Annette Perry

Introduction and Who Is Annette

Taryell Simmons: Welcome, ladies and gentlemen, to another episode of Rise Urban Nation. Annette is in the building, and let me tell you, she is the jack of all trades: a green thumb, an author, a branding expert. She's a modern-day Renaissance woman. Annette, how are you this morning?

Annette Perry: I'm doing well, thank you. I'm happy to be here sharing some of me with you guys, hopefully inspiring others.

Taryell Simmons: I always ask this question, and you can take it as far and wide as you want: who is Annette?

Annette Perry: Annette is still in the making. I am the owner of Aroara, spelled A-R-O-A-R-A. I've developed it since COVID started to encompass all that I have been doing and want to do over the next decades of my life: my design work, my work with children, children's books, classes in cooking, herbology and working with oils. Whatever I have in me, I just want to give. I want to be part of leaving something behind on this earth to make it better.

Taryell Simmons: I love that. That's the whole reason I started this podcast: to give to young folks and people with limiting beliefs about what they can do. We're more than athletes and ball players, and I want Black excellence to become a normal visual, so a kid says, "I want to be a scientist. I want to be like that young lady from Aroara." You started during the pandemic too, right? What has that journey been like?

Cystic Fibrosis, COVID and Finding Community Online

Annette Perry: I started a few months in. It's a fragile thing for me, because I have cystic fibrosis and I was always a person who had coughing fits. Growing up it was already hard to find a space where I felt comfortable and safe, and COVID took out any possibility of doing in-person work with children. Doing things online made it possible for me to take it more full time, in a safe space, getting to know people all over the world in places I would probably never get to see.

Taryell Simmons: That was one of the blessings of COVID: it made the world much smaller. It was a gift and a curse. The in-person connection came to a halt, but we found different ways to find community.

Annette Perry: My community expanded immensely, especially with people of color. I've made more friends in these last two years than in my whole life. With my illness, that community really grew. It's considered rare, but it's not that rare. It's just not diagnosed in us very often, for a multitude of reasons. I joined groups I didn't even know existed, just for people of color with this condition.

Taryell Simmons: That has a lot to do with our medical system, which hasn't always been up to par serving the Black community. Just a couple of months ago a medical student asked, "Why is every practice chart white? Why don't we have one with melanin in it?" And he created the first one. It took us that long. Or Band-Aids: a group of dads, one of whom had adopted a child of color, teamed up with a doctor to create bandages in different shades, because there's psychological safety in a bandage that matches your skin. Only after theirs got popular did Band-Aid start making them in all colors. These are the things we miss when we're not invited to the table.

Annette Perry: I didn't know about those until I started shopping on We Buy Black. And like you said, that mental healing: I have that to teach my child. No one had it for me when I was a kid, because it didn't exist.

The Making of Aroara

Taryell Simmons: That's a beautiful thing. So how did you come up with the name Aroara?

Annette Perry: I was always inspired by the northern lights, the aurora borealis, but I needed a different take on the name for the legal side. My aunt said, "Roar, like a tiger." I thought about my daughter, whose sign is Leo, and mashed the roar into it. It's light, it's beautiful, but it's also fierce. And that's me. People see me as quiet and small, but there's a lot in this little package.

Taryell Simmons: You've got such big energy, I would have thought you were a six-footer. So give me your elevator pitch for Aroara.

Annette Perry: It keeps changing, but I would say Aroara is innovation in mental health. It's not new per se, but in our community our youth are very underserved, and I don't just mean teenagers. I'm talking about the babies. I work with adults in my design work and with everyone in my social work, but with my books and costumes I focus on the children, because that's where everything starts. I'm an earth mama. If you don't sow the seed in the right soil, fertilize it, water it and give it love, it can't grow into the tree or the flower you want. That explains a lot of what's going on with our kids. I'm close to people in ACS through my social work, and the suicide rates of children are just as high as adults. It's heartwrenching.

Kids, Media and Mental Health

Taryell Simmons: Do you think social media plays a part? Every like, every glimpse of how other people live, even though it's just one segment of their lives, is a dopamine hit. It's like an addiction.

Annette Perry: Absolutely, and it's not new. Throughout human history we've always had something. But we've come away from the things that kept us from going off the deep end: spirituality, religion, stronger bonds in our community. When your child sits in front of the TV all day, media is raising them. It's time to go back to routine and be mindful of what we let in and what we do with it. I can't see giving my child free rein on the internet at a certain age, because the internet is chaos. Kids need control and routine. You want to understand them on their level without sheltering them. My mom held no punches, especially in Brooklyn. And my family sent me to the country every summer. So I got the city, "look straight, don't take no business from anyone," and I got "yes ma'am, no ma'am," Sunday school and all day outside on the farm. That made me more well rounded.

Taryell Simmons: You got the best of both worlds. The city made you street smart and savvy, and the southern living gave you respect for elders and a connection to Mother Earth.

From Fashion Design to Social Work

Taryell Simmons: How did you get into social work? Did your parents point you there, or did you stumble across it?

Annette Perry: Definitely a stumble. My family is very creative, and I spent most of my childhood sewing. That was my solace, because I was in the hospital a lot. I made clothes for my dolls, and later for myself. It was just a hobby.

Taryell Simmons: Every time this woman talks, she has a new thing she did, and it was "just a hobby."

Annette Perry: I've done so much, and now I'm funneling it all down. Out of high school I did medical assisting, because I wanted to learn to treat myself and help others, but it wasn't my passion. So I went back to school for design and merchandising and worked in fashion apparel for about 15 years. After work I did commissions, from cosplay for Comic Con to Star Trek, and volunteer work teaching kids to make and craft. It fed my soul. But the more I learned about the industry, the more disgusted I was: how kids are treated overseas, child labor, what it does to the environment. I moved into kids' products, where standards were higher, and lastly worked in layette, infantwear, for a company with organic products and a really good footprint. I loved it, but social work was always calling me. Working for the city is a huge cut compared to the private sector, and I had to find my balance with that.

Taryell Simmons: You figured out where you can make the most impact. And you're building a legacy. I can't wait for your daughter to say, "This million-dollar company my mama left behind was all inspired by this."

Annette Perry: I keep her next to me a lot when I'm writing, and she does read-alouds too. I'm going to get her to be an entrepreneur. It's tireless work, but we have so many more resources than our elders had. I've even been teaching her how to invest, in small doses.

Taryell Simmons: Super mom. I recently saw data showing Black women are the leading group of new entrepreneurs, doing it without VC funding. And you're handing your daughter a blueprint: take it and make it better.

First Job and Life Lessons

Taryell Simmons: What was the first job you ever got a check for?

Annette Perry: Petland Discounts. I loved animals. Even though I was slinging pet food and scooping after animals, I did it with a lot of passion. I talked to customers, did research outside of work and brought it in, to the point where I was promoted to help the manager. I should have gotten a better raise, but I got to learn more and be the right hand for the store, because he saw it was more than a paycheck for me. That's why I tell people: if you're in a space where you're not continuing to learn and grow, it's time to move on.

Taryell Simmons: As a lifelong learner, I'll take that advice. What's one good lesson life has taught you?

Annette Perry: Stay spiritually determined. Things can beat you down and make you feel like you can't do it, and you can't always look externally for something to bring you back up. It has to come from inside. You have to do the work of mental health and healing so you can draw on your own strengths. As a martial artist I have to do that a lot. In high school I was trying to fit in, eating things I shouldn't with my condition, and pushing myself in ways I shouldn't, until I had to stop. Years later I got back into the practice. No matter what I take externally, therapy, supplements, if I don't do the training for this kata or my next belt, it's not going to happen.

Taryell Simmons: I'm learning that too: listen to your body, whether it needs rest or time off. During the pandemic I tried to push through, but sometimes you have to pause and take care of your mental and physical health so you can have that wholeness. Be whole, not just half of yourself.

Advice for Creative Entrepreneurs

Taryell Simmons: What advice would you give someone who wants to start a business that fuels their fire and passion, the way you started Aroara?

Annette Perry: Do your research. A lot of people are shying away from formal education, and that's okay, but find the right teacher. Fill your cup, and once you're about to spill over, put it all to work. Allow yourself to fail and keep going to see if this is really your passion. Then legitimize it. A lot of talented peers I know stay in the vein of it being a hobby. There's a lot of benefit to legitimizing what you do and making the government work for you. Going from artist to knowing how to copyright is difficult, but it's worth the headache. And you don't have to do it alone. Enlist people of like minds and stay in groups that keep you motivated.

What's Next for Aroara

Taryell Simmons: I love that. So what does the future hold for Aroara?

Annette Perry: I'm continuing my podcast on YouTube, Aroara Global, with children's book reads and media discussions centered on the lessons we can pass to our children, broken down so a four- or five-year-old can understand. I'm also doing a podcast with Darlene Marie called Cospod, where we talk geek stuff, cosplay, social media and social justice, and raise money for food drives, coat drives and visiting sick children in hospitals. I'm part of the diversity group with the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, working on inequities in healthcare, policies and how things are diagnosed. And I'm doing branding and merchandise for my groups, so people know we're here. There are so many Black organizations people have never heard of, and I always open my platform for them. We have to be there for each other.

Taryell Simmons: When you find them, send them my way, and I'll send them yours. Where can people find you?

Annette Perry: I'm on Facebook and Instagram, and at aroaraglobal.com everything is there: pictures, social links, everything.

Taryell Simmons: For everybody driving, focus on the road. All of Annette's links will be in the show notes. Annette, thank you for being the shining light and creative being that you are. Any last words of wisdom?

Annette Perry: I just want to say thank you. I'm always giving thanks. Everybody, share on and keep it going.

Taryell Simmons: You heard it. Share on and keep it going. Let's keep the community sharing and caring for one another. This has been another episode of Rise Urban Nation. Annette Perry, everybody.