Today we’d like to introduce you to Brittini Ward.
Brittini, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
I have been a creator for as long as I can remember, drawing faces on my father’s computer paper and filling little journals with poems I only shared with my mother. Growing up, my creativity would peek out in small bursts, rapping in a middle school cipher or singing at family gatherings, then retreating again. Teachers, mentors, and programs kept pulling me forward, helping me see a brilliance I did not yet see in myself. College and grad school expanded that path, where I leaned deeper into writing, spoken word, and community work, guided by powerful influences like Dr. Traci Currie. I joined every creative and cultural space I could, infusing poetry, music, and storytelling into organizing and social justice work. My travels, childhood experiences, and even my trauma shaped the way I understand art as a bridge between feeling and understanding. After years in Texas and Arizona doing service work and earning my master’s in social justice and community organizing, I returned home to Detroit and began hosting open mics, curating spaces of release, and eventually performing and exhibiting across the country. As powerful as those open mics were, I realized I wanted to hold the stories I witnessed a bit longer. People would go up there and open a part of themselves that had been closed for so long, and I knew that feeling intimately. That led me into the world of exhibitions and curation, where I can stretch those stories, let them live on walls as our ancestors did, and create containers where memory can root itself in a space for as long as it is held. Now I am in a place where I am fully owning and leaning into being a storyteller, understanding that this is the throughline that has always guided me. Today I stand firmly in that identity, translating truth across mediums and building spaces where people can see themselves inside the stories I tell.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
The road has not always been smooth, but the biggest obstacles were often internal. My childhood trauma shaped how safe I felt in the world and in my own body, so even when opportunities were right in front of me, I would hide. I did not always see myself clearly, and that lack of self recognition was one of my earliest challenges. Life added its own layers, like navigating college, financial aid, and traveling on an AmeriCorps stipend that was well below minimum wage. Yet when I look back, I realize the path was guided. God always placed exactly what I needed in front of me, down to the penny, down to the people and mentors who showed up right on time. The real struggle was moving through the programming that trauma created, and learning to trust that I was safe enough, worthy enough, and powerful enough to step into the opportunities already aligned for me.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
I am a storyteller. I create stories, I hold stories, and I tell stories through many mediums. My work lives in movement, dance, sound, music, spoken word, poetry, writing, and painting on canvas. Sometimes I am the medium itself, guiding others to listen to the whispers of their own story through reflective reading sessions. I also teach through writing workshops and build exhibitions that serve as containers where a story can live across all of these forms at once, allowing people to step inside and experience it fully. I am most known for pulling out the spirit in a story and bringing ceremony and intention into every space I curate. People often tell me they feel an awakening in the room, a spiritual element woven through my work that grants me access to their hearts. What sets me apart is the care, authenticity, and lived truth behind everything I create. I am most proud that people experience me exactly as I feel on the inside, and that my work continues to resonate on a human and spiritual level.
Can you talk to us a bit about the role of luck?
The word luck has never really resonated with me. I see my life and work as guided by the divine creator, by God, and I have learned that everything that happens to me truly happens for me. I am still human, so there are moments when I look up like, bruh, what is going on, but with time I always see the pattern. I have learned that if I had received certain things when I wanted them, how I wanted them, they would not have unfolded with the beauty and alignment I see now. So instead of good luck or bad luck, I see consequence, I see alignment, I see lessons. I take ownership of my choices, I learn from what people call mistakes, and I keep moving forward. At the great age of 33, forward is the only direction that makes sense to me, no matter what is happening around me.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.eyeneyellc.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/eyeneyellc
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BrittiniWard
