Hi! I’m Terranie – data analyst by day, early childhood enthusiast by day and night! Before becoming a mom, I was a Pre-K teacher. Long before that, I’ve always had a heart for children. I’m fervently passionate about advocating for equity in education and I’m also a self-proclaimed bibliophile. A dream of mine is to publish a diverse series of children’s books one day soon.
When I’m not getting lost in a book, I enjoy writing poetry, watching captivating documentaries, and practicing my Spanish. I also enjoy meeting new people and exploring uncharted sights. I was bit by the travel bug years ago while studying abroad in Costa Rica and since then, happy to say, life has never been the same.
Long-Lost Love
As much as I love to travel and invest in personal time, it’s honestly not something that I indulge in as often as I’d like. Self-care and I have had quite a rocky relationship over the years. Now that I’m a first-time mom, unsurprisingly, the dynamic between us is even more strained than before. My Superwoman Syndrome is partly to blame. I have a history of stretching myself too thin in a futile attempt to be everything for everyone around me. As you can imagine, that’s made it difficult to prioritize self-care. It’s definitely an area I am working to improve. I’ve heard it said many times before that “you can’t pour from an empty cup.” Though I’ve tried, life always proves that statement to be true.
Pride and Joy
Out of all the things that I am proud of in life, my family definitely claims the top spot. We are a young family, but we’ve overcome more than most and that alone makes me truly grateful. My husband, Chip, and I will celebrate our two-year wedding anniversary this year on New Year’s Eve. After years of long-distance dating, we were fortunate enough to get married at the end of 2019, right before COVID brought the world to its knees.
Unfortunately, in the midst of navigating quarantine, we also became miscarriage survivors. It wasn’t until this year in August that we were blessed with the birth of our son. Together we named him Revels Alexander Clarke. His first name is derived from the first Black congressman in American history, Hiram Rhodes Revels. His middle name was inspired by Hamilton, the most incredible stage play of all time.
In so many ways, he is a dream come true. Even in his short time on earth, he’s already taught me so many lessons I will never forget. One of those invaluable lessons is the importance of embracing life as it comes. For instance, I spent the entirety of my pregnancy preparing for a water birth at a birth center only to have a hospital cesarean delivery in the end. Though I always imagined I’d be a holistic and natural mom, because of what I’ve experienced, I can fully relate to moms on the opposite end of the spectrum as well. I can also relate to working moms, loss-survival moms, and moms who are just doing the best that they can.
Southern Girl in the Motor City
As a Detroit transplant, I’ve moved around quite a lot in life. I was born in Orlando, Florida. At the age of twelve, my parents relocated my sister and I to Dallas, Texas in hopes of exposing us to opportunities that they never had. From there, at the age of 18, I ventured off to Washington, D.C. to attend college at Howard University. After graduating, I moved back down south to Houston.
Five years and many milestones later, my husband and I were in search of a new place to call home and we landed on Detroit, Michigan. We fell in love with the culture and resilient spirit of the people and wanted to have a hand in the city’s revitalization. After settling into our home downtown this year, we have become huge fans of Belle Isle, the historic Boston-Edison neighborhood, and the breathtaking view of Canada across the Detroit River. Now that the border has reopened, we look forward to venturing across the tunnel before the end of the year.
Content on the Horizon
As a new contributor, there are so many content topics I cannot wait to share with the Detroit Mom community! Some of these topics include the little-known roles we play in helping children achieve their language development milestones, the beauty of the autism spectrum, cultivating technology empowerment in kids and discouraging technology dependency, finding peace and healing after pregnancy loss, how to salvage sleep as a new mom, proven benefits of midwives vs. doctors, and the list goes on and on.
With every piece of content that I bring to the community, my hope is to cultivate connection. Even though I am a young mom, I’ve had so many isolating experiences. There were times when I silenced my voice and shut my eyes to all of the support surrounding me and endured pain that I simply had no business experiencing alone. That is why I’m so excited and grateful for the opportunity to be part of this essential community and curate content that makes moms from all corners of Detroit feel worthy of being seen and heard.
