Candice's new book Manifest(o) is out on 5th September. Tickets for her 2024 UK tour are available now via: www.fane.co.uk/candice-brathwaite
The challenges I have encountered which have acted as catalysts prompting me to challenge the status quo and norm, have been too many to count. Firstly, I’m the oldest daughter of a black household. Those who get it, get it. Alongside that, I witnessed a lot of violence as a child. In my teens, we moved home eight times in three years. That lack of stability coupled with poverty for sure gave its fair share of challenges. Then there was me going out into the wider working world and just learning how much harder this would be for me. When I was 21 out of the blue my dad just dropped dead. I can’t say that these things have led me to challenge the status quo or the norm. But I have had many experiences of just how short life can be. So I don’t take shit. I just don’t have the time for it. I think people think that shows up as me being ‘challenging,’ nah it’s just me not wasting my own time. Go find someone else to play with. Candice Brathwaite ain’t a games console.
I don’t think I go against the grain. I think what I do is show up authentically in a world that has got so used to people pretending.
Creating positive impacts in my life and society through my experiences has not been intentional. I almost died from postpartum sepsis after my first child was born in 2013. The MMBRACE report that was released which stated that black British women were five times more likely to die in childbirth than their white counterparts wasn’t released until 2018. My game-changing book ‘I Am Not Your Baby Mother’ wasn’t released until 2020. I say all of this to highlight how I couldn’t possibly prepare to leverage any of my experiences, I’m simply a storyteller. I also don’t do any of my work with the intent of impacting society. I do the work to heal myself. Should others feel as though the work can heal them too, that’s fabulous. But I have to admit the work is first and foremost a selfish process for me.
I don’t think I go against the grain. I think what I do is show up authentically in a world that has got so used to people pretending. What is essentially a small act then gets blown up, ‘Oh she’s challenging the norm!’ Pointing out colourism should be normal. Highlighting that I struggle to get paid the same as my white peers should be the norm. Sharing stories about toxic generational patterns in the black community should be normal. Am I challenging the norm or are you too used to lying and being lied to? That’s the real tea.
My little family is a milestone I am most proud of. I have been part of creating a loving, open-minded, supportive household. I have been able to give my children so much of what my inner child still desires. There is no title, no book, no award that can match what I get to go home to.
What makes me a Disruptor is perhaps the fact I don’t think I am one.
Candice Brathwaite is a prominent British author and advocate who has made a significant impact with her work on motherhood and diversity.
Widely recognised for her critically acclaimed Sunday Times Best-Selling book, ‘I Am Not Your Baby Mother,’ Candice passionately addresses the unique experiences of Black British mothers. Her latest book, Manifest(o) is due to be released on 5th September and she sets off on her biggest UK tour to date this September.
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