Meet Omisade Burney-Scott | Creator/Chief Curatorial Officer, Black Girl’s Guide to Surviving Menopause

We had the good fortune of connecting with Omisade Burney-Scott and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Omisade, what role has risk played in your life or career?
I think that risk is an essential element of growth. Risk is a dynamic alchemic process that is one part strategy and two parts faith. We all have narratives that play out in our heads around what happiness, community, success, and safety can look like. These narratives are informed by our families, culture, lived experiences, etc. These narratives drive or reinforce how we move in the world and make meaning of our lives and relationships, for better or worse. In my 56 years on this planet, I have learned that living in my purpose has required me first to take a risk to interrogate the internal narratives I have about myself baked in from childhood and society. Do these narratives serve me? Are they in service to me being a healthy person with healthy relationships who can serve my community without sacrificing my physical or mental health?

Risk has played an enormous role in my growth as a person. Risk asked me, “What if your path set out before you is not right? What if you get to choose another way? What are you willing to do to be free”?

The first risk I took was to deviate from a path my parents laid out to offer me security. The instructions were clear: go to college, get married, get a good corporate job with benefits, work for 30 years, and retire. I did, for the most part, attempt to follow the blueprint given to me by two loving, beautiful people who were born during the Great Depression in eastern North Carolina and came of age in the Jim Crow South. I understood the goal. I understood their history and childhoods and why the children’s safety and financial security were paramount to them. I get it. But the call of the freedom plow for a more just and equitable world spoke to my heart while in college, and in my mid-20s, it offered me a new path that aligned with my newly emergent values and beliefs about freedom and liberation, including my own.

The risks not only looked like job choices, but the risks I took in my 20s transformed the way I move in the world–my aesthetic, spiritual practices, friendship circles, choices around family and parenting and yes, my work-life decisions. What I am reminded of in my 50s is that taking risks to be more of who you are meant to be is a perennial exercise, a praxis in service to becoming more of who you are on your own terms.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
By 2025, over 1 billion people will experience menopause worldwide – 12% of the world population. Though menopause is a critical point on the Reproductive Justice spectrum, less than 30% of medical students receive substantive training on the subject. Less than 3% of OB-GYNs have expertise in menopause. This is staggering, considering the number of people who are or will be menopausal and how menopausal physiological experiences are linked to increased risks of cardiovascular disease, sleep disturbances, and changes in brain cognition and mood.

French physician Charles-Pierre-Louis de Gardanne coined “menopause” in 1821, beginning a problematic conceptualization of women’s health. His explanations of hormonal changes, reflecting the pseudoscience of the early 19th century, asserted female fragility in mind, body, and spirit, another opportunity to oppress women-identified people through the growing field of gynecology. Menopause continues to be pathologized and problematized.

Resources for menopausal people have been historically sparse. Those resources are even more lacking for those menopausal people in our society who have marginalized identities that have traditionally and generationally disenfranchised. Even with the growing menopause landscape and media buzz, their voices, perspectives, and needs continue to be invisibilized. The silence is concerning and dangerous for Black, indigenous, and other non-Black women-identified and gender-expansive people who experience menopause earlier and may have more prolonged and intense symptoms than their white counterparts. Black and Hispanic persons are the most likely to report severe symptoms, according to findings from a large cross-sectional study presented at the 2022 North American Menopause Society (NAMS) Annual Meeting. The sociopolitical realities of systemic oppression in the medical establishment impact these experiences. Rather than being harnessed as a positive transformation with a spectrum of stages and manifestations, menopause is cloaked in fear and isolation.

I created the Black Girl’s Guide to Surviving Menopause (BGG2SM) in 2019 to counterbalance prevalent harmful narratives and a lack of resources. BGG2SM is a multidisciplinary initiative focused on cultural organizing, narrative shift work, and advocacy. Understanding Black women-identified people’s historical and contemporary experiences – intergenerationally, across class, and through a gender and racial equity lens – is critical for body sovereignty.

I believe that Black people are the experts of our bodies. Owning our stories is vital to having agency over our experiences, relationships, and liberation. By integrating Reproductive Justice, radical Black feminism, and gender liberation, BGG2SM normalizes menopause by centering first-person narratives of those who exist at the margins of the growing menopause landscape. We nurture a community that includes all voices and lived experiences: cis, trans, intersexed, queer, straight, affluent, low-wealth, activists, and creatives. Through our podcast, intergenerational gatherings, strategic partnerships and collaborations, publications, and community-informed programming, BGG2SM invites people to explore the essence of menopause beyond gender, age, or societally-held frames. We focus on self-knowledge and preparation for this journey as an act of self-determination and sovereignty.

Five things I wish I had known before I started this work in this very dynamic and evolving menopause landscape include:

1. Menopause is a highly individualized physical, cultural, and political experience. There is no “one size fits all”

2. Menopause doesn’t always happen in your 40s and 50s

3. Menopause happens to people who don’t identify as women, and it happens to people whose gender identity exists outside of the binary female and male

4. Menopause happens to people who aren’t heterosexual

5. There is no “one size fits all” menopause experience, and the diversity of Individual menopause experiences are impacted by our families of origin, culture, environment, and systems of oppression like institutionalized racism,, patriarchy, homophobia, transphobia, and misogyny.

This year, the Black Girl’s Guide to Surviving Menopause launched a diasporic tour called “BGG2SM Hits the Road” marking a historic milestone in the journey of Black women, genderqueer, trans, and nonbinary individuals as they navigate the transformative phases of life in the UK (London and St. Leonard’s), Harlem, NY, Toronto, Canada and Luquillo, Puerto Rico.

This first-of-its-kind diasporic tour, featuring curated intergenerational exchanges and events, provided a nurturing and transformative space for exploration, mentorship, intimacy, and vulnerability. Through open and heartfelt discussions, participants were stewarded to dive into topics related to life, identity, body sovereignty, and the profound changes that come with age.

The tour proved to be an excavation of the invaluable collective knowledge and experiences that shaped one’s sense of self over the years. It addressed the questions and concerns that are often left unspoken, providing guidance and understanding to individuals of all ages. The Black Girl’s Guide to Surviving Menopause offers vital guidance that has long been out of reach during this transformative stage of life, which we understand as menopause.

The completion of this extraordinary journey serves as a testament to the resilience, strength, and unity of Black women and marginalized communities. It is a tribute to the shared wisdom and stories that have been exchanged and the bonds that have been cultivated. The impact of the Black Girl’s Guide to Surviving Menopause resonates in the hearts and minds of more than 250 participants, leaving them with a deeper sense of empowerment, self-assuredness, and a newfound appreciation for the strength of their community and themselves.

Our diasporic tour’s success would not have been achievable without the generous support and unwavering dedication of our sponsors: The Honey Pot Company, Kindra, Karen Arthur, Menopause Whilst Black, Ebony Noelle Golden, Betty’s Daughter Art Collaborative, Women’s Health in Women’s Hands, Healing Sisters Circle, LoveSoulBeautiful, Elektra Health, Cypress Fund Prismatic Artivist Residency, and Groundswell Fund.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
The first thing that comes to mind is where we will experience the most delicious food in Durham and how they will learn more about Durham culture and history while we have fun.

When I think good food, good drink, and great conversations, I immediately think of Cocoa Cinnamon, The Saltbox, Mike D’s BBQ, Lula and Sadie’s, Dame’s Chicken and Waffles, Zweli’s Ehkaya Bantu Fusion, and Tapas, The Velvet Hippo Bar and Lounge and The Congress.

We would check out the Perkins Farmer’s Market and then venture over to the Eno River for some quiet conversation at the riverbank. No trip to Durham would be complete without supporting small, locally owned businesses like Bright Black Candles, Bull City Apparel and Customs, Exotique, and Hairizon. We would round out our shopping by checking out the local independent bookstores like Rofhiwa, Letter, and the Regulator and getting a mani-pedi at Harper’s Parlour.

To take in the Durham culture, arts, and music scene, we would check out Missy Lane’s Assembly Room to see what live music is offered or head over to Hayti Heritage Center for Be Connected Durham’s 3rd Friday Third live. On Sunday, we would round out our week by attending NorthStar Church of the Arts Sunday services led by artists, creatives, activists, poets, and writers from the local Durham community.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
I want to dedicate my shoutout to…

My ancestors—those whose names I know and those whose names I don’t
My sons, Che and Taj
My parents, Mary, William and. Charlie, who are now all ancestors
My mentors and teachers who pressed seeds of curiosity, culture, history, work ethic, and love into me, like Delores Eaton, Dr. Soyini Madison, Rosalind Fuse-Hall, Meredith Emmett Trude Bennet and Faith Holsaert
My women’s group members
My BGG2SM team, Alexandra Jane, Assata Goff, Jade. Ayino, Leigh Reed, Madylin M. , Mariah Nixon-Taplet, and Tarryn Henry
My BGG2SM advisory team, aka “Mary’s Table:, Claudia Horwitz, Cheyanne Headen, Courtney Reid-Eaton, Holly Ewell-Lewis, Lana Garland, Marian Urquilla, Michelle Lanier and Natalie Bullock Brown

Website: https://blackgirlsguidetosurvivingmenopause.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/omisadeburneyscott/ and https://www.instagram.com/blackgirlsguidetomenopause/

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/omisadeburney/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BlackgirlsguidetoMenopause

Other: https://www.patreon.com/blackgirlsguidetomenopause

Image Credits
1. Black Girl’s Guide to Surviving Menopause Peer Learning Intergenerational Dinner Toronto, Canada (Miss Likklemore’s Restaraunt) 2023 Diasporic Tour 2. Black Girl’s Guide to Surviving Menopause Peer Learning Intergenerational, Harlem, NY (Pony Bistro Restaraunt) 2023 Diasporic Tour 3. BGG2SM Hits the Road Magic School Bus, Art by Assata Goff 4. BGG2SM Intergalactic Logo by Assata Goff (Original Logo Artwork by Wutang McDougal) 5. Black Girl’s Guide to Surviving Menopause Orisii Pairs Intergenerational Dinner, Harlem, NY (Ponty Bistro Restaraunt) 2023 Diasporic Tour 6. Omisade Burney-Scott, Leigh Reed and Mariah M., St. Leonards on Sea, UK, 2023 Diasporic Tour 7. Mariah M. and Omisade Burney-Scott, “Say More” intergenerational event (Rofhiwa Bookstore and Cafe) 2022 8. Messages from the Menopausal Multiverse zine cover, (cover design and artwork by Wutang McDoual) 2020