Meet Cathie Wright-Lewis | Executive Director and Instructor, Power in the Pen Writing Workshop

We had the good fortune of connecting with Cathie Wright-Lewis and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Cathie, we’d love to hear more about how you thought about starting your own business?
My initial thought process was to give back to the community that molded me. Growing up in Brownsville, Brooklyn during the Civil Rights Movement and The Black Arts Movement taught me that we could empower and educate our youth within our community. We are gifted artisans in one discipline or another, and through our art, we unite and uplift one another. Mighty community activists taught me to fight for my rights and those of my community. I promised them I would always return to teach others what they taught me. I’m a writer and an educator, so those are the skills I share.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
For 35 years I taught grades 6 -12 and college students for the NYC Dept of Education and Medgar Evers College in Central Brooklyn. I love teaching and I am extremely proud to have served thousands of students of African descent as I taught from a culturally-based pedagogy. It was only difficult near the end when the system began to micromanage teachers. I taught students but I also became a literacy coach, a department chair, and a UFT Teacher -Trainer. What I loved the most was teaching students because I had an opportunity to share my love of story-telling with them, write stories for them and instill the writing skills they needed to do the same.

During my years at Boys and Girls High School in the 80’s, my students would complain about the boring stories we were forced to teach them, so I began to write stories about my life growing up in Brownsville and about them and added them to my curriculum. I was also dabbling in poetry as a hobby, and had the opportunity to teach it as well. After a few years, I realized my stories were actually becoming a book. So, I got serious. I began writing my first novel, Maurya’s Seed – why hope lives behind project walls which included some of my stories and poetry. It was published in 2001.

My stories are all rooted in Spirituality and New York City’s rich African American history. I want the world to know that the African Slave Trade occurred here too. Slave ships docked at Manhattan’s South Street Seaport and auctioned human captives there as well. Africans built New Amsterdam and were able to buy their freedom until the British defeated the Dutch and made everyone of African descent a slave and set the indigenous whites free. My brand includes elevating oneself above the abuse slavery has left on our spirits.

As a Spiritual Life Coach, I have learned that we have allowed the negativity of this world to enslave us because we believed it was powerful over us. But only The Most High Almighty Creator has control and we can free ourselves, heal ourselves and be ourselves if we just believe. This is the message I write in every story.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
New York City has so much to offer, I would be remiss not to first take you to a Broadway play. We would go uptown to Harlem and dine at Chocolate` or Sylvia’s legendary Soul food restaurant. I love cruises, so I would also take you on a cruise up the Hudson on which we would dine and drink the best wines or sit on the harbor and eat lobster at the North River Lobster Company. If you’d prefer Italian, we must go to Carmines in Times Square and dine on some of the best Italian food outside of Little Italy, “family style.”

But I am a Brooklynite, so I would definitely take you to a Nets game at Barclays Center. We could then stroll along the Brooklyn Promenade or enjoy dessert at Brooklyn Bridge Park. Both sites sit across the most amazing view of Lower Manhattan and the Statue of Liberty.

On another day, we must try some of the best Jerk Chicken and Vegetarian Caribbean food in Flatbush at Bamboo Walk Restaurant on Utica Avenue, then dance the night away at a free concert in Prospect Park’s bandshell. The next day, we would just tour all of the Boros and learn the rich history of New York City in each.

Before it’s all over, I would be remiss if I did not take you back to Manhattan to visit as many museums as possible: The African Burial Ground, MOMA, the Guggenheim, NYC Historical Society, and the Museum of Native Americans to name a few. Then, why not go to Liberty Island and end the trip with a tour of The Freedom Tower.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
First and foremost, I have to thank Margaret Moore, the director of several programs that empowered youth and adults in Brownsville, and the multi-talented Yusef Iman who, in my heart, was the Black Arts Movement. They both taught us African Dance, Modern Dance, and Ballet. They taught us African Oral Tradition, which I still teach and practice today. They also made us politically aware; we marched to JHS 271 every day during the Teacher’s Strike in 1968. We marched across the Brooklyn Bridge and picketed.

Every parent, including my mother, Gwendolyn Wright that was involved, became a role model to me. They taught me to advocate for my children and community. Clergy of every belief system was involved, and Monsignor John Powis, was a special part of my life. He was a humble yet fiery, radical priest, whom I miss dearly.

Website: www.cathiewrightlewis.com

Instagram: Nakistana

Twitter: Catrageouser1

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/cathie.wrightlewis

Other: www.powerinthepenww.org

Image Credits
Nicolas Nicols Cheyenne “Angel” Lewis Ansel Pitcairn John Llantiin