Once a year, I get to interview someone who is under the age of 50 to highlight their body of work, especially when they have been intentional about involving older Black women.     Tameka Lawson is a force, and her organization Restored Hope empowers Black women and girls to move beyond the everyday cycles of violence and trauma while working toward discovering inner peace and resiliency within themselves, their families and their communities. Restored Hope offers after school and in school programs that empower young women through trauma informed yoga, various social service resources, and workshops for women. Tameka Lawson is an Advocate for Social Change and is the Founder of the Selah Center for Healing.     Tameka Lawson has been a revered community activist for years, advocating for social change through her work in mindfulness programs in Chicago's Englewood community. Through her efforts, she provided organizations with the tools of mindfulness and yoga to combat the violence that community members often faced. Tameka and Restored Hope received accolades from former First Lady Michelle Obama for the phenomenally impactful work that she is doing.    During a public health brigade in 2019, Tameka recognized that Black diasporans returning to the continent often lacked a proper space to process their experiences fully. This realization led to the creation of the Selah Center for Healing. The center, located in Elmina, Ghana, will offer workshops, yoga, reiki and other forms of healing to help individuals process the information that their bodies receive after visiting the slave grounds. It is expected to open in the spring of 2024.  Tameka is also escorting five African American girls (ages 15-18) to Elmina/Cape Coast, Ghana. There she will connect them to the Ghanaian girls who she works with around the body-mind connection, meditation and leadership development. They will the tour slave dungeons and more importantly process jointly what this experience means for the girls from both sides of the Atlantic. If you would like to assist Tameka by sponsoring a girl, making a financial contribution or helping to provide feminine products, you can connect with Tameka through Restored Hopes’s social media pages, the website or by going directly to Amazon (see link below) to view the organization’s wish list.     Check out my list on Amazon amazon.com   Tameka is a certified trauma-informed yoga teacher, having trained under renowned teachers like Seane Corn and Catherine Ashton. Her vinyasa flow yoga classes challenge students to express their intentions as they work toward inner healing and empowerment. Her work has been featured in over 20 media publications, including People Magazine and The Doctors TV show. She is also a United Nations Delegate to the Commission of the Status of Women conference. But above all, Tameka is proud to be a mother of her four amazuping children Christopher Jr., Joshua, Ziya-Angeline and Elijah-Michael. RESTORED HOPE’S FACEBOOK PAGE Restored Hope | Chicago IL facebook.com     INSTAGRAM PAGE/LINK FOR RESTORED HOPE   https://www.instagram.com/restoredhopeorg?igsh=dnVsdWR5NW1mMnNw&utm_source=qr       WEBSITE FOR RESTORED HOPE   Reminding Women to Breathe restoredhopechicago.org