We caught up with the brilliant and insightful LySaundra Campbell a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
LySaundra, so good to have you with us today. We’ve always been impressed with folks who have a very clear sense of purpose and so maybe we can jump right in and talk about how you found your purpose?
Finding my purpose has been both intuitive and complex. I’ve never been afraid to take a “throw spaghetti on the wall and see what sticks” kind of approach.
As a kid, I was naturally creative and imaginative and had a knack for speaking truth to power (although, back then it was called “being in grown folks’ business”). At my core, creativity and justice have always been central. I started playing piano and violin in grade school and studied music and sociology in college, where I was actively involved with racial and gender justice student organizations. From there, I’ve had the opportunity to work with gender justice organizations in Tennessee, Missouri, Washington, D.C., and California before taking the risk to work for myself full-time.
I’m sure it was unintentional by my parents, but my first name (LySaundra) means “emancipator” or “defender of mankind” and my middle name (Janeé) means “Jehovah has shown grace/favor.” Whether I was a domestic and sexual violence advocate/educator, music teacher to the most incredible middle schoolers in Miami, co-leading communications campaigns for racial and gender justice, or now finding the flow as I work for myself as a multi-hyphenate creative, justice and joy are at the heart of everything I do. My purpose is to center the healing of Black and brown communities through the creative arts and storytelling. Every position I’ve held within other companies and organizations never seemed quite tailored for me but provided incredible insight and experience, and eventually brought me to intuitively carve my own path.
Great, so let’s take a few minutes and cover your story. What should folks know about you and what you do?
I’m in an interesting period in my career. I’ve described this era as creating a job for my ADHD, so bear with me! I’ll break it down by community, storytelling, and healing, which are the three pillars of my brand, Social Soundtrack. I started Social Soundtrack originally as a podcast, which turned into a workshop, and now it’s what I do full-time. The purpose is to create and celebrate opportunities for community, storytelling, and healing across the African Diaspora through the creative arts.
Community: Before launching my business, my career in the nonprofit sector heavily focused on communications, narrative strategy, and storytelling—and that’s the kind of consulting I provide now for organizations. I also had the opportunity recently to get my first music supervision credit for a short film “Dating Daze.” The creative arts connect our communities in ways that politics and policies won’t. And I love that I get to connect with social justice organizations and creative artists to reflect the times (according to the Nina Simone quote) and imagine the world we want to live in.
Storytelling: Along with the storytelling and narrative strategy I do for my clients, I’m a writer. So a lot of my time these days is spent writing, rewriting, and editing essays and poetry for submissions, residencies, and fellowships. And, occasionally crying into a cup of coffee, wondering if my words are good enough to be published. I can’t lie and paint a picture as if being an artist is easy. It’s not; imposter syndrome is real. But I’m grateful to have an expansive writing community between friends, former colleagues, and friends from a writing residency. So far, my writing work can be found in the New York Writers Coalition anthology Common Unity, Rewire News, Sojourners, Chasing Justice, 21Ninety, The New Territory Magazine, Elite Daily, Blavity, and more.
Healing: I’m wrapping up a 6-month s*x & intimacy coaching training program and will begin taking clients (individuals and companies) and hosting workshops. This is both exciting and intimidating. I spent many years working directly with survivors of sexual violence during a crisis and educating the public on what intimate partner violence looks like and how to prevent it. I spent many years talking about what I’m against. Now, I’m on the other side, where I get to work with individuals and groups to talk about what we’re for, what works, and what deeper intimacy feels like for us. Before the coaching training program, I did this through a creative writing workshop (The Write In) and music wellness workshop (A Resilient Tune: Black Music & Social Politics); and I’m excited to take what I’m learning from the training program to expand these existing workshops.
There is so much advice out there about all the different skills and qualities folks need to develop in order to succeed in today’s highly competitive environment and often it can feel overwhelming. So, if we had to break it down to just the three that matter most, which three skills or qualities would you focus on?
The biggest quality has been staying open and curious about doing things differently. I think it’s easy to get tied to tradition and what’s “right” or pragmatic. Any organization I’ve worked for—whether proudly or annoyingly—will tell you that I entered every space asking, “Okay, but what can we do differently? Who are we leaving out by continuing down this road?” I always ask “Why?” and “Who does this benefit?”
Going along with staying curious is thinking about which skills are also transferable, or can be expanded, so you don’t have to take a particular route. I’d always been a storyteller. I started writing songs and poetry around age 10 and started a blog in college around age 21, but I didn’t consider myself a writer until I was about 24 or 25—around the time I got my first paid essay in a literary magazine. Shortly after, combining my advocacy, educator, and creative writing skills led me to secure a role on a communications team with a national gender justice nonprofit.
The last area is joy. My journey is what it is because I genuinely enjoy what I do, who I do it for, who I do it with, and the impact it has on the communities I find myself a part of. There’s a magnetic feeling inside of me when someone responds to my newsletter about how much they enjoyed a playlist I curated—how a certain song is helping them overcome body image issues or a breakup. There’s also a joy I’d get when my former students would learn to master a few measures of a song on the violin or piano after weeks of frustration. There’s a joy I get when I coordinate an event or gathering at my home over good food, drinks, and an abundance of laughter or challenging discussions.
One of our goals is to help like-minded folks with similar goals connect and so before we go we want to ask if you are looking to partner or collab with others – and if so, what would make the ideal collaborator or partner?
Yes! I’m always excited to collaborate and partner with other people through writing opportunities, bringing my workshops to businesses, providing coaching services especially in the performing arts space, and more music supervision for TV/film. If “justice and joy” are also at the heart of what you do, I’m excited to learn about your projects, group, or company. Folks can reach me at lysaundra@thesocialsoundtrack.com
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.lysaundrajanee.com/
- Instagram: @LySaundraJanee
Image Credits
Credit: Nigil Crawford (all other photos) Credit: Noah Berger (photo of me writing on the whiteboard) Credit: Jessica Hughee (photo of me in brownstone backyard)
