TAHANEE SAYYID A JOURNEY THROUGH Written By: Camille Ali
Later. Tahanee uses her literacy voice to educate women on the importance of self-care, self-respect, and selflove. Mantras like, “Standards...It’s Just That Simple!” are timeless messages that are relevant to every woman regardless of their race and socio-economic background. Tahanee wants women to know and understand that their adult relationships are based on their childhood experiences. Both positive and negative. In her book Lust Now, Cry Later, she highlights this message through the book’s fictional main characters, Natalya and Sdia who both experienced childhood sexual and emotional abuse. As a result, Natalya destroys any positive adult relationships she has, including her marriage and friendships, through verbal and physical abuse. Sdia repeatedly attracts and dates men who abuse her emotionally and physically.
Photos Courtesy of Nicole Brown
Tahanee shares with FEMI magazine how she developed a passion for writing, how she became a relationship columnist and her daily writing routine. Tell us a little more about yourself and what inspired your passion for writing?
A
writer’s journey is never ending. Through moments, memories, experiences, pain, and trauma we create something honest someone can relate to. With each hand-selected word, we create something original to give to the world. With each sentence, quote, and paragraph, we create something meaningful to leave behind. A writer’s journey is constant, always evolving. With each edit, our voice grows stronger. With each story, our audience grows. Tahanee Sayyid is an upcoming writer. At a young age, she developed her passion for writing through poetry. Since then, her writing has advanced into a relationship column for Yandy Smith’s Everything Girls Love Magazine, a blog entitled Cook, Cheat, Love, and an Amazon five-star rated novel entitled, Lust Now, Cry 24
I began writing after the sudden death of my nineteen-year-old cousin. She and I were very close! She was like a second mother to me. Her death was one of the most traumatizing things I’ve ever experienced. To make matters worse, she died a week before my 16th birthday. There was no sweet sixteen birthday celebration for me; Instead, there were flowers, a priest, and her coffin being lowered into her grave! I attended one of the most important people in my life’s funeral...on my birthday! The toll her death took on me was so painful that I had to speak with a therapist! It worked for a little while until one day my mother suggested I write out all my emotions on a piece of paper and I did. That’s when I wrote my first poem, inspired by my cousin. And from that point on I never stopped writing. What is it about writing poetry that you find most healing? You are able to be yourself, express yourself, and let out all of the bottled-up emotions you have been harboring. The poem belongs to you! There is no right or wrong way to write a poem! These are your words, your feelings, your emotions, and how dare anyone tell you how to feel! You are the creator and dictator. What inspired you to write your book “Lust Now, Cry Later”? FEMI MAGAZINE