We were so pleased to welcome to the podcast Ángela Quijada-Banks.

Ms. Quijada-Banks is a NAACP Image Award–nominated, American best-selling author, Founder and C.E.O of Soulful Liberation (a Book publishing company and podcast), and Consciously Melanated Queens, a community to support young women of color to uncover their divine purpose and holistically heal.

You can find the podcast on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Breaker, and Anchor.

She came to our attention as the author of The Black Foster Youth Handbook: 50+ Lessons I Learned to Successfully Age-Out of Foster Care and Holistically Heal (Soulful Liberation Publishing).

The Black Foster Youth Handbook is written for youth going through the foster care system, and in addition we recommend it for anyone working in human services or working with families who may encounter the system. Published in the fall of 2020, it was nominated for a NAACP Image Award in that same year.

Ms. Quijada-Banks wrote the book with the goal of “promoting young people’s healing and success, understanding the importance of community for these young people, and focus on the liberation of self and community.” A central theme is the importance of self-esteem, which is truly reflected by self-worth and self-love – which comes from community.

On the podcast, Ms. Quijada-Banks speaks with Maureen Leif about what inspired her to write the book, and how sharing her experience can have an impact on both the experiences people are having as well as the policies and decisions being made that impact families every day. She talks candidly about her experience in 2020, and how writing the book became her mission, as well as how the experience of writing the book impacted her.

For more information on Ms. Quijada-Banks and her career, visit www.originalsoulflower.com and www.blackfostercareyouthhandbook.com

In addition to the book, we encourage you to also visit her publishing company at www.soulfulliberation.com. Soulful Liberation will be having a 6-week course to help aspiring authors publish their books. Registration is open and will be 50% off until May 1. She is also offering a free event to learn about self-publishing on May 11 (www.soulfulliberation.com/events)

News from the Peak is giving away a copy of the book to the first 5 listeners to post a comment here with their favorite quote from the episode. So, enjoy the episode, and leave a comment here. Even if you aren’t one of the first 5, we’d love to know what you think of the episode.

Podcast Episode - Ángela Quijada-Banks