BY TIA CAROL JONES
Nneka J. Howell founded Ink’d Xpressions, a community-based organization that uses creative writing and photography to relate to the community. Howell, a writer herself, knows the impact creativity can have when advocating for change. The core values of Ink’d Xpressions, which Howell founded in 2014, include unity, community, justice, love, diversity and creativity.
Howell said she wrote her first book at the age of five. She said she started writing poetry at seven and embraced the moniker, “Lady Poet.” She said she chose the name as something elegant, yet simple.
The first book she published was a book of her poetry, entitled, “A Poet’s Heart,” when she was in college at the University of Illinois Champaign-Urbana. “When I write my poetry, it usually comes easy to me,” she said. “I’m able to write a poem in a ten-minute span and have it really clear and high quality,” she added. “Everything inspires me to write poetry, people’s experiences, the things I see people go through, my own personal experience and afflictions. I use my poetry as an escape.”
Howell has also written “Real Women Get Their Hands Dirty” and “Hidden Candor.” She said she uses her poetry as medicine, as therapy. She added, writing is not just a hobby, it is a lifestyle. She said she found out very early on that writing was something she was supposed to do and that it allows her to find her “own escape, to find my own release,” she said, “but I found that other people are able to be medicated by writing as well. I’ve used it throughout my life as therapy and it has helped throughout my life and everything I do to relate to others,” Howell remarked. It “nourishes me mind, body, soul, spirit and emotion,” she continued.
Howell said she believes that God has told her time after time that writing is her purpose in life. “I found if I could find a way to creatively express myself, other people have similar stories and we’re all more similar than different whether we want to acknowledge that fact or not,” she said. “God’s been diligent in reminding me of my purpose, even if I end up in other occupations, doing other things, he finds a way to get me back in track.”
In December 2020, Ink’d Xpressions created and distributed more than 300 greeting cards and sent them to senior homes and assisted living homes. “We’re trying to really connect to people and challenge them and empower them to acknowledge their greatest potential,” she said.
Howell has written a book entitled “Color of Play,” which is set to come out on March 31. It is the first in a four- book series. The goal of the children’s picture book is to challenge the idea of being color blind. She said it is impossible to be color blind.
People should just simply accept people of different colors, different backgrounds, Howell said and added that, “Everybody has a different story and all of them are important,” she stated. Howell said instead of saying you’re color blind, let’s acknowledge the color, “first and foremost,” she continued.
“Then, when you acknowledge people’s color and differences, let’s embrace each other, let’s learn their stories, let’s actively listen and get to know these individuals,” she said. “If we start with our children and the families, learn to instill that in their children, the world will be better off in the long run.”
For more information about Nneka J. Howell and Ink’d Xpressions, visit www.inkdxpressions.com.
