We recently connected with Nikeah C. Howard and have shared our conversation below.
Nikeah H., we are so happy that our community is going to have a chance to learn more about you, your story and hopefully even take in some of the lessons you’ve learned along the way. Let’s start with self-care – what do you do for self-care and has it had any impact on your effectiveness?
In the last few years, practicing self care has become integral to the maintenance of my peace, happiness logic, and reasoning; there are many ways that I go about self care, and it truly depends on how I’m feeling!
My most preferred, and done often, form of self care is my skincare routine. It’s almost a ritual at this point; I turn on music, lay all of my products out on the counter, and get to it. I take time and care when I wash my face, and even moreso when I apply my moisturizers and oils. It just starts and ends my days right, allows me time to calm down, and the cool water on my face combined with gentle massaging (by hand or a jade roller) is enough to reduce my anxiety by a lot. I take this time to breathe and focus on me. I end it feeling refreshed, calm, and beautiful.
I have an anxiety disorder, and by starting and ending my days like that, it gives me a reset, mentally and physically. It’s so simple and effective.
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?
To properly introduce myself, my name is Nikeah C. Howard, and I’m a few things, but to name a few, I am a Model, Artist, Creative Director, and Mental Health Advocate. I spread a message of self-love, acceptance, and represent Black Culture through my many avenues of art!
My entire childhood, I surrounded myself with art in many different ways – poetry, music, books, etc., and in my adulthood, I aim to continue that. Art inspires people, and I want any art that I have my hand in creating to do the same. Art keeps me going, it has saved my life, and I want to do that for however long as possible for as many people as possible.
My main focus is creating art, of course. More specifically, continuing to further my modeling career. Lately, though, I’ve been adding some directing onto my resume – I just recently finished directing my annual photo series (2nd year), called “Appreciating Afro’s”. To tell you all more about this project, it’s about spreading black, afro-haired representation in media and advertising, as well as documenting the beauty of Black people. There has always been this certain type of “digestable” black person depicted in media, advertising, fashion, etc., and I wanted to help showcase that we come in a magnitude of beauty.
Out of over 150 models, I ended up casting ~25 of them, selected several talented photographers, got the help of an independent videographer, and we all shot over the span of 2 days, in the morning and afternoon.
Day 1., we were able to shoot in a local business before they even opened for the day, Found Sound Vinyl (shoutout to Ray!) located in Ferndale, MI. Day 2., we shot outside of The Detroit Institute of Arts. Seeing all of these beautiful, beautiful people gathered to create, to keep telling our story, and represent Black Culture made directing this series a blast. Two people even drove 2 hours just to be there! The support from the community that this project has garnered is truly astounding, and it’s not even a global thing, you know? It just feels that way when you feel like the entire community supports you; this embrace means so much. I can’t wait to show everyone everything that we’ve created, because we have some big announcements come within the next few weeks!
I just want to say thank you to every single person involved in “Appreciating Afro’s”, for this year and the last – the models, the photographers, and the videographers who stepped in to help at the very last minute! While everyone did an amazing job, a few of them went above and beyond, and I just wanna say thank you to them real quick: Nikyra, Daija, Olivia, Kayla, Aisha, Destiny, Devyn (models), Cameron and Terence (videographers), Ray (of Found Sound), and Kalynn (Day. 1. photographer).. thank you for going the extra mile for this project. What they did truly means a lot. Thank you, guys!
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 would say honesty, perseverance, and ambition are some of the most important qualities to have. They’ve been the most impactful for me, that’s for sure.
Honesty because you need to be honest with yourself if you’re going to grow and imrpove, perseverance because you need to have the will to keep going, and ambition because you NEED to have a passion, a drive for whatever it is you’re putting your all into. Without these 3, what’s the point?
My advice for people early in their journey would be to take naysayers and critiques in stride, and keep pushing. Use them as fuel to keep going harder and harder; don’t let the opinions of one person knock you off course – keep going, and keep pushing. You got this!
Alright so to wrap up, who deserves credit for helping you overcome challenges or build some of the essential skills you’ve needed?
My twin sister, Nikyra. She is one of the strongest, smartest, and kindest people I’ve ever known.
Everywhere I go in this life, she has always been there right by my side. She is my best friend, my confidant, and right-hand. She always knows what to say when I feel discouraged, and gives the best advice (even when I don’t want to hear it, sometimes). Back when I was still trying to learn how to manage my depression and anxiety, she gave me a piece of advice that has stuck with me since: “progress is not linear”. I take that with me everywhere, because she’s right.
In this life, I’ve learned that the Sun comes out after rain, and when it does, you need to be ready for it. When I find myself on days where my depression is hard to control or when my anxiety has me shaking so bad that I can hardly form a sentence, I go back to the day she told me that and it instantly soothes me. I ground myself, and remind myself that this struggle is temporary.
I’m very lucky to be her twin; I’ll forever be grateful for everything she’s ever done for me.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://linktr.ee/aunaturel_keah
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/aunaturel_keah/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AunaturelKeah?mibextid=ZbWKwL
- Other: Check out some photos from my series, “Appreciating Afro’s” Pt. 2, shot by Kalynn’s 2nd shooter, Reese: https://www.instagram.com/p/C3dO14ruNEE/?igsh=MWk4NTh2eWd3dGVwcQ==
Image Credits
Cover Image/Headshot: Kevin Barranco;
Image 1: Ari Smith (Illmatic Lens);
Images 2 – 4: Kalynn Tabron (Tabron Studios);
Image 5: Reese Oliver Photography;
Image 6: Quinn Banks
