I’m Back! For real this time!

Happy New Year! I know Larry David says the statute of limitations to say that has been up for weeks, and I’ve broken my own rule of stopping saying it at MLK Day. But this is my first newsletter of the year, and it only makes sense to give you a proper welcome!

Welcome back to my monthly newsletter! I restarted it in the middle of last year, then fell off during the summer because life got pretty interesting. In the spring, I decided to rewrite my memoir. (For those who don’t know me well, my other job is as a creative writer, mostly of nonfiction.) To make the book better, I wanted to immerse myself in my past, so I traveled to nearly every house I’ve ever lived in, from the duplex in Camden, New Jersey, where my mother brought me home from the hospital when I was first born, to the house we shared with my father in Providence, Rhode Island, where my parents finally got married when I was two. 

Then I went to North Carolina, where I grew up. I spent a week going not just to the houses I lived in (we moved a lot once my parents separated), but also to my elementary school, where I recalled feeling so ashamed because my father had abandoned me, and I didn’t know how to leave those feelings at home, if you will.

But the unexpected highlight of the trip was visiting the grave of my 5th-great grandfather, the white man who owned my 5th-great grandmother, who is listed in historical records only as “Enslaved Woman.” It was a powerful experience standing over the grave of a slave owner and informing him of my freedom. I was changed after that, certainly.

As proof, the next day I went to Chimney Rock, where my brother scattered our father’s ashes after he died back in 2015, and I felt no anger toward my father. He’d hurt me plenty, right through his final days, but I had a pleasant time at his spot by the water, under some trees, near a pedestrian bridge. I was able to let the past go. 

All told, I’d intended to do research for my memoir in 2023, but wound up going on a liberation journey.

Then, I went to a writing residency in Eureka Springs, Arkansas, and had the great pleasure of meeting Jesus. No, really, Eureka Springs has the largest Jesus statue in the U.S. It is absolutely the strangest thing I have ever encountered, but it sealed the importance of my journey for me.

What does any of this have to do with advising emerging private equity fund managers? 

Nothing, and everything.

On the surface, my work as a writer contributes little to my work as a trusted advisor aside from the transferable skill of being able to tell one story or another. But, really, all that I did last summer solidified for me that I bring my whole self to my work, that I am the totality of my experiences, and that my clients get the benefit of my intuition, observational insight, and ability to introspect. And that brings me so much joy, I cannot describe it.

So, I’m back to business with newfound joy, passion, and insight. I’ve got some great surprises for you this year, so stay tuned! I hope you’re excited to bring your best to every part of this year.