They Tried to Contain It. I Became the Carrier
Liberation Strategy #3 is here. This one’s for those who’ve ever had their brilliance muted—and kept blooming anyway.
There’s a particular kind of silence that systems practice.
It’s not absence, it’s erasure.
And it sounds like this:
“We never sent that resource.”
“Let’s just keep this internal.”
“That’s not really aligned with our tone.”
But the truth is:
They didn’t forget.
They silenced it on purpose.
When I trained the entire foundation staff on equity for marginalized youth,
I didn’t just speak, I built.
A whole compendium.
A library of wisdom.
Articles, videos, podcasts.
A living resource for those working with Black, Brown, and LGBTQ+ youth.
It was meant to be distributed after the session.
It never was.
Not because it wasn’t powerful
but because it was too powerful.
Because it said what the org couldn’t say,
and did what the institution wasn’t brave enough to do.
But here’s what they didn’t realize:
You can suppress a deliverable.
But you can’t suppress a download.
The work had already been spoken into the field.
It was already received by those who needed it.
It was carried through conference rooms and coffee chats and community.
They tried to contain it.
But I had already become the carrier.
Liberation Strategy #3:
Don’t Chase the Platform. Be the Portal.
When systems shrink your work, trust that the work still travels.
The impact is not always in the inbox.
Sometimes it’s in the way someone applies your words two months later.
Or how your framework becomes their foundation—even without your name on it.
Let the legacy move in silence if it has to.
The soil always remembers what was planted.
🌱 A Bloom Move to Try:
Think of a moment where your work was unacknowledged or muted.
Ask yourself:
- Where did it still go?
- Who did it still reach?
- Who did I become through it?
Write that.
Claim that.
Let that be your proof.
👉🏾 Want more liberation strategies? Visit https://bloomdontshrink.com/blog for the full Olamina Speaks series.