Hi! I’m Vilissa Thompson, a woman who wears many hats & goes by many titles. If you’re new here, I’m a: macro social worker, writer, speaker, consultant, and Founder of Ramp Your Voice! I’m also a visionary, creative, and currently establishing the second act of my career with new and exciting projects.

I created this newsletter so that followers and friends (both old and new) can have a closer view of who I am, my thoughts, and what I’m working on that should be on your radar.

“Top 3 Lessons from my 30s”

I wanted to launch this newsletter during my birthday month. I love being a September baby and a Virgo, so it only made sense for the debut to be during a milestone birthday year. Yes, 40 is a milestone birthday, especially to a disabled person. I wrote about the life expectancy I was given, and I’ve now lived well over 30 years past that prediction. I make a big deal about my birthday because its a big deal to survive and thrive! I’m thrilled to see what the 40s has in store.

Here are the Big 3 of the lessons I’ve learned:

Lesson One: “Put yourself first and be selfish.” As a giver, learning how to be selfish is hard. However, what was harder - being placed in situations that sucked, and realizing that others aren’t as intentional as you are. Learning to be selfish has been an act of self-preservation for me. I now discern who gets my time, where I place my time, and how my energy is used. If anything gives me the slightest hesitation, that’s my inner cue to pause and reconsider.

Lesson Two: “Say no more, and be intentional with your yes.” I’ve been called the Patron Saint of Boundaries because I say no to things I don’t want to do, particularly in the professional realm. Truthfully, I say no for two main reasons: people don’t have it together and you find yourself doing more work than you need to; and people’s ideas aren’t as polished or innovative as they believe them to be. I despise wack projects and people, so I only say yes to what is the right fit. I am not for everyone, and I don’t want to be. I want people - friends, lovers, colleagues, staff, etc. - that are considerate, thoughtful, purposeful, and at least know how to have their shit together so that their mess doesn’t become MY mess to clean up. If I get a whiff that those elements aren’t there, then the onus is on me to exit or shift the interaction, with no hard feelings.

Lesson Three: “Care less about what doesn’t matter - you’ll look back and laugh at how stressed you were on things that didn’t become the worst case scenario.” It was around the mid-30s for me that I began to shed this toxic way of thinking. I’m calling it toxic because not everything is a crisis, and if we treat every moment as such, that does a great disservice to our mental capacity and creates stress that we’ll hold in our bodies. In learning to care less about the insignificant things, I’ve taken stock in how I hold stress in my body, and the impact of the heaviness on myself. I’m the type of person that if I don’t like something, that’s a sign that it cannot continue as is. Pushing myself to take things less personally has done wonders. Living life less stressed matters, and the results of it I have embraced.

What I’ve been doing…

I’m grateful for the community I have because I had to pivot my original birthday plans due to circumstances out of my control (wildfires in the area). A friend filled the gap in assisting me in redirecting the birthday trip to Atlanta, and I couldn’t have been happier for their involvement.

She has been a godsend the last couple of weeks in planning the week of V (as I’m calling it lol), and we have some great shenanigans to dive into.

Though I wasn’t able to go to Napa and tour wine country, I am still able to tour Southern wine country by visiting 3 vineyards. I started going to wineries & vineyards the last few years, and it has been a welcomed journey. It’s so cool to try new wines and hear from those who work at these establishments about why their wine is the best.

We also will do hood rat shit with our friends by going to a Beyoncé themed drag brunch, seeing the girls shake it in the club, get our nails done, and other fun treats that the A has for me.

Ringing in a new decade with the girls - priceless.

These are a few of my favorite things…

One thing I love - tech, apps, gadgets, and the like that makes my life more seamless and streamline.

A tool that I love - a portable keyboard. As a tech lover, there’s nothing like a good keyboard that you can use with your devices - tablets, phones, laptops, or desktops.

I’m giving myself a new gadget for my birthday, and I believe I found a nice keyboard to use for it. It looks lightweight and the cool part? It has LIGHTS on it that you can change. As a 90s kid who loved the light up toys, it speaks to my youthful heart.

Get involved!

Each month, I aim to spotlight the work I’m doing, as well as the cool things my comrades in the community are doing.For this month, however, it’s about the birthday chick - me!

We officially announced the launch of the 2nd Ramp Your Voice! Conference! Check out the Save the Date flyer, and mark it on your calendars!

This year’s theme is so fitting because as we continue forward with the fight to protect ourselves, our rights, and our communities, we must remember who we are and why we do what we do each day.

I’m grateful to work with such a dynamic team, and to build out communal gatherings such as this. It’s a blessing to be a vessel of the work in this regard.