welcome to a diouana woman’s world

this substack is part love letter, part manifesto.

i write diligently about womanhood and what i call the pleasure-pain of becoming because i am obsessed with what it means for women to forge ourselves into our own imagination.

if you’re curious about the “diouana” part of my name, it is a reference to diouana gomis. she inspired the main character in the first film to ever be presented at cannes by an african filmmaker. in la noire de...(black girl), director ousmane sembène tells the story of diouana as a young woman who leaves her beloved dakar behind to live out her fantasy of being a bon vivant (literally just being a girl) in the côte d’azur. tragically, diouana was never able to realize this dream.

in creating this substack, i seek to resurrect diouana and honor her female spirit of freedom-seeking, glamour-loving, intellectual sensuality that dreams of endless nights spent in the south of france with an emotionality that is deeply rooted in a west african aesthetic—thereby combining an old world with an even older one.

to that end, each article will feed into a collection of commentary on different aspects of a woman’s life: sociopolitical situations, interpersonal relationships, and self-actualization.

i believe true bliss is found in the process of becoming self-made. thus, this substack is a refuge for any woman determined to have everything she wants in this life. if that’s you, then welcome to my slumber party.

sweet dreams,
a diouana woman