“I Am We” — A Creative Offering from the Heart

May 27

“I AM WE is an African proverb and a mindset,” Wendy Brown tells us. “Me-focused people are becoming extinct.”

Her debut book, I Am We, is not just a literary work—it’s a journey through voice, healing, and legacy. Wendy Brown’s life has taken her from New York, where her family migrated during the Great Migration, to the coastal South, where she has found community, roots, and rebirth.

In April, Black-Owned Brunswick had the honor of collaborating with a powerhouse creative team to support the launch of I Am We at Opulence Studio. The event wasn’t just a book release—it was an immersive expression of Wendy’s creative ethos. Art by Roderrick Davis lit up the walls, a live painting by Vivian Walker Mitchell unfolded in real time, and Crumpsters Event Design & Rentals transformed the venue into a vibrant visual experience. Guests enjoyed catering by Wandaful Things and visuals captured beautifully by AMR Photography.

Drum performance by Wendy Brown and her God Sun, Victor Ferguson, at the I Am We book launch event held at Opulence Studio. Photo by AMR Photography/Ariel Rooks.

Live painting of Wendy by Vivian Walker Mitchell. Photo by AMR Photography/Ariel Rooks.

Healing exercise with Wendy Brown and her God daughter Dominique Mack, founder of Community Rx. Photo by AMR Photography/Ariel Rooks.

The heart of the evening was the experience of I Am We in sound—audio excerpts read by some of Wendy’s closest loved ones, layered with personal inflection and ancestral presence.

The creative team consisted of the collective energy of Community Rx, The Pink Girl Group, Twisted Fingers Productions, and Black-Owned Brunswick—an example of the very “we” the book uplifts.

Behind the Book: A Conversation with Wendy

Photo of Wendy Brown by AMR Photography/Ariel Rooks.

Wendy shared that the writing process was deeply emotional and spiritually clarifying. Choosing which pieces to include was a challenge. “Hashoundra Jennings quietly let me know, ‘If it really is, then so shall it be,’” she says. That wisdom gave her permission to stop overthinking and trust the process.

“My ancestors helped me break a few generational curses,” she said. “Which allowed me to press forward.”

Though not originally from Brunswick, Wendy credits the city and its people with showing her how place and purpose intertwine. “Brunswick taught me that where you living and how you living can affect community,” she reflected. Through partnerships with Dominique Mack, she became part of a life-changing housing initiative and built her own home. “We have planted many soulful community seeds that help and heal,” she said.

The I Am We project grew from Wendy’s effort to organize her written work into a central archive—an effort The Pink Girl Group helped her bring to life. “They were willing to go the way with me, so I hired them!” She also credits Ericka McIntosh for helping her jumpstart her documents and vision.

Wendy’s roots in New York shaped her storytelling lens, as did the challenges of racial isolation and cultural dissonance. Her family of Gola Kwesi descent—part of the Gullah Geechee lineage—carried ancestral wisdom north, but Wendy often felt out of place. “Reading and writing was my escape from desegregation,” she said. “And in doing so, I found Africa.”

Now, Wendy is planting the next seeds: she’s launching I Am We Services and Do the Write Thing workshops to guide others in telling their own stories. “If funds are tight,” she says, “just invest in a simple tape recorder, tell some of your story—then call me.”

She’s also planning an open mic series, Houzz in da Park, and an upcoming short documentary honoring local leaders. And yes—she’s already working on her next book, a novelette inspired by the works of James Baldwin. “The ability to tell it is why we’re here,” she says. “Black-owned business will be all in this.”

Support Wendy Brown and purchase I Am We at: https://square.link/u/uANaXDaG

Follow her work. Share her words. Support each other—because, in Wendy’s words: “We all we got… act like it.”