness:
The Comb by BBC World Service
Africa Today by BBC World Service
Africa Science Focus by SciDev.Net
Talking Africa by The Africa Report
Pan-African Thought Society
Still Processing by The New York Times
Jesus and Jollof by Luvvie Ajayi and Yvonne Orji
The Nod by Gimlet
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News:
Business Daily by BBC World Service
The Documentary Podcast by BBC World Service
Science Vs by Gimlet
Aspen Ideas to Go by The Aspen Institute
The Journal by The Wall Street Journal
Recode Daily by Vox
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Health/ Wellness/ Growth:
On Purpose with Jay Shetty
The Mindvalley Podcast with Vishen Lakhiani
Super Soul by Oprah Winfrey
The Accidental Creative by Todd Henry
The Tony Robbins Podcast
Something You Should Know by Mike Carruthers
BrainStuff by iHeartRadio
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True-Crime Mysteries:
Dateline by NBC News
Solve by iHeartRadio (You as the listener get to be the detective; you listen closely to the clues sprinkled throughout the episode and then at the end you decide who among the suspects is the real killer. Season 1 is AMAZING! Not as big a fan of the season 2 structure but still worth a listen).
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Motivational:
Joel Osteen Podcast
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Climate Change:
The Climate Question by BBC World Service
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My Favourite Series/ Films:
To be honest, anything that Ava Duvernay and Shonda Rhimes and Idris Elba touch has a pretty slamdunk chance of monopolizing my heart and my attention but I'll try to be specific here.
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Shows/ Series:
When They See Us
Queen Sugar
Insecure
Grey's Anatomy
Criminal Minds
Prison Break
Scandal
One Tree Hill
Friends
Fresh Prince of Bel Air
Marlon
Vampire Diaries
Don't F*ck With Cats
Supernatural
Red Table Talk
Shark Tank
Little Fires Everywhere
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Documentaries:
13th
Cowspiracy
Seaspiracy
What the Health
American Murder: The Family Next Door
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Movies (Let's be honest, anything with Will Smith. He and the top 6 films on this list are always guaranteed to make me bawl my eyes out):
The Lion King
Tuck Everlasting
The Pursuit of Happyness
Titanic
Braveheart
Gladiator
Kirikou and the Sorceress
Love & Basketball
Brown Sugar
Hidden Figures
Girl's Trip
Queen of Katwe
Black Panther
The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind
The Two Popes
The Fast and Furious franchise (RIP Paul Walker <3)
High School Musical (all three)
Anastasia (arguably one of the most amazing animations and soundtracks of all time)
Carmen: A Hip Hopera (Beyonce's first movie. It's a super sexy hiphop musical with super catchy tunes!)
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My Favourite Composers:
Hans Zimmer - the man behind the most iconic soundtracks from The Lion King to Inception to Interstellar to Gladiator to Pirates of the Carribbean to LIKE EVERYTHING! Yowza.
Yiruma - Just. Wow.
Patrick Yeboah - check him out on Youtube he's amazing! Discovered him on Insight Timer where he does live piano shows.
My Favourite Musicians:
African:
Tiwa Savage (she doesn't know it yet but we're besties)
Maabo
Sona Jobarteh (her too. Severe woman crush *tear emoji*)
Sidiki Diabaté
Iyanya
Youssou N'dour
Baaba Maal
DaVido
Diamond Platnumz
Otile Brown
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African-American:
Queen Bey (I mean... duh.)
Common (celeb baby daddy number 1 tied with Idris.)
Tupac
Jidenna
Sam Smith
John Legend
India Arie
Janelle Monae
Jennifer Hudson
Ciara
Westlife
Blue
B2K
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British:
WSTRN
Giggs
James Arthur
Emeli Sandé
Dappy
Ella Henderson
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Best Mental Health Songs! (Instant mood shifters for me):
Don't be so hard on yourself by Jess Glynne
Unstoppable by Sia
Holy (Reprise) by Jamila Woods
Champion by Chip feat. Chris Brown
Bend down by MzVee feat. Kuami Eugene
Akwaaba by GuiltyBeatz feat. Mr. Eazi
Africa rising by artist collective including Tiwa Savage, DaVido, Diamond, Lola Rae etc.
Watch my ting go by Lola Rae
That's my girl by Fifth Harmony
I am not my hair by India Arie
Video by India Arie
Forever begins by Common
I'm yours by Alessia Cara
Unforgettable by French Montana & Swae Lee
NO by Meghan Trainor
All about that bass by Meghan Trainor
Motivation by Normani
Q.U.E.E.N by Janelle Monae feat. Erykah Badu
The best is yet to come by Sheppard
JUST STAND UP! by artist collective including Beyonce, Fergie, Miley Cyrus, Rihanna, Carrie Underwood, Ciara, Mary J. Blige etc.)
Never break by John Legend
I smile by Kirk Franklin
Imagine me by Kirk Franklin
Breathing underwater by Emeli Sandé
Breathe by La'Porsha Renae
Celebration by Kool & The Gang
A new day has come by Celine Dion
I'm alive by Celine Dion
Speechless by Naomi Scott (from Aladdin)
Scars by My Brothers And I
Sing by Fireboy DML feat. Oxlade
Give it all to me by Mavado feat. Nicki Minaj
Already by Beyonce
In my Maserati/ Maserati remix by Olakira feat. DaVido
Bankrupt by Russ
It's hard by Giggs feat. Emeli Sandé
I'm workin' by Giggs feat. Jorja Smith
Ms. Jackson by Outkast
Better by Khalid
Time to party by Flavour feat. Diamond Platnumz
Kupe Dance by A-Star
Checklist by Normani feat. Calvin Harris
Fais moi confiance by Sidiki Diabaté
ANYTHING by WSTRN is a mood shifter for me esp. Txtin', Ben' Ova, In2 and the In2 remix etc. etc.
ANYTHING by Tiwa Savage especially My Darlin', 49-99, Park Well feat. DaVido
ANYTHING by Sona Jobarteh especially Gambia and Saya
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