Alumni Spotlight: Samira, Aniya, and Leila

“Black Girls Dreaming” performance day, 2016

Samira began her journey with Chapter 510 almost ten years ago. She was a curious and passionate eighth grader at North Oakland Community Charter School looking for a creative outlet. 

Her first experience at Chapter 510 took place at their original center at 2301 Telegraph. She was there for a poetry workshop titled “Dreaming” in partnership with House/Full of Blackwomen, a collective and performance project driven by a core question: “How can we, as black women and girls, find space to breathe, and be well within a stable home?”

“The energy in the program was infectious. I heard a collection of stories around racial identity, sexuality, and intersectionality in an environment that not only felt safe but also served as a celebration of Blackness, and all the ways in which it can take form,” Samira reflects.

The workshop culminated in a book and an evening of performances by local Black women healers, makers, dreamers, and leaders. 

In this space, she fell in love with storytelling. She began to chase writing as a means of expression and a vessel for how she wanted to use her voice to create change.

When Samira entered college, inspired in part by her formative experience at Chapter 510 and the “Dreaming” workshop, her and a few friends started a Women of Color United Coalition. This was a space where women of color on campus had the freedom to express themselves emotionally and creatively, within a predominantly white institution. 

She also joined the campus’ student of color publication “Dark Phrases” where young creatives shared everything from personal essays and news stories to visual and performing arts.

“It was an incredibly rewarding experience to have a hand in ensuring the voices of my peers were heard and spotlighted.”

The “Dreaming” workshop also included two extraordinary Chapter 510 Alumni—Aniya Butler and Leila Motley—who went on to pursue storytelling in their own ways. 

Not long after the workshop ended, Aniya and her mother approached Chapter 510 to help her finish a collection of poetry she had begun writing. The following year, This World is Going to Change, was published. 

 “Chapter 510 actually wanted me to have a voice and to be giving it to other people,” she reflects .

Aniya has now gone on to pursue an education at Wesleyan University and is a nationally recognized climate activist, who has received many accolades including— Seventeen Magazine’s 2022 Voices of the Year,  the Award in Environmental Humanities from the University of Utah, and the Senator Regis F. Groff Youth Award by the National Black Caucus of State Legislators.

Leila Motley, who participated in multiple Chapter 510 workshops, nurtured her writing beyond the center and in 2022 published her debut novel Nightcrawling to critical acclaim—the novel was nominated for Oprah’s Book Club and became an instant New York Times Bestseller. 

“The space that these workshops built is, in its essence, revolutionary,” Leila shares .

Samira, Aniya, and Leila, are all proof that the creativity, power, and community fostered at Chapter 510 stays with you and doesn’t end when you leave the space. The stories shared, words written, and relationships built are not fleeting, they are foundational. 

Samira now returns to Chapter 510 as a recent college graduate, with the purpose to help uplift the voices of young people and communicate the mission that helped her become the person she is today.

“In my work supporting Chapter 510’s communications, I get to shine a light on all the ways Chapter 510 connects young people to the power of their stories, and help their words reach new audiences. It’s especially meaningful to look back on ten years of this organization, and look forward together with purpose to the next ten.”