Joel Leon

Storyteller Joel Leon introduces Sunday Manifest his column on Black identity and self-care.

I would not consider my mother a hoarder by any stretch of the imagination, but I am inclined to say that she does indeed hoard things. Some of these things are memories that live as relics that we can hold and look at to jolt us back to a time of ease and convenience: old, […]

Far too often, we correlate what we do with our worth and value. But we’re way more than our output.

Take every opportunity. Just keep writing.

Shifting the paradigm of manhood, what it actually means to be a “man,” will have to play a large part in how we view mental wellness and health, if we want to see change in the people we love, including ourselves.

The storyteller introduces his column on Black lives and self-care.

Far too often, we correlate what we do with our worth and value. But we’re way more than our output.

Joel Leon is a performer, author and storyteller born and raised in the Bronx, who writes and tells stories for Black people. He is the author of “A Book About Things I Will Tell My Daughter” and “God Wears Durags Too,” and a father to Lilah and West. He’s been featured in the Columbia Journal, BBC…

Joel Leon is a performer, author and storyteller born and raised in the Bronx, who writes and tells stories for Black people. He is the author of “A Book About Things I Will Tell My Daughter” and “God Wears Durags Too,” and a father to Lilah and West. He’s been featured in the Columbia Journal, BBC…

Joel Leon is a performer, author and storyteller born and raised in the Bronx, who writes and tells stories for Black people. He is the author of “A Book About Things I Will Tell My Daughter” and “God Wears Durags Too,” and a father to Lilah and West. He’s been featured in the Columbia Journal, BBC…

Our hearts cannot heal and grow if we avoid the pain in front of us.

Standing in your truth, in the power of your word, worth and work takes an unbelievable amount of courage—but it also takes a village to get there.

Surrendering is our gateway to freedom.

Instead of blaming others, when we look inward, often we can see the things we are quick to judge reflected in us.

It may take us time, but if we’re patient enough, what we seek will find us.

There is no instruction manual for this, so buckle up and enjoy it.

Even in the midst of our suffering, hope and love can still resonate.

For Suicide Prevention Month, let’s examine how we show up for ourselves.

And that love lives in our hearts.

Throughout our lives and throughout our days we are constantly encountering moments that are ever changing and ever evolving; in one moment something is here and then it is gone. In the blink of an eye something is born and dies, only to be reborn and to die again. This is not only the cyclical […]