I Wanted to Try Everything, Do Everything, and Read Everything—The Jaminnia States Story
Jaminnia R. States is a deeply intuitive and curious woman, a writer, an educator, and a former children’s librarian.
As a Seeker and Alchemist Jaminnia has dedicated her life to the art of living truthfully, authentically, and in concert with All There Is. She is constantly inspired to share what she's learned about the human struggle in a way that is accessible to as many people as possible. Currently, her experiences, skills, and passions are ushering her into receiving the path of Messenger, Teacher, and Spiritual Archivist.
Her passion for teaching is borne out of a desire to share honestly and earnestly about what it takes to not only overcome but also learn from and alchemize life's difficult moments in service to our greatest good collectively and individually.
As a writer, most of Jaminnia's projects ponder and explore the interior experiences of Black women. Her writing makes the profound mundane, and the mundane profound by capturing life as she knows it, or how she imagines it was known by her subjects. In her non-fiction, she writes to figure out answers to questions. Her essays invite readers to ponder (a)long with her in pursuit of our personal and collective Truths.
As a school librarian with DC Public Schools, Jaminnia provided leadership for her school community as well as district librarians by creating library programs where there previously had not been any, in addition to supporting students’ information literacy and research skills development in grades PK-5. During summers and throughout the school year, she wrote and revised the districts English & Language Arts curriculum and provided workshops for district librarians that supported them to create engaging and dynamic lessons and programs. As a public services librarian, she led a team of five children’s services associates, supervising departmental programs as well as coaching several public service associates who were new to the profession.
During her mini-retirements, she works independently and in collaboration with Naomi Washington Roque to develop workshops that coach pupils to engage curiosity, creativity, and imagination via spirit-grounding exercises, writing, research, as well as exploration, play, science, and visual art. They offer these workshops to summer camps, home school groups, and community-based non-profits.
She currently resides in eastern Georgia.
For a brief overview of her work experience, take a look at the resume at the bottom of this page. It does not reflect her current projects. For more samples of her writing, or for references regarding other work, please feel free to contact Jaminnia or check back, as this website is consistently updated.
As a Seeker and Alchemist Jaminnia has dedicated her life to the art of living truthfully, authentically, and in concert with All There Is. She is constantly inspired to share what she's learned about the human struggle in a way that is accessible to as many people as possible. Currently, her experiences, skills, and passions are ushering her into receiving the path of Messenger, Teacher, and Spiritual Archivist.
Her passion for teaching is borne out of a desire to share honestly and earnestly about what it takes to not only overcome but also learn from and alchemize life's difficult moments in service to our greatest good collectively and individually.
As a writer, most of Jaminnia's projects ponder and explore the interior experiences of Black women. Her writing makes the profound mundane, and the mundane profound by capturing life as she knows it, or how she imagines it was known by her subjects. In her non-fiction, she writes to figure out answers to questions. Her essays invite readers to ponder (a)long with her in pursuit of our personal and collective Truths.
As a school librarian with DC Public Schools, Jaminnia provided leadership for her school community as well as district librarians by creating library programs where there previously had not been any, in addition to supporting students’ information literacy and research skills development in grades PK-5. During summers and throughout the school year, she wrote and revised the districts English & Language Arts curriculum and provided workshops for district librarians that supported them to create engaging and dynamic lessons and programs. As a public services librarian, she led a team of five children’s services associates, supervising departmental programs as well as coaching several public service associates who were new to the profession.
During her mini-retirements, she works independently and in collaboration with Naomi Washington Roque to develop workshops that coach pupils to engage curiosity, creativity, and imagination via spirit-grounding exercises, writing, research, as well as exploration, play, science, and visual art. They offer these workshops to summer camps, home school groups, and community-based non-profits.
She currently resides in eastern Georgia.
For a brief overview of her work experience, take a look at the resume at the bottom of this page. It does not reflect her current projects. For more samples of her writing, or for references regarding other work, please feel free to contact Jaminnia or check back, as this website is consistently updated.
What about the name?—Kioni Speaks
My given name is a real play on words for a writer and/or people who like puns. My transformation name that I received upon completion of my womanhood Rites of Passage program is also a full sentence. In the Kikuyu language, Kioni means "she sees." So the literal name of my business is "She Sees (and) Speaks," or "She Speaks what She Sees."
| kionispeakspublicresume2020.pdf |