Tembi Locke: I've Written an Essay. How "From Scratch" Came to Netflix.

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Tembi Locke is a TV producer, actor, New York Times bestselling author and screenwriter. In addition to her excellent accomplishments, she is also a life-long friend with whom I have spent hours too long to measure in conversation with her. She has written a memoir titled From Scratch. The book recounts the painful death of her husband and how she and her daughter literally had to rebuild a life without him From Scratch. The story has captured the heart of the world and is now a top-rated Netflix Limited Series that she produced and wrote with her sister Attica Locke. Her account of love, tragedy and return in many ways reflects what Tembi learned at the knees of her ancestors in East Texas, and the struggles of her parents in the Civil Rights Movement in Houston, TX – you always find a way to get to where you are going. No matter what. There would be no From Scratch without that determination that has colored the landscape of her life from the very beginning. 

Our conversation is expansive and the lessons she brings to us are right for this time. We talk about the importance of sisterhood, the crowning joys of long and authentic friendships, and the importance of taking first steps into the unknown. But my biggest takeaway from our time together this week? As Tembi says herself, “There is a value at the personal level in naming what you do. It’s essential for us as artists. Naming it. Then [you’re] owning that space. I’m owning that part of me. I’m not doing that for the front-facing world, I’m doing that for Tembi. I’m doing that for me.”

Her words capture one of the guiding pillars of this podcast and what I would like to convey this month and all months through this platform. We own our lives. We own our narratives. We have a direct say in what our world will be.

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For more information contact Patrick at [email protected]