KJ Hodge Class of 2007

Interview by Aneara Burns. Photo courtesy of Instagram.

Literature has always been a form of expression for the black community and a way for us to use our voices to bring light to the struggles we face. I sat down with KJ Hodge to talk about her experience at Friendship, a publishing company for specifically black female authors she started and how she overcame adversity.

Aneara: What college did you attend and what was your major? 

KJ: I was nominated to get a Posse scholarship. Through Posse, I ended up going to Lafayette College in eastern Pennsylvania, and I majored in English and African-American studies. At Collegiate, we had to choose a track.  I guess it was similar to a major in college. I chose the communications track in high school. I've always been a good writer, and I've always been interested in writing. In college, I majored in English and then later on I was told I had enough credits to double-major in African studies as well. So I just double-majored in English, because I enjoy the works of James Baldwin and Dostoyevsky and Toni Morrison but there was also a large part of black culture, academic back black culture, that I was not exposed to. I never took it. Even in the AP class Ms. Tindall taught us, you know, we read Sula and The Bluest Eye and things like that, but I wanted to learn more about my history. All the other classes in college were primarily about how white people operate, and everything is from a white lens. Everything is taught from a lens of capitalism and white supremacy and centricity. 

Aneara:  As a recipient of the Posse scholarship, what is your opinion of the program? 

KJ:  Friendship nominating students for Posse is very important. College wasn't really an option for me because I couldn't afford it. My family was really poor, so Posse allowed me to attend a very reputable school without having to pay the  $300,000 tuition that I would have otherwise had to pay. Posse also offers opportunities outside of school, like  internships at a lot of different big name companies. For example, Posse allowed me to work with MTV my very first summer out of college. So yeah, it was pretty cool. It doesn't just provide the college experience, but it gives you that overall experience. You're becoming an adult now, so you need to have work experience. You need to be able to take your leadership skills from high school, apply it to college, and then also apply that to whatever position or whatever role you decide to go into after you graduate from college.

Aneara:  What struggles did you experience in college?

KJ: Oh, man. It was a culture shock. For one, I'm used to, you know, at Collegiate, everybody was black. This was way before gentrification, so things were mostly black. And so going to a college that was about the same size as my high school, and seeing only 200 black kids or 200 kids of color, it was a culture shock. I also experienced some racism, which was fine, and also some sexism. It really prepared me for the real world. Like, if I would have stayed in D.C., what would I have experienced? The level of racism that I experienced at Lafayette, probably, but I wouldn't have been able to identify it without taking those courses that said, ‘hey, this is historically how black people have existed throughout society.’

Aneara: What was your career path after college, and what is your career like today? 

KJ: Throughout my time in college, I interned at MTV. I also was a supervisor at DC Public Libraries, where we got kids to teach each other how to read. It was a really cute thing. After that, I became more and more interested in how I could get more people literate, and how I could get more people to enjoy learning to read. That was a very big shift from journalism to more of a literacy focus. And so when I created my publishing company called Sovereign Law, it was because I learned that black people at the time only made up 3% of the publishing industry. I wanted to do something about it. So I created Sovereign Law specifically to celebrate, honor and support black women writers. We just opened up our membership group today for Black History Month. For the duration of this month, membership is going to be free, but I created it because I want to instill the love of literacy and help black women writers publish high quality books. A lot of self-published authors' books look real janky, so what I do is I come on the scene and tell them, “Hey, we want to publish your book. Let us help you. We’ll do it for you.” We charge our price, and people come out with books that look as competitive as those that are published by Penguin, Random House or any other big name publisher. 

Aneara: I think it’s amazing that you’ve created your own publishing company, especially one that caters towards black women. There's so many great authors out there that are black women that deserve to have a publishing company that is for them and that enables their voices to be heard specifically. I really applaud you for creating such an amazing thing. Can you tell me more about Sovereign Law?

KJ:  Oh, yeah, for sure. Sovereign Law is a publishing company specifically geared toward black women and black girls worldwide. That's what we champion. I want to tell you a little bit about one of the anthologies that we're working on. The anthology is called Black Girls Speak. It’s an annual anthology that exhibits literary works by black girls.This year the theme is unique, and also selected participants will receive a copy of Black Girls, a certificate of recognition and the opportunity to be a participant in the Sovereign White Literary Awards. That's really  important because I want to make sure that black girls recognize they have talent, they have skills and they deserve to be recognized as a young person and writer. You don't have to wait until you're an adult to follow your dreams. I want to make sure that we're providing opportunities for these kids.

Aneara:  What is a lesson that Collegiate taught you for life outside of high school?

KJ: One lesson that Collegiate has taught me is that community plays a big role in your success. I say that because a lot of the teachers that I've had, like Dr. Shazia, Ms.Coleman and Ms.Tindall, really shaped who I am today because of their values and their commitment to their students. I know a lot of the times they went far beyond the scope of their jobs to make sure that we were understanding the material and even making sure we were good to go, like with personal issues that we had outside of school. Community played a really big role, and a lot of the friends that I had in high school, I still have them to this day. I still communicate and hang out with the people from my graduating class, and you'll find that the longer that you maintain those community connections, the more secure and confident you'll feel in the relationships you build with other people. 

Aneara: What is some advice that you would give to the upcoming class of 2023 at Collegiate? 

KJ:  What a question. I guess I would say do as much as you can to take advantage of every opportunity. When I was in high school, I didn't really take advantage of a lot of opportunities to travel. I didn't go to my senior trip because, you know, I couldn't afford it. But if I would have just talked to one of the teachers that was facilitating it, they would have let me go with a payment plan, or they would have just straight up let me go for free probably. Again, go back to your community and make sure that you have taken opportunities and advantage of the communities that you are a part of. I would also say that even outside of high school, we got to college and joined different clubs. If you don't see a club that you like, make one. My college didn’t  have a step team, so I created one.

Aneara Burns is a sophomore at Arizona State University.