Conversations with Dehja Vaughn

Today we’d like to introduce you to Dehja Vaughn.

Hi Dehja, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstory with our readers?
I started podcasting because I wanted to discuss social and political issues that I felt were important. I wanted to develop a platform where I could have guests speak and share their interpretation to social and political issues or just simply showcasing their creativity. I wanted to provide the audience with something that was meaningful and multifaceted when listening to the experiences of African Americans. The creation of my podcast then probed me to want to get involved in politics and utilize my voice to challenge the system. (I am currently getting my PhD at Clark Atlanta… studying Political Science)

Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
Since graduating undergrad from Virginia State, I can’t necessarily say it’s been a smooth road… laughs… I can say it’s been a journey that had obstacles that I think are similar for individuals who graduate undergrad and are trying to navigate in a world where you are utilizing the skills that you learned from school. For me, that looked like moving back home to California and going back to school simultaneously traveling Bart every day to go to work as a student-teacher. I guess my struggles can be defined as internally…meaning having to grapple with creating my vision come to light. I guess trying to navigate the world with the intent to place myself in situations where I felt like something was my calling. So for me, that drove me to become a teacher and teach History to high school students. This experience was rewarding because I got to be the teacher that wanted to shed light on the value of knowledge of self and heritage. I guess paving it in a way where students felt presented or identified.

As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
I classify myself as a content creator. I utilize different social networks to vocalize my understandings of life and the world around me. Thus, I began a podcast called In Her Sense where I take a deeper dive into Black consciousness and entrepreneurship, with the motive to shift the narrative through highlighting the achievements of people across the Black Diaspora. I am most proud of the platform I created because I found a way to engage with beautiful individuals that had similar beliefs or even sometimes different beliefs. But those things created a balance in my life that I had been craving to have with people, especially those who were of African descent. I wanted to provide an outlet for individuals to discuss what’s going on in their world or even what they are most proud of. At the rise of Black Lives Matter movements took the stage across the United States, it was important that I developed something where Blacks could be expressive and showcase the ways in which their lives mattered…on a deeper level…beyond the narratives that portrayed Blacks to be…we are creative, artistic, holistic, and authors… all who have a story to tell.

How do you define success?
I define success as the motivation to get up in the morning. I can describe is what is your why? I feel like once I identified what my why was I felt more inclined to wake up on time or get up early in the morning because I was driven by success. I loved the way it felt to get things accomplished, the things that made me feel good. Whether if the feeling was how something makes me feel or how something makes someone else feel. In those moments, I feel aligned to my purpose and I would consider my purpose as success.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/inhersense/, @authenticallydehj
• Other: https://open.spotify.com/show/3lnJW9p1Qg7jJ3HnIZKKAJ

Image Credits:
Nakia Gibbs