Episode 008 of Get Naked LIVE features Danielle Dunn, CEO of Chikara Communications, LLC. In this episode Danielle takes us on a journey of how losing her best friend to Hodgkin’s lymphoma took an emotional toll on her, how challenging walking through grief and healing was and how she is now honoring her friends life.
This episode sheds a light on the individual journey of walking through grief and healing
For years Danielle, thought that mourning and grieving the loss of someone she loved dearly was only appropriate for her birthday and anniversary of her death. She also felt that she could only have level five grief because she wasn't a parent or blood sibling. She felt that if her friend's own mother was being "strong" in the face of losing her only child, then she definitely needed to get her ish together and not let the death of someone who was "just her friend" break her.
Some of the episode's defining moments include:
* How she didn't want to make others feel uncomfortable by allowing herself to grieve
* How she felt like she didn't have the right to grieve because "she was just my friend"
* How she was extremely uncomfortable with the feelings of sadness and how feeling uncomfortable put on her on the run and led her to engaging in unhealthy activities
* How she wishes she had allowed herself to properly experience the grief
* How she now celebrates her best friend daily through the Ivy locs books series
* How she uses the devastating loss to affirm other women by talking about the value of sisterhood
* How allowing yourself to feel emotional pain sets you free
* How important it is to find a healing process that works specifically for you
* How she is now honoring her friends life.
ABOUT DANIELLE
Danielle Carin Dunn is CEO of Chikara Communications, LLC., which provides professional writing services to small businesses. She is publisher and author of the IvyLocs book series. The first installment, IvyLocs, Episode 1: Tee-Tee’s Wedding was released in April 2016.
Recognized nationally for her work, Dunn was selected for the 2017 NAACP Author Pavilion. Her writings and opinions have been featured in the Detroit News and the National Black Women’s Roundtable on the State of Black Women in Michigan report. She was featured in the AAMBC Literary Awards 2017 national literacy campaign- #TheySayWeDontRead, with a mission to highlight the importance of literacy and writing in the African-American community.
A dedicated community servant, Dunn is the recipient of a Spirit of Detroit Award for “Dedicated Community Service” and a Certificate of Special Congressional Recognition for “Outstanding Community Service.”
Dunn is a proud Detroit Public School graduate and alumnus of Eastern Michigan University, where she majored in African-American Studies and English, Language and Literature. She writes to marry her love of language and storytelling with activism.
You can find Danielle in the following online spaces:
Website: www.ivylocs.com
Facebook: Ivylocs
Instagram: @ivylocsbooks
Danielle's MOST Quotable Moment:
“Losing her felt like losing a piece of myself. I had to figure out what my life would be
after losing someone who had been such an integral part of it. I can't even describe the level of devastation."
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