Listen to Black American Kiki Orr – born and raised and residing in Harlem, New York – share about living in Harlem and working from home during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Sonja: “And what would you like to share about your ancestry?”
Kiki: “'You know it’s so interesting, because I was listening to one of the interviews that you did before, and I always get a little bit emotional at the question, because for me it feels like a constant reminder of how much I don't know about my ancestry…”
“I'll always remember the pandemic and yet it feels like a distant memory…I'll never forget it, like, I think part of it also is that I'm carrying a lot of a lot of it in my DNA… I think it has left some residual effects that I'm actually experiencing at present day moment, and we’ll talk about that later.
But starting in 2020, I’ll actually never forget it, because I remember being in the office and there was some mention of the possibility of us having to go home, but not really, right? At first they were like, let's do staggered schedules: we'll start staggering people in…”
On having her child go to school from home:
“I felt like I was the dean of students. I did not sign up to be the dean of students.”
On gathering on Zoom:
“So we did a 'We Got Family' talent show, and my family was on Zoom. Everybody could choose to share…or watch and clap or they could actively do something. Most of them did. What was nice was that some did it as individuals and some did it as a collective — like as a family unit. My sister and my… I’m getting emotional… I’m thinking back on that time, because it probably was one of our last family gatherings before my mom passed…”
On death:
“There were moments of sadness. I was working to be very intentional about creating joy. I was very intentional because there was so much death that was happening. Every single day, so much death…”
Listen to Part Two where Kiki talks about her television debut on the family-friendly HBOMAX reality dating show: “My Mom, Your Dad.” The host is Yvonne Orji from “Insecure.” The show will make you laugh out loud as parents try a second chance at love.
