A Conversation With: Emelda De Coteau, Founder of Women Creatives Chat & Podcast 'Pray with Our Feet'

A few months ago, Emelda De Coteau, founder of the community Women Creatives Chat and the podcast Pray with Our Feet started a series called “Creating through COVID-19,” which includes live conversations with women creatives who talk about how to embody gratitude, cope with mental health challenges and how to be mindful about physical and mental wellness during the pandemic. As a member of this remarkable community of diverse women creatives, I can attest to the power it has had on me in supporting my goals as a creative while also providing a platform for us to share experiences, advice, encouragement and expertise to aid in each other’s growth.

Emelda, whose father immigrated from Honduras and who’s mother was born and raised in Baltimore, recently started identifying as an Afro-Latinx. Growing up, she primarily attended white schools which, she says, taught her the importance of being in a community of people who were different. “I grew up rooted in understanding that people come from various lived experiences and backgrounds and that it is so important for us to really center community and center listening.”

The University of Baltimore graduate has a degree in Corporate Communications and used it to work in the non-profit arts sector for many years until she decided to give entrepreneurship a try. At the time, she was in grad school and her daughter was having some medical issues that required her to stay home and care for her. She knew it was time to pursue her creative passions, so she stepped out on faith and says when you do that, “God will come into the space where you are and open up doors.” Two weeks after leaving her position, she got a call from The Baltimore Times newspaper to do a story on Nelson Mandela’s granddaughter who was launching a wine business. She continues to work as a freelance writer and media consultant for businesses.

Emelda has several creative gifts, including sketching and photography, but writing has always been her primary creative passion. She has also always had an activist spirit, so it’s not surprising that she started a community for creatives four years ago and a podcast with her mother about two years ago, with a focus on “the intersection of progressive Christian faith and social justice/activism.”

On her Community, Women Creatives Chat

Dareise: When did you create Women Creatives Chat? What inspired you to do so?

Emelda: So, Women Creatives Chat originally started as a Twitter chat. It was me and an Instagram friend of mine that came together and we wanted to create a space where creative women could connect on Twitter. Then we were like we’re not on Twitter as much, so why don’t we move this to Instagram and this was before there was IG Live chat.

So, we would put up the questions and people would respond to the questions underneath in the comments and it grew from there. One of the women I’m still connected to on Instagram, her name is Jennifer and she's a wonderful photographer, she said to me “E, why don't you guys have a Facebook group for Women Creatives Chat?” and I was like, I’m not really a Facebook person, maybe this should be in Instagram page and so it just started with the intent of it’s going to be an Instagram page and people can connect there and that’s it. But then, I was like you know what, this is a larger community, this is a business and I so I began with doing live events that were intimate. Like small workshops and things like that in conjunction with the online live workshops. There's nothing like the face-to-face. Being able to to sit in a space with other women. Usually with my events I have everyone sit in a circle because I don't want that hierarchal feel like I’m the expert or other people who are there are the experts. We all bring something to the table and all of that needs to be centered and listened to.

Emelda and Members of the Women Creatives Chat Community

So that has been the journey of Women Creatives Chat from being initially on Twitter to an Instagram page to really beginning to evolve and grow into a business that includes the online live events and products like the affirmation T-shirt I’m wearing which reads “Sometimes you will be the only one who believes, keep going.” The inspiration behind these products is for you to be able to grab your mug, put on your T-shirt or put on your tote and see these words of life. Because not only is it important to think positively, but you also have to have those things around you. You have to have those positive messages in your space. It’s really, really important to be able to continue to pour into yourself. Especially now, when we are assaulted at every turn on social media and through the news. You've got to take time to pour back into in yourself and I’m just so thankful for all of the women who are part of the Women Creatives Chat community, including you, who are just so supportive. I’m really just blown away that this is year four and Women Creatives Chat started as a Twitter chat and it's now almost 4,000 followers on Instagram and a couple thousand on Facebook and that it’s continuing to grow because we need these spaces. These spaces are so essential for our healing and for our coming together.

On Maintaining a Community

Dareise: You’ve done an amazing job of creating a community for women to “walk in their creative power” How did you do it and how do you maintain it?

Emelda: The primary way that I feel that I'm able to show up continually is by pouring back into myself. I’m studying to be a meditation teacher and I’m really learning more about mindfulness. I can't really show up and continue to cultivate this community if I'm not taking care of me.

Some of those core practices are really just being in prayer and sometimes that looks like short prayers during the day when I feel overwhelmed or sometimes it’s prayer journaling. I am a huge Insight Timer fan. If you all have not downloaded that app, definitely check it out because there are live meditations on Insight Timer all day. There are live talks and they started to do that during the COVID-19 pandemic. Kind of like the idea that I had on Women Creatives Chat to do this long running series about creating through COVID-19 but they have more resources so it’s on a huge scale. There are meditation teachers, there are musicians on there from all over the world who are pouring into people. It's amazing, you can even search live meditations by whatever your faith tradition is.

Affirmations are also important, that's why I put affirmations on the [Women Creatives Chat] products because I use them. I never really had a job that I loved before I started doing what I am doing now and when I was in those jobs, when I would sign in, I didn't realize I was doing this but when I would sign in in the morning and I had to choose a password, I would always choose something that was a positive affirmation but shortened. Like, “change is going to come” it was always a statement, it was always something that I was pouring back into myself. I would also listen to inspiring talks while I was at work and that's something that I always remind people to do like even if you’re in a situation where you don't like your job or you’re struggling, pour back into yourself, because if you do you’re going to be able to show up and take that next opportunity or God is going to open up a door for you to realize what you supposed to do next but you have to take that essential time to pour back into yourself.

In addition to practicing self-care, Emelda maintains the community by remembering her why: which is to be of service. She says it’s important to show up and listen to other people. Take the time to go to their social media pages to support and share what they are doing. She engages by asking questions that will ignite discussion. Emelda says keeping a community going is a collaborative process that involves constant learning, listening and adjustments.

Pray with Our Feet Podcast

Dareise: Tell me about your podcast, Pray with Our Feet.

Emelda: Originally it was Living Color blog and it was focused primarily on just community, motherhood and inspiration. I’ve always been an activist at heart. I always had that energy about me, when I was growing up if people said anything about my brother, he was different, so I was on it.

Emelda and her mother Trudy

So, I always had that activist and advocacy energy. The podcast came about as I was already talking about social justice on the blog, but I just wanted to sort of really hone in and define it in a more concrete way, so I started the Pray with Our Feet community with my mother about two years ago. The blog was great, but I started thinking about how podcasts have been taking off and thought it would be really good to begin to have more conversations. Actually, let me back up, I started doing a series, Woke Wednesdays, on Instagram Live, where I was interviewing people who were change makers and also entrepreneurs, but they were social entrepreneurs who were finding ways to give back. One of the women who actually became a guest later on the podcast, her page is @feminismisforboys, she was like “why don’t you maybe do a podcast.” I love how people on Instagram give you these ideas and you can run with it, that’s the beauty in community. So, I listened to her and I started the podcast, my mom and I do it together. We have been blessed to have some amazing conversations with people who are focused on social justice and faith and we really wanted to create the space because you don't see that enough.

I feel like now you’re seeing it more because of what happened to George Floyd, it’s forced a lot of churches and religious organizations to speak up, but it wasn’t always like that and so I really wanted to create a community where people can get activated and learn about injustice but also do something about it.

The podcast is focused on the interviews, but it’s also giving resources and information so that you can begin to show up in the ways that are sustainable for you. The new season is going to be coming out towards the end of this month and the focus is on racism in the church and how do we begin to dismantle the ideology of white supremacy that is so deeply connected to Christianity? How can we show up? So, I am really excited because one of the first people that we’ll be interviewing is my pastor, Reverend Jacqui Lewis, PhD with Middle Collegiate Church and she does a ton of activist work, so my mom and I are just so excited to be bringing these conversations because race is so urgent and we have to talk about it.