A Woman's Journey to Bridging the Gender Gap and Bringing People Together
by Channing Capacchione | WeINSPIRE Reporter
BOSTON, Ma. -- They say a picture is worth a thousand words, but what about vision? Brave In Vision has been sharing words and stories for the past year and a half. Kenya Bryant, founder of The Oven: A Women’s Vision Incubator, uses her platform to amplify the wisdom and experiences of outstanding individuals, sharing their stories.
“Storytelling really connects us,” says Bryant who previously worked with youth, and prioritized issues of girls and women. Her podcast series and The Oven addresses similar concerns.
Pictured: Kenya Bryant
The Oven was birthed from “a place of wanting to bring women together that have a passion,” says Bryant. “I wanted a place where women felt important and that their voices needed to be heard. I wanted it to be an intersection of mentorship and coaching so that I could bring other women who have passions or expertise to share their voice and passions with other women.”
While the original name for Bryant’s organization was “One in the Oven,” attributed to women’s ability to carry life and be visionaries, “it evolved into a mixing of all these things that women carry and allowing us to realize that sometimes going through the fire of life allows us to create and fulfill your purpose,” says Bryant.
“It’s about taking what we have and our life experiences and allowing none of that to be wasted. All of these ingredients need to be used to create a grand and beautiful life that I have, and want other women to have as well.”
Pictured: Women's History Special podcast recording
Bryant did exactly that when she established “Vision Fridays, partnering with other dynamic women and elevating each other and pushing each other forward.” Additionally, Bryant has created, “living room spaces, where women could come and feel accepted and received.” She has organized and hosted vision board parties,panels, Vision Fridays, and brought together guest speakers. She also prioritized partnering with others, Bryant shared “we’d go to small businesses and feed back into them by having meetings at coffee shops and cafes.”
Brave In Vision was born out of The Oven, “allowing women to come together,” says Bryant “It has amazed me with the incredible human beings I’ve been able to have on the podcast.”
As a social worker and mom of three “gentle giants,” Bryant notes, “they’re change agents, and history makers, and trend setters, My heart and my passion is to see people thriving and to see people walking in their passion and to call that forth, by seeing the gold in someone and pulling it out.”
Pictured: Bryant and her three children
What started as a women's only group, has since expanded to bridge the gender gap and bring people together, especially people of color. A social worker by day, leader by night, Bryant’s story exemplifies how empowering others is something we all can work towards and benefit from.
Though her career as a social worker began working with youth, Bryant now walks alongside geratric patients, aging up to 107 years old. Bryant’s clients are individuals with varying and incredible life experiences. One is a woman who attended the March on Washington in August of 1963 and personally knew Congressman John Lewis. Individually and collectively, they have inspiring stories to tell.
Bryant invites incredible individuals to her podcast weekly, to speak on powerful topics and advocate for equality. “I don’t care if it hits just one person, or a thousand. As long as it is impacting someone’s life, that’s what is important,” says Bryant.
Pictured: Bryant in the recording studio
“Life has its troubles, and ups and downs, but it’s great to say that the work I do and the platform I’ve been able to create, make it all worthwhile for the struggles. It gives a greater capacity for joy.”
After 27 years of estrangement, Bryant and her father took to Brave In Vision to launch into a series featuring men, called “The Bridge.” Their reconciliation, and Bryant’s father’s interest in her podcast, lead to an interview.
“It was absolutely healing, and it blew my mind,” says Bryant. “I didn’t know what he was going to talk about, which kind of scared me. But it was absolutely beautiful, and I had to hold back tears. It launched the men's series in a beautiful way.”
This led to another episode, asking other women to share a 60 second snippet about their experiences with their own father’s. Bryant was able to see the multitudes of relationships between father’s and daughter’s, the positive, the negatives, and all the anecdotes in between.
“That episode was healing for a lot of people,” says Bryant.
Bryant’s relationship with God is at the forefront of her inspirational work. She has been able to connect with people who push her to be great and grow. In fact, Bryant has interviewed some of her closest friends, Talaya Simlson and Ayodola Anise, through her podcast
Pictured: Bryant with her friends and inspiration, Talaya Simlson and Ayodola Anise
The current series, 15 minutes of ___, came out of the pandemic. “Interviewing is my favorite. I love the connection you get to have with a person,” says Bryant, in a time where maintaining connections with people is more important than ever.
Just this past week, our very own Founder and CEO, Jamarl D. Clark was featured on “15 Minutes of Shedding, Process of Self Discover.”
“I’m a big dreamer and a visionary,” says Bryant. “I would love to see the podcast open up doors for talk radio or TV to share stories that will encourage other people and pull them up so that they can keep going. My next series will hopefully be a video series possibly on YouTube that shows that we are better together.”
Be sure to tune in weekly to hear each new episode of Brave In Vision.
