They Stripped Me of My Title—On the Way In and On the Way Out

A liberation letter from Dr. Adrienne Kennedy, aka SistaRhythm, The Bloom Priestess

The First and Last Word: Erasure

“Good afternoon,
I wanted to let you know that Adrienne has submitted her resignation…” 

That’s how the farewell began. No title. No honor. No recognition of what it took for me to endure that space. Just my first name, as if I didn’t carry a doctorate. As if I hadn’t led with integrity. As if I hadn’t stood at the front of that room teaching the very frameworks their mission depends on. 

No “Dr. Kennedy.”
No reverence.
Just Adrienne—as if we were friends. As if I had not earned and defended my name in every room I entered.

But here’s the thing: it started this way too.

On day one, I introduced myself as Dr. Adrienne Kennedy. But the HR rep walking me around introduced me as Adrienne—without asking, without care. And then another Black woman, older, rooted in survival culture, looked me in the eye and said:

“I’m not calling you Dr. Kennedy.”

She said it with the kind of audacity that only comfort within oppressive systems can grant. So I knew—I knew exactly what kind of space I had walked into.

Contained, But Never Quiet
 

From that moment on, I made a decision: You will not have all of me.

I stayed behind a closed door—not out of coldness, but to protect my peace. Because showing up every day in a space that refused to see me while I trained staff on permanency for system-impacted Black and Brown youth? It was emotionally expensive.

The job was easy.
But preserving my spirit? That was the hard part.

They thought I was silent. But what they didn’t know was that I was building something sacred:

• Traveling to New York to network with DJs and discover my sound
  
• Quietly raising seed funding for Friends of the Children – Columbus, rewriting the future for youth
  
• Designing the blueprint for Bloom, Don’t Shrink, a liberation movement rooted in rhythm, truth, and revolutionary softness. 

Because the truth is: I was never meant to fit. And my bloom was never theirs to contain.

This Wasn’t a Resignation. It Was a Release.

What they wrote in that email?

"Adrienne has submitted her resignation.”

But here’s what they left out:

Adrienne resigned.
Dr. Kennedy rose.
SistaRhythm evolved.
The Bloom Priestess broke the seal.
And Bloom, Don’t Shrink is in full bloom.

I carried what they couldn’t. And now, I lay it down.

This was a reclamation. A full-circle severing from a space that never earned the magic I brought.

This Is What Happens When You Stop Asking for Permission 

Now, I step into this next chapter fully embodied, fully expressed.

All of me gets to show up, shine, and serve.

I don’t just bloom—I build the garden.
I don’t just teach—I transform.
I don’t just leave—I liberate.

This is what happens when you stop asking for permission to exist fully.
You don’t just bloom.
You become the weather.
And baby—
the forecast is freedom.

 
🌺 So tell me…

What have you outgrown, and who do you become when you stop asking for permission to bloom?

What came up for you? Share it with us in The Garden. Request an invitation

Read: Refuse to be Erased

#BloomDontShrink #BlackWomenRest #VisibilityIsPower #SacredWitnessing #CreativeReclamation #EmotionalHealing