Sheer Creativity
Step into the chill vibes of Sheer Creativity, your go-to laid-back podcast about creatives for creatives! Immerse yourself in dynamic conversations, insightful interviews, and performances, all centered around the creative experience. With me, Laraya, as your guide, we'll blend special guests, personal development nuggets, and engaging creative content to inspire and motivate you on your artistic journey.
Sheer Creativity
Sunbrown: The Spontaneous Love Poet
Sunbrown is an ATL based poet who enjoys writing about romantic, platonic, and internal love. In this conversation, we dive into how Sunbrown discovered that she was a poet, how her writing process works, and how she embraced her purpose of writing about love and exploring its many definitions. Support Sunbrown's poetry on her Instagram page @lovesunbrown.
Order Sunbrown's debut poetry collection, Even Love Loves You: https://www.lovesunbrown.com
SHEER CREATIVITY LINKS
Read Laraya's creative writing on Of Wisdom and Wander
Check out Laraya's website
Order Laraya's poetry collection
Welcome to the Sheer Creativity Podcast, the podcast about creative for creatives. Our Sheer Creator on today's episode is Sunbrown. Sunbrown is a poet and a business owner. Sunbrown, welcome to the show.
Sunbrown:Thank you. Thank you for having me.
Raya:Of course. I'm so happy to have you. Your Instagram is like so authentic and I love that as a creative, so I really wanted to talk to you.
Sunbrown:Oh, thank you so much. I, I really appreciate that. I, I never know what it looks like to other people, so it's good to be reassured.
Raya:Yes, I love it. It's very calming. So first off, tell us more about you, your age, where you're from.
Sunbrown:Yes. So, um, again, my name is Sunbrown and I currently live in Atlanta, but I'm from California. Grew up there and I turned 33 this year. That's a, that's a whole other conversation, but it's great. I've loved being 33 so far. I still feel so, not that 33 is old, but I still feel so, oh,
Raya:You're young and spry.
Sunbrown:So young and vibrant. Yeah. Yeah.
Raya:Yeah. So what part of California are you from?
Sunbrown:Um, Southern California. So Riverside, California.
Raya:Okay.
Sunbrown:Um, yeah. Yeah. Have you been before?
Raya:I have not. I really wanna go though. I've been like all up and down the East coast, but I've not come to the west coast yet.
Sunbrown:Okay. Yeah, you gotta come to the West coast. It's, it's different.
Raya:Yeah. I hear the weather is beautiful. I wanna be there.
Sunbrown:It's nice. It's nice.
Raya:Okay. Yeah. So first off, like how did your love of writing begin?
Sunbrown:So, I always loved sharing this story because it was very unconventional. Um, I back in California, an old coworker of mine, he is a spoken word artist. He would send me some of his work and ask me for feedback or to write something like for the hook or to create a melody and I would just do that for him, send it back and be on my merry way. Like I never really thought too much about my input, I just figured, okay, he wants me to help him with his work, you know? and we did that for about a year, and I still never considered myself a writer, created anything like that. It wasn't until I moved to Atlanta and I just one day decided to, um, go into the voice notes that I sent to him and I typed everything out in like a Word document and
Raya:Oh wow.
Sunbrown:I was like, oh, like this is actually, you know, kind of good what I'm, when I'm ready, And I continued to explore that and I would send it to different people, like, what would you call this? Because I was calling them pieces. I wasn't calling them poems. Um, so I would just say, oh, I wrote a piece today. I wrote a piece today, and all of those pieces turned into about 40 pieces. So I created some sort of book. I just put them together and I sent it to him and I was like, I think this, like this is really good. So it took a lot of. Other people were telling me like, yeah, you know, I think you're a poet, Brittany. I I think that's what you're doing. And it, it took me a really long time. I had to go to a poetry workshop and that's where everything started to align within, um, in terms of like, I need to see what other people see otherwise it's not going to connect. So once I did that poetry workshop and I, uh, recited a poem out loud for the first time to Complete Strangers, that's when it hit me. And I was like, okay, I'm doing something so that was, um, I'll say when I was helping him, that may have been in 20. Oh, I don't know, maybe like 2014. Um,
Raya:oh, you've been at this for a while?
Sunbrown:Yeah. And then I moved here in 2017 and my writing has developed and changed since, since that workshop in 2018.
Raya:Oh, wow. Yeah. So when you say like, he. You were writing melodies for, it wa was it set to music? Was it like a, like a song type of spoken word writing?
Sunbrown:A little bit. Yeah. He, he didn't have any, any, uh, actual, like live music or anything like that, but he, sometimes I sing. Um, we don't have to go down that background. That's not my expertise. But I do, I do like to sing, so I would create melodies or hooks for his poems, and he would tell me like, like, yo, this is really good, Brittany. And I'd be like, okay. And, you know, just not even pay attention to it at all. And he would always tell me, this is really good. And I just, I didn't see it that way. I didn't see it as anything. um, that I was, you know, really contributing.
Raya:Yeah. Yeah. It was something that you kind of had to figure out on your own.
Sunbrown:Yeah. Yeah. It took, took a while, but, um, now I know.
Raya:Yeah. Yeah. I love that. It is a very unconventional story, but I love how it, it kinda shows how you grew into your own as an artist and as a writer.
Sunbrown:Yeah, that's very true. Yeah.
Raya:So where do you draw inspiration from for your writing?
Sunbrown:Well, a main portion of, I'll say 99% of my writing is, is the topic of love and not just romantic love, but loving ourselves within and with is something I like to say. So it's going to be very difficult to love another person if that internal love isn't, um, isn't developing, isn't being corrected, worked on. So my inspiration used to come from people seeing things throughout the day, one word would pop in my head and I would just write from there, a little bit more intentional about, um, writing from my current either experience, heart posture, a past thought, or again, just my observations of other people who are displaying love or are displaying things that would want me to, um, To help them get to that place that they're seeking, which may be a romantic relationship or loving themselves a little bit better, um, being a little bit more intentional about their journey. So I'm inspired just by life, I guess, everything around me. Um, and it's, it's random, um. I never sit down and say, okay, I'm going, I'm gonna write today. It's just, it's, I, I still can't explain it. And I don't necessarily like the word random because maybe. not random at all. That's just how, how the creativity comes to me. Um,
Raya:Maybe it's like spontaneous.
Sunbrown:It's spontaneous. Thank you. Spontaneous. Like I, I could be washing dishes and then I'll, something will pop in my head and then I'll go write it down. So, um, and for the most part, I recite my poems first and then I write them down.
Raya:Really?
Sunbrown:Yeah. I find it very difficult for me to do the writing first. It doesn't flow naturally. Doesn't come naturally. But if I'm just talking, um, then the words come and then I, I go ahead and type it.
Raya:Oh, wow. I like that. It's kind of like hearing the cadence of the words first, then going back and being like, okay, this is where this word fits.
Sunbrown:Yeah, exactly. Wow. Yeah.
Raya:I've never heard somebody like think like that. That's actually really interesting.
Sunbrown:Ok. That's, that makes me feel good.
Raya:Yeah. It's, it's very unique. It's more like, like how musicians kind of do it versus to writers per se, which is really interesting that you said you would write melodies first for your friend who was a spoken word artist. Yeah. So it's kind of like a musician's path rather than a, a writer's path, but it's really cool.
Sunbrown:Interesting. Okay. Okay,
Raya:Where did the name Sunbrown originate?
Sunbrown:Oh, this question um, I, I would love to have this beautiful story behind it. Um, but it's, it, it started from an old Instagram name, my before Love Sunbrown, my Instagram name was It was Black Sun Goddess dot B, which is B for my first name, Brittany. It was too long and I didn't connect with it anymore. But I wanted to keep the, the sun portion because I really love summertime. That's when it's my birthday. I love the sun. I will find any reason to go outside.
Raya:Me too.
Sunbrown:You know, I just, I really love the, the warmth of the sun and. It could be really hot. And I just, I love being outside. And so I don't know the brown part. I, I really, I don't know. And again, I wish this was a beautiful story, Um, one of my friends told me to just make something up one day. Like the reason I was like, no, cause it wouldn't be true. But now I like to say sun because my love for the sun in my brown skin. My therapist says that she's, sun Brown is an extension of, of Brittany, so just another, another portion. And she had to have a name, so I've also agreed with that as well.
Raya:Yeah. I love that. It kind of reminds me of a sunflower, how it's kind of like brown in the middle. And it has like the circumference of a sun. Yeah. So I like it. You can go like different ways with how people interpret it.
Sunbrown:I should try one day to ask the person what they think, you know, if they ask me what it means, I should say, what do you think Sunbrown stands for?
Raya:Yeah. I like the, the open-endedness of it all. So if you could describe your authentic poetic voice in one word, what would it be and why?
Sunbrown:Hmm. I would have to choose the word, uh, being. And I choose that word because I am the most present when I write. Um, It's an interesting feeling space to be in. Even if it's just 15 seconds. I come up with something though that moment I am being everything I need to be in that moment. Um, Fully present in that moment rather than trying to make it a perfect poem or like striving, I'm being in that moment and then it becomes what it's going to become because I'm not, um, I don't try to, I allow the poem to make the moment, rather than let me make this perfect poem. Um, yeah. And then it, it, in my eyes, it always turns out to be really good and I shock myself sometimes. So yeah. Being, being would be the word.
Raya:Hmm. Taking the pressure off of yourself to create the perfect poem and just allowing the poem to, to mold and shift as it as it comes together. I like that.
Sunbrown:Thank you.
Raya:So what do you do to keep yourself interested and motivated in your craft? Like sometimes when you go through writer's block, how do you break out of that in order to stay in that poetic voice?
Sunbrown:It's such a big part of me. I, I haven't had writer's block, but I have had, uh, setbacks as in. It, it was a a, um, like, ooh, how am I viewing myself in this season? Do I deem myself as worthy of love? And if I don't, or if I'm having some internal difficulties, I, I can't write, um because then I'm not being honest, you know?
Raya:Yeah.
Sunbrown:So that's really the, those moments of writer's block, I guess, would. I'm dealing with something, so I don't want, I can't put anything out that is not a reflection of, um, Of what I actually believe in. And let me just be a little specific. So I am in the process of reform, reformatting my poetry publication that's gonna come out soon and I was going to release it this past August and the day came, uh, you know, I announced it and everything. I started to cry when I went back through my poems because I said, I don't feel, I don't see myself in some of these, and I should, and I did before. So where's the disconnect? So that would be my, my personal, um, description of writer's block. Like, Ooh, I need to check something in my heart before I put this workout, because then I feel responsible for how it impacts somebody else. You know, so.
Raya:Mm-hmm.
Sunbrown:I've never, I've never explained that before.
Raya:I think that's, that's such a good explanation of it. I was talking to one of my other friends who is also a writer. And she was saying that usually when writer's block comes to her that there's something inward that she hasn't dealt with yet. Yeah. And she has to sit with herself and really reconcile that before she can go back and do the work that she wants to do. Yeah. So being honest with yourself and being able to say, well, is this the most authentic version of me and like if I give this to somebody else, are they getting the real me?
Sunbrown:Yeah. thank you for sharing that cause that's true.
Raya:Yeah, of course. What is the biggest opposing force that you've encountered on your creative journey?
Sunbrown:Oh, okay ooh. Um, these are great questions, by the way. It's making me, yeah, I, I don't find any of this coincidence. Um, I'm noticing that everything goes back to, to me. So whenever I write a poem and let's say posted on Instagram, the opposing force is this voice saying, nobody is going to read that. Nobody cares what you have to say. Um, You write about love too much, write about something else. And not only is that my voice, but I will say a, a physical opposing force. Um, I'll never forget this person who told me I'm too deep and I let that eat me up rather than stand firm in my truth. Like, well, you know, I am deep and maybe what I do is just not suitable for where you are, and that's okay. But instead I let that, um, I crumbled a little bit. Like am I doing something wrong with the, you know, with my writing the way I express myself so then that became, again, those voices uh, saying like, Hey, this, you know, move on from what you're writing about. But every, every week I get a DM or a text like, Brittany, thank you for posting that. Or it'll be an old poem that I haven't seen in a while, and someone will say like, I, I took a screenshot of this. It's on my wallpaper. thank you for your, your vulnerability. And that brings me back to combating that opposing force and saying like, no, you're, you're doing, you're doing good. You're doing the right thing.
Raya:I don't even know what too deep really means.
Sunbrown:really talk about it. What does it, what does it mean?
Raya:Yeah. I'm, I'm confused. I feel like in today's world of like social media and everybody's looking at their phones we're we're very devoid of deep moments in conversations and, and I think that's one of the reasons why I wanted to start this podcast is to have deep, authentic conversations about creativity and about life and things like that. And, I think that's why we can have social media, but we're also very lonely as a society because we're not having conversations that need to be had or we can't talk about our emotions or our feelings or how we feel about love and other things. Mm-hmm. so. Too deep. That's actually should be a compliment.
Sunbrown:Yeah. And it, it really, now in hindsight, it says more about that individual than me.
Raya:Yeah.
Sunbrown:If someone were to say that today, it wouldn't have the same effect because I'm, I'm in alignment with who I am. Like my purpose is, is to be loved and to continue exploring its definition. So I am as deep as, yeah, it can be. And that's great
Raya:It's amazing. So do you have any activities that you do in order to spark that creative energy?
Sunbrown:Mm. No, not it, because it comes so spontaneously, I guess. I guess one, let me give you one. Um, every now and then. I read All About Love by Bell Hooks. And I'm not much of a reader by any means. It's hard for me to find a good book and stick to it. But that book, I, I jump around in the ch I don't read it, um, you know, in sequence. And that's become my new favorite thing because, her writing, um, the way she talks about love in all forms helps me to either go back and revisit, um, something I've written before or she kind of expands my understanding about what it is to be love or what love, you know, just different definitions, different avenues. So I would say that she's, she's a bit of inspiration for me. Um, but outside of that, just taking a walk, hiking. I love the outdoors. Um, I love talking to people and having, you know, conversations like this. Um, and again, just watching people, just really observing the way people move and, and their mannerisms, their speech. So I'm inspired by all the, all the little things and even plants. I'm a big plant person. Um, and I have two leaves that have not unraveled yet. And I really find my inspiration in some of these plants, like, why are you guys, why are you two taking so long you know, to unravel that. So then I take that and I apply it to like, oh, maybe there's a reason why they're taking a little bit of time compared to the other ones that unravel quickly. So I, I, I get my inspiration in bits and pieces.
Raya:Yeah, I like that. So describe some of your art exhibit experiences I saw on your, on your portfolio that you've been in two?
Sunbrown:I've done, uh, three I believe.
Raya:Talk about those a little bit.
Sunbrown:Yes, yes. This is exciting because, um, those are true art exhibits, so, you know, paintings, um, things like that. And I would, I was invited to the first one, March, 2020. This was when we were supposed to be in the house. And, um, you know, the pandemic was starting, I should say. My friend Samaya was the curator of that art exhibit, and I was like, well, I, you know, I'm not an artist at that time. I said that. I said, I, I just write poetry. And she was like, no, that's art. And I think it would be pretty cool to place on the wall. And I never thought about doing that before. She's really the reason why I have poems on my own wall now because of her allowing me to see like, no, this is also artwork. It belongs on the living room wall. You know, so I did that exhibit March, 2020. Um, and then March, 2021 we did another one. I wish I could remember the names of each of these. Um, but I would have to go back and look at the flyer because I've forgotten. Um, but March 2021 I did another one. And, um, They were all centered around either women empowerment or again, just a love for art. Then the most recent one I did, each one that I've done, I have challenged myself to write a longer poem and think about my audience a little bit more than I typically do because this is something that's going to be on display. Um, and it's taken me out of my shell a little bit because she's had me, uh, speak like with the panel with the other artists. But all of those experiences have really shown me that I could do more with my writing besides, you know, just posting on Instagram like, so I've taken some of my own poems and put them on my hallway wall. I have a couple of, uh, clients out in the world who have poems in their home as well. So I'm grateful for those art exhibits because now I frame my poems and again, I send them to people or I just create my own little, little wall.
Raya:Yeah, as a writer, sometimes you can get caught up in, oh, I can only do books or, yeah, I can only share my poetry via social media. But like you never think of like an art exhibit because it is a form of art. Then I saw that you had your own poetry booth and I thought that was really cool. That's something that I've never seen before. Can you talk a little bit about that?
Sunbrown:For two Valentine's Days in a row I have sat outside. There's this area called the BeltLine in Atlanta, um, where people walk, scooters, bikes, running. And there's different shops along this path. I set, I set up out there for this Valentine's Day and 2021 Valentine's Day, and I was out there for about four hours with my typewriter. They were free on demand poems. And, um, that was probably the most I've stepped outside of my comfort zone because it's just me and my typewriter and we're, you know, it, it always takes that first person who comes up to see what I'm doing because people think you're selling something um, their initial response is she's selling something. So once the people, people start coming in, then I would have a line and I'm like, oh, people want poems, so let me create a process. Yeah, that has allowed my writing to get out there even more. So it's, um, one of the coolest things I could say that I've, that I've done.
Raya:Yeah. Yeah. I really think it's cool. Do you guys have to like, pay to be out there or you just kind of bring your table and set on up? Yeah.
Sunbrown:Um, I know now there's certain areas where you need a permit, but where I was sitting, where I was sitting, it was completely free. Yeah. Yeah.
Raya:That's so cool. Would that be the driving force of starting Sunbrown as a business?
Sunbrown:Yes. Yeah. Okay. The combination of the, the, the art exhibit inspiration and being outside with my typewriter. yeah, the, the typewriter, the art exhibits have shown me back to your point. I can do more with my writing. Um, so it hasn't hit the ground running yet. I still have a few ideas, but I've had, I've had some clients who have requested custom poems for me. I have, um, I have had a couple who got married last month um, request to have their, uh, wedding vows typewritten. So those were their words. Aw. Their words, but they wanted to have them typewritten. So I, I'm also, uh, opening myself up to using the typewriter for just a service. Um, you bring your words to me, I'll type them up for you. Um, but I'm interested to see where I go with, with Sunbrown as a, as a business as a whole, because I have, I have a lot of ideas. Um, That I think will be very, very good in terms of, uh, having like some merchandise, something tangible where the poem is on it in your poem. Mm-hmm. So I'm, I'm excited to see where it goes.
Raya:I'm excited for you. I, I'm actually interested in buying a poem, but we'll talk about later. Yes, yes. So we're nearing the end of the podcast. Mm-hmm. I've loved talking to you. It's been great. I usually end off every podcast with Laraya's top five, which is basically five lightning round questions that I ask you. And you don't have to think too deep into it, just kind of say the first thing that pops into your head. A morning or evening creator?
Sunbrown:Ooh, evening.
Raya:Your favorite work that you've created thus far?
Sunbrown:Oh boy. I have to think about that one. My favorite. It would have to be this, this book that's, that's coming together.
Raya:And what's the title of the book?
Sunbrown:Even Love.
Raya:Oh, okay. I'll be looking for it. Thank you. Are you introverted or extroverted?
Sunbrown:Um, I'm extroverted.
Raya:Okay.
Sunbrown:With introverted moments, but I'm extroverted.
Raya:Your all time favorite album?
Sunbrown:Oh, um, Solange, um, oh, what's the name of the, I mean, the album. Um, seat at the table to lunch.
Raya:Oh, okay. I love that. Alright, last and not least, your happiest moment. Oh.
Sunbrown:Oh, wow. Um, we're not gonna go that deep. Um, my my happiest moment. My happiest moment always involves cookies. So I will say anytime that someone has brought me cookies or I buy cookies, I'm pretty happy.
Raya:Y'all make sure you support Sunbrown's poetry and her services by following her Instagram page, which is@lovesunbrown. Thank you so much for podcast. It's so nice to meet you..
Sunbrown:thank you. It's nice to meet you as well. I appreciate your time.
