Amber M. Sessoms, EdD, NCSP, founder of Natural Inclination LLC, is ready to help your team build em
Life inspires me, especially my parents. My dad was creative, but didn't know how to bring his ideas to life. Now, I revisit childhood dreams and make them real. Being an adult means turning crazy ideas into reality. It's made my life worth living.
What can kids learn about Black history from art? The answer: resistance. Black artists have always used their work to resist being marginalized and to tell their own stories. It's our responsibility to make sure those stories don't die.
Our first article in the Communiqué is officially published as part of a three-part series. Article one is titled: Reimagining Leadership Through the Lens of Black Feminist Thought. Thank you Dr. , .hayes, Dr. , , and Dr. Erika Woodfor this collaboration.
While I’m grateful for the publication itself, it’s moments like today that remind me of the journey and the ancestral urge to freedom dream.
Earlier today, my sister-scholar and fellow school psychologist, , who supported me through much of the journey I wrote about, sent me a voice memo reading the final section of my reflection, “Creating One’s Own Path: Amber’s Story.” Hearing my own words read back to me felt like being witnessed in my becoming.
So in this video, I am reading my words aloud as a practice of rememory—from past to present—to be still and feel.
The process of these articles reminded me that scholarship is not separate from care.
Leadership does not emerge in isolation.
And naming one another within a beloved community is life-sustaining work.
NASP members can read it here: https://www.nasponline.org/resources-and-publications/periodicals/communiqu%C3%A9-volume-54-number-5-(january/february-2026)
01/01/2026
As I close out the year, I’m sharing a reflection on grief, devotion, and what sustained me — alongside the Top 20 podcast episodes listeners stayed with most across platforms. Not as a highlight reel, but as an archive of what mattered to you. Thank you. 🥹🥹🥹
So, I ask: What episode or what moment stayed with you?
I’m also holding these questions close:
🙏🏾 What was I grieving before I knew to call it grief?
🙏🏾 What slowed me down for reasons I’m only now beginning to understand?
🙏🏾 What wants to be carried forward-not because it’s what the world requires of me, but because it is truest to who I am becoming?
I hope you not only take a moment to pause and reflect, but I hope you also will share your wisdom with us. I know I greatly appreciate these messages because they make me feel less alone. There is a beautiful gift in being seen. 🥹🥹🥹
Full reflection + Top 20 list on Substack for free: https://open.substack.com/pub/livingin3dpower/p/what-loved-me-through-this-year?r=7hnal&utm_medium=ios