Peach Publishing Interview with Nataki Suggs
What is your name?
My name is Nataki A. Suggs.
Where are you from?
I am from Washington D.C.
What is your profession and educational background?
I am a substitute teacher for the Prince George’s County Public School system in Maryland. I am an author and poet. I am also a high school graduate.
What is your mission?
My mission is to touch people’s lives and invoke change. I want to reach the people that feel that they are forgotten or feel as if they are misunderstood…even the ones that feel like they are a mistake. I want to remind them of God’s love for them. I also want to reach those who have dealt with things that have hindered them from moving forward.
What are your long range and short range goals and objectives?
My short term goals are to be a motivational speaker traveling around to various inner cities telling my story to help encourage people to make a change.
My long term goal is to leave a legacy for my children and their children which means instilling moral and spiritual values to help them overcome many challenges. My goal is also to be one of the people that don’t just talk about change. I want to show people how to change their mindsets, break generational curses, and free themselves from bondage.
How do you plan to accomplish your goals?
I plan to accomplish my goals by being a guest speaker at different schools, churches, business functions, women’s organizations, and secular arenas. I also plan to get the word out through the publication of my work.
What do you see yourself doing five years from now? Ten years from now?
In five years, I see myself speaking around the country in various places. I see myself as a new face on talk shows and speaking on platforms designed for people who need healing in mind, body and spirit.
In ten years, I can see myself establishing organizations that bring awareness to autism, help to families that care for relatives with special needs, mentorship to homes that suffer from
domestic violence, and camps for kids who have been victims of abuse.
How do you determine or evaluate success?
I evaluate my success by the lives that I touch not by the amount of books that I sell. I know that this evaluation process is not easily measured so I trust that since I’m doing what God told me to do then I have no choice but to be successful.
What inspires you?
God is where I receive my inspiration. His presence in my life is why I write. His love is why what flows from my pen can touch so many people.
What is your opinion of the world today?
I feel that this world is dying. People don’t care for each other like they used to. We have adapted the “everyone-for-himself” attitude and neglect to look out for each other. For example, I was in a situation where my child who suffers from autism was
severely injured in a parking lot by a vehicle and people just watched and some just kept walking by. No one offered assistance nor did anyone call the ambulance even though one was needed. Although my son is okay, it was really a wake up call for me. Why don’t we willingly help each other anymore?
When I look at the youth, I feel like society has corrupted their minds giving them a deluded idea of what it means to live life and be happy. In their minds, image is of high importance yet integrity, character and spirituality hold little to no value. This is why my heart
beats for our youth. Some of them are lost and have no one who truly cares for their souls. They’re just living life without thinking of the consequences. The problem is that they have no true role models or people that are willing to tell them the truth in love and
guide them in the right direction.
What is your contribution to society?
I use my writing to invoke change in hurting people’s lives. I take time to talk to young people at the local high school in my area to show them that someone is there to listen to them.
What is your idea of happiness?
Happiness to me is being in a manifested rest where you feel free to be yourself.
Are you doing what you really want to do in life?
Yes, my passion has always been in the arts and writing gives me the outlet I need to be creative and touch lives.
What do you consider to be your greatest strengths and weaknesses?
Greatest Strength – I can relate to people from all walks of life especially those who have been deemed as outcasts to society especially troubled teens, people who have dealt substance abuse, etc.
Greatest Weaknesses – Tolerating people who aren’t loyal and true to their word.
How would a good friend describe you?
A good friend would describe me as someone who’s not afraid to tell the truth. I’m very transparent when it comes to my good friends. I try my best to be honest with them which helps our relationship to be eternal and not temporary.
Are religious or spiritual beliefs a vital part of your life?
I will refrain from using the word religious. I believe and trust God and I know that He is the most essential part of my life and without Him there’d be no me.
Is there anything else that you would like readers to know about you?
I feel that success is measured by accepting truth about yourself which leads to change which ultimately leads to true freedom of mind, body and spirit.
Thank you for the opportunity.
Cordially,
