EPISODE 14 - Intersectionality, community & representation with Tinuke Awe
Our guest, Tinuke Awe in a green jacket, white top and trousers, sitting relaxed on a small white chair, with her legs crossed. She is black with short hair and is smiling at the camera. There is a curtain draped behind and to her right and a large green potted plant on the left of the image. Image has a pink border, with Fking Normal logo is at the top left and episode title: ‘Episode 14: Intersectionality, community & representation with Tinuke Awe’ top right.
In this week’s episode, Lauren and Rina interview the incredible social entrepreneur and campaigner, Tinuke Awe. Tinuke recounts her experiences raising her black autistic son and passionately describes the work that she is doing to challenge prejudice, create community and shine a light on her son’s identity. The group discusses the absence of role models and representation, the importance of finding community and how to tackle cultural barriers to acceptance of disabled children. It is an emotional and joyful conversation that veers between anger, tears and lots of laughter.
Guest Biography
Tinuke Awe is a social entrepreneur, black maternal health campaigner and early years diversity and SEND inclusion champion, who was named British vogue “force for change” in 2021. Tinuke earned that accolade as the cofounder of 5X More, a campaign dedicated to improving the maternal outcomes of black women. She has two children Ezekiel, aged 6 and Eden aged 3. When Ezekiel was born, Tinuke was frustrated by not seeing any black mums at the parent groups she attended, so she started her own black parenting network - Mum’s & Tea, which is now a 12,000 strong community. Since her son’s Autism diagnosis Tinuke has been on a mission to help other black mums navigate the journey of parenting neurodiverse children and has also started a business focused on inclusive educational flash cards because as Tinuke rightly puts it “representation matters for all”.
Content Warnings
Diagnosis
Culturally or religiously driven denial
Mental health struggles
Resources
Articles written by Tinuke recently:
https://graziadaily.co.uk/life/parenting/autism-black-children-autistic-send/
Learning with Ez - Diverse educational resources for babies and young children
FIVEXMORE - Grassroots organisation committed to changing Black women and birthing people’s maternal health outcomes in the UK. (Black women in the UK are 4 times more likely to die in pregnancy and childbirth, MBRRACE, 2021)
