We recently sat down with native Newarker and Newark’s First Lady, Linda Baraka to talk about how she has been inspired by the women in her life and the contributions she has made in Newark as a resident, wife, mother, and businesswoman.
TG: Who are some of your favorite women?
LB: Locally, I would have to say my mom, Tina Jumah, Carolyn Wallace, Cleopatra Tucker, Louise Rountree, LaMonica McIver, my mother-in-law Mrs. Baraka. There’s a lot of people doing really good work in the city and they happen to be women. Aisha Glover, Viviana Salgado, Lauren Wells, Linda Harris, Marcy DePina – just a lot of women doing good work here.
TG: When we’re children, we see our mom as grown as if it’s a place – she’s “there” in adulthood. Then as we grow into adulthood and have children, we realize that we’re still growing. Can you talk about what you’ve realized looking back at your younger perspective of your mother and womanhood and how your own experience has enlightened you?
LB: Yeah, of course. We talk about that all the time, how when we were young we thought our parents were so old and I’m literally the same age now as my parents were then. I learned to give them a lot more grace. And I’m so much more thankful. My mom is superwoman. She immigrated to this country, away from her family and friends, raised four children with limited resources. Definitely a lot more grace.
TG: The world is changing so fast today and society’s views of itself are constantly changing. When you think of young people growing up today, what you will mean for them and your place in their stories, what do you think of?
LB: I think young people have it a lot harder with social media today. We didn’t have to deal with that – our friends were our social media. Young people today have more pressure to keep up with images. I would hope that when it comes to me, they see a young girl just like them, from Newark, NJ, that was able to accomplish different things – became a businessperson, became a mom, be a First Lady of the City, and that you don’t have to be perfect.
TG: It’s a really good time to be in Newark right now, and we’ve always heard and talked about Newark’s rich history and diverse culture. But now it seems even more intense.
LB: It’s definitely a good time to be alive! Newark has gone through so many changes under the leadership of Mayor Baraka. Everyone is included. There’s a place for you whether you were born here or moved here. There’s so much going on in the art community and the business community, and I really attribute a lot of it to the Mayor.
TG: When you were a little girl, what were your aspirations?
LB: I always thought I wanted to be a business woman. I didn’t know what that meant at the time but I knew that’s what I wanted to be. I just wanted a nice corner office, nice suits and to be doing business, whatever business meant.
TG: You have 2 kids, a little boy and a little girl. In life there are certain things that put a mirror in front of us where we get to look at ourselves differently. Being married, having children, etc. What are some of the lessons you have learned from all these positions you hold in life, being a mom, wife, business woman etc?
LB: I’ve learned that with being a mom and being a wife, I don’t put myself first and that’s okay. My kids and husband are number 1. That doesn’t mean I have lost myself, just that those people are my priority. Lessons I’ve learned from them are that my three year old is smarter than me he learns new stuff everyday! I love his mind and I love to see how he absorbs everything he is taught. With being a business woman, its not just nice suits and the corner office. Newark airport has always been in my backyard, but we’ve never really had access to it and as I have grown up and been traveling, its always been “Newark Airport” but for the most part, there was nothing “Newark” about it. There’s a new terminal where they’ve really incorporated New Jersey in it they’ve included Newark artists but travelers still don’t get enough of a sense of Newark. Which is why I’m happy we’re able to BOLD Newark and include different local small businesses. The first thing you see when you walk in the store is “Made in Newark” and people relate to it. You see people from all over, different ages. Being able to relate to “Made in Newark” gives them a sense of pride.
TG: Let’s talk about Newark Winter Village. There’s something going on in Newark now, and this has, in part, been guided by your leadership – Newark is really turning into a placemaking city, not just for venues but more for experiences, and people are responding to it.
LB: I love Newark Winter Village. It started out as something so small, that we wanted to do to get people out of the house during COVID. We partnered with The Yard and you know The Yard has the best food. People were able to come out and celebrate with their families in this pod-type experience. We thought to take it up a notch and make it another experience, so we added the outdoor ice skating rink to the Winter Village for the first time. It was so amazing to see people come from everywhere, not just Newark – people have traveled from Delaware, the Bronx, DC, that come to experience Newark Winter Village. Im so excited to be able to bring that to the city and expand it to make Newark a holiday destination. If you think about the winter time, we’re not Miami or California, we’re used to being in the house. Newark Winter village gives you an opportunity to go outside and see our city and our people in a different season.
TG: The effect that the things you’ve produced has had on other producers, whether its Newark Winter Village, AfroBeat, or the BOLD Newark airport activation, there’s a ripple effect. You have access. And every time that you do something of that sort, you become proof of concept for other people who don’t have access, that it can be done. Whether or not they know you’re trailblazing, people who are activating spaces and venues get “yes” more now than they may have otherwise because there is a Afrobeat Fest and Newark Under The Stars and Newark Winter Village, and they’re at a scale that allows for other things to come behind them.
LB: With that I would say that the events allow access, what it was is that we love our city and we want other people to have experiences. When I got older people would say they have to leave and go outside of Newark to experience things, and we were like “No, this is a major city in this state we need to bring those experiences to the people that are here so they don’t have to leave out the city, so they don’t have to spend money outside the city but spend it here.” That’s why Afrobeat Fest was so important. Thats why I always tell people if there’s something you don’t see here bring it here. You do it. You don’t have to wait for other cities to do it. That’s something we see with Newark Moonlight, we didn’t have it, they brought it and the reception to it was very positive. If there’s something you wanna see, bring it.
TG: You also represent interconnectivity of different cultures. For Black people in particular to have such a direct line between Newark and Ghana, is not common. It’s something that allows us to be ourselves more and more. Whether it’s social or cultural events like Newark Under The Stars or Newark Winter Village, feeling and seeing the influence of the diaspora is not common, having grown up in a world dominated by other peoples cultures.
LB: Newark is a very inclusive city. Whether you’re from Haiti, Ghana, Guyana, Nigeria, Cabo Verde, Puerto Rico, Brazil, etc., there’s a place for you here. I love my country Ghana, and even though I was born here in Newark, Ghana made it cool to be African again. It made it cool for people to reconnect with their roots in Ghana. Newark adopts you wherever you’re from.
TG: Last question, who smiles the most in the family?
LB: Babygirl! Juah is the smartest. Daddy is the nicest.
