So today we’re back with another Guest Misfit, but perhaps I should start off by saying this isn’t just any misfit around the block. Although she will go by many titles, my title for her is my hero, as Tyece Wilkins is the person who gave me the strength to start TheBlondeMisfit and really become a writer! *cues inspirational music. An amazing writer, poet and friend, Tyece continues to amaze me, but now it’s time for her to amaze you with her latest project, the awesome book she has out, and exactly what will happen to TwentiesUnscripted when she turns 30. Read on to find out more!
Give us your details (name, age, where you’re from, where you stay).
Hello, Misfits! I’m Tyece Wilkins, creator and editor-in-chief of Twenties Unscripted–a sincere, sassy and sometimes smart-assy take on growing up. I am the young and tender age of 26, hail from Baltimore, MD and currently pay an exorbitant amount of rent for my spot in Northern VA.
What’s your current job?
My full time job is in corporate communications for a management consulting firm. So much of what I do in communications translates to the work I do as a writer and entrepreneur. You have to be able to craft a story. You have to know your audience. You have to be able to get up in front of people and pitch.
How did Twenties Unscripted come to be? What would you say is the mission with the blog?
I get asked this question a lot and I’m pretty sure I tell a different story every time. So much for knowing the origin of my roots. I started Twenties Unscripted during the summer of 2012 while living in Texas. I had blogged since 2009 and after attending the Blogging While Brown conference, I decided to get more serious and purchase a dot com. When I started, I was really just writing my way through early adulthood–dating, friendships, love/lust/like…things of that nature. Since 2012, the space has evolved as I’ve grown up. Now my Twenties Unscripted mission is to cultivate a personal blog that ignites women to connect to the best, bravest and boldest parts of themselves. It’s my hope that through my writing, events, special projects and everything else I create, I am serving as that spark for others.
What’s something people don’t know/don’t understand about writers/bloggers/artists?
Recently, I woke up to an email from a friend who finished my book. After providing a few accolades, she dove into a series of questions about the essays and my overall trajectory as a writer. The entire thing struck me as strange and invasive. So that brings me to my point about something people don’t always understand about artists–we don’t always want to answer your follow up questions. We don’t always intend to fill in all of the gaps. It takes enough to leave our heart on pages, our souls on stages and our stories on canvases. We firmly believe that should be enough.
What’s your greatest achievement thus far for Twenties Unscripted?
This is always a tough question. The easy answer would be to say winning the Best Personal Blog award in the 2013 Black Weblog Awards. That honor certainly helped bolster the brand and gave me some blogging “street cred.” But outside of that, my greatest achievement has been curating the “See. Speak. Feel.” showcase for the past two years. “See. Speak. Feel.” is a massive undertaking and requires me to see it through from start to finish. But when I experience the energy, love and talent in the room on the night of the show, I’m beyond proud of seeing my vision all the way through.
How do you maintain the personal feel of Twenties Unscripted as you continue to grow as an artist and gain publicity?
Somewhere along the line as I honed my craft, I realized you can write really personal pieces without telling people all of your business. Given how the audience has grown, I’m not as comfortable as I was in my early on in my blogging days with sharing many details about my personal life. Now I’ve learned to use my personal experiences as inspiration and not necessarily content. Another writing technique I employ often is writing in second person. I love doing this because it instantly allows for a closer connection with the reader. They feel as though something is being written just for them or about them, and that’s truly the aim of a personal blog.
What happens to Twenties Unscripted when you turn 30? How do you continue to reshape the blog as times change, social media changes, and the viewers as well?
There is a plan as I approach 30. I just can’t yet reveal it.
In terms of reshaping the blog as times change, that isn’t something I really plan. When times change, the blog changes. When I evolve, the blog evolves. You can’t ever anticipate the tides that will rise and the turns your life will take. But you can promise yourself that you will always grow.
So tell us about your current endeavor, Dimensions of Black Womanhood. What are you hoping to explore/gain from the project?
Unlike The War on Black Women’s Bodies, Dimensions of Black Womanhood (DOBW) didn’t grow out of unrest as much as it did out of creativity. This is the second time I’ve closed the year with a special project dedicated to uplifting Black women, and I’d like to continue the tradition in upcoming years. It just feels like such a poignant way to round out the year, and a chance to speak directly to my primary audience.
DOBW is a personal essay series highlighting the stories of 10 different women (including myself) along with photos of these women shot by the incredibly talented Jazz Williams (@jazzthenoise). Each woman selected a word that she feels reflects a prominent part of her identity, wrote an essay about it and then shot a photo embodying that word. My goal with DOBW is to showcase many different layers of what it means to be a Black woman. So often, we get crammed into these boxes and are misconstrued as one-trick ponies. I wanted to stitch together a narrative using these 10 essays that declares our womanhood is the sum of many different pieces.
As an editor, this series pushed me to challenge others to really tap into their stories. In some cases, I went back to the writer and said, “I feel like you could go deeper here” or “I really want to hear more about this part.” That was new for me, but I believe it will serve me well moving forward in my writing journey.
Describe a non-standard day for you. A day as Tyece, writer for Twenties Unscripted.
A day as Tyece, the writer could mean some combination of: writing, attending or hosting an event, responding to reader questions via email or social media and jotting down ideas in my tattered notebook. Those things are usually all par for the course.
On TheBlondeMisfit, we use the term ‘Misfit’ as a term of endearment or unique standing instead of a negative societal connotation. How are you a Misfit?
I do not fit neatly into the corporate mold, but I also do not fit the stereotype of what it means to be a creative. I love to turn up and twerk, but I was also one of the few Black women in the audience when I went to hear Cheryl Strayed speak. I’m a hybrid of many layers and identities. I never fit perfectly into one place or space or state of mind.
You have a new book! Can you tell us a little bit about the process in writing a book, moving into the official title of ‘author’ and who your book is geared toward.
The book is a collection of essays adapted from the blog, so the writing spans three years and the process of curating it took about three months. I also included a few previously unpublished pieces as well as “Beyond the Essay” snippets that provide a “behind the scenes” look at my writing process for some of the essays. It’s funny that you mentioned moving into the official title of author because that’s still a title I shy away from, maybe because I still am waiting for that opportunity to write a book from start to finish.
Any last minute tips or pieces of advice you have for the Misfits out there?
Phew, famous last words. That’s tough. I’m going to sell out here and share something from my 26th birthday post:
There aren’t any traffic lights when it comes to your evolution. There is not a flashing red telling you to stop nor is there an inviting green summoning you to fly full speed ahead. Your gut is your guide. Listen when she speaks. She will speak softly, but if you ignore her, that’s when the Universe will boom.
Amazing words Tyece! See ya’ll, I told you she was amazing. Keep a check out here on the blog as I’ll be promoting Tyece’s post for the month and will publicize where you can buy tickets if you’ll be in the DMV area for a cool event happening quite soon 😉 Peace and love.
Tyece Wilkins believes in the power of witty women, wise words and full wine glasses. She is the creator and editor-in-chief of Twenties Unscripted and author of Twenties Unscripted: A Journey of Womanhood, Writing, and Relativity, available for purchase on Amazon now. Visit www.twentiesunscripted.com to read more of her work and connect with her on Twitter @tyunscripted.
