Meet Nyisha Green-Washington

We recently connected with Nyisha Green-Washington and have shared our conversation below.

Nyisha, thanks so much for taking the time to share your insights and lessons with us today. We’re particularly interested in hearing about how you became such a resilient person. Where do you get your resilience from?

I get my resilience from my ancestors. I come from a lineage of trail-blazing women, my Grandma and Great-Grandmother on my mother’s side, who broke through many barriers with limited resources. Their stories of resilience continue to lift me up when I think the least of myself.

Let’s take a small detour – maybe you can share a bit about yourself before we dive back into some of the other questions we had for you?

I am currently an community organizer for an organization working towards eliminating breast cancer by focusing on prevention. I educate the community on prevention with a focus on environmental health and toxic exposures linked to the disease. In addition, I also own a small business formerly offering both birth worker (doula) services and mobile private swim lessons and water safety called Give Light Aquatics (formerly Give Light Doula & Advocacy Services). I grew up as a competitive swimmer, and I’ve been teaching swim lessons since I was teenager. I’m basically a mermaid as friends and family would say.
My swim lessons grew into the need to address the high drowning rates for people who look like me. I am super passionate about changing the stigma of Black people, water and swimming. We do swim and we swim well! I make it a point to show up in as many aquatic spaces as I can. It is important to show the youth that we exist in these spaces and to join! My favorite part of teaching is being able to see it finally click, and my client is finally swimming on their own, with confidence across the pool. It feels like freedom! I I’ll be starting mobile private lessons in May of this year and hope to offer them both in San Diego and Los Angeles. If you’re a beginner who wants to learn for the first time, your children want to learn, or you’re training for a triathlon and want help with your stroke I am happy to help!

Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?

I think the three qualities that were most impactful in my journey is empathy, clarity and creativity. Having empathy has helped me grow in community and care about others around me. Clarity is key, so there is no second guessing of intentions in any kind of relationship. Understanding the why so we know where we’re going. Being creative helps you get through life’s curveballs, and being able to pivot when the original plan doesn’t work. Thinking outside the box because the box is not real!
The best advice I have to give folks early in their journey is that you are enough! Tap into your niche and don’t be afraid to be “cringe”. Everyone is afraid to be perceived because there is a camera pointed in your face everywhere, but be yourself and your people, your community will find you. Don’t be afraid to start over and find yourself again. There is so much shame around changing direction when it’s just not working. So what?! Thank yourself for even trying, and start again!

Who is your ideal client or what sort of characteristics would make someone an ideal client for you?

My ideal client is anyone interested in learning a new skill, swimming! Anyone who is ok with relinquishing control and fear most of all. The water can be scary but it’s when you let go, breathe and stay calm that you remember you are in control and you are ok. The water is safe when you feel safe within yourself and know your body.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: nyishageedoubleu

Image Credits

Image credits to myself, I own these photos.