Reimagine Candlelight Vigil with Author Shaka Senghor

Reimagine has been hosting candlelight vigils throughout the pandemic in order to break down taboos and hold space for all that we've lost. Author and activist Shaka Senghor offers insights on the transformation of adversity through creativity, acts of service, and in particular, how reimagining the justice system can enable healing for all. Our additional guest is Elana Zaiman, rabbi, chaplain, and author of The Forever Letter: Writing What We Believe For Those We Love.

Shaka Senghor

Shaka Senghor is a lecturer at universities, a leading voice on criminal justice reform, and the New York Times bestselling author of the newly published Letters to the Sons of Society: A Father's Invitation to Love, Honesty, and Freedom (Convergent, 2022). His previous book is Writing My Wrongs: Life, Death, and Redemption in an American Prison. Senghor is a former MIT Media Lab Director's Fellow, a former fellow in the inaugural class of the W.K. Kellogg Foundation's Community Leadership Network, and a member of Oprah's SuperSoul 100. In the decade since his release from prison, he has started and worked with nonprofits seeking to lift people up, visited the White House, been interviewed by Trevor Noah and Oprah Winfrey, given award-winning TED talks, and tirelessly worked to help create the personal and societal change we need for a more inspired, just, fulfilling future. www.shakasenghor.com @shakasenghor

Elana Zaiman

Elana Zaiman loves connecting with people. In her book, The Forever Letter, she encourages us to deepen, heal, and uplift our relationships with the people who matter to us most. Elana is the first woman rabbi from a family spanning six generations of rabbis. She serves as an inspirational speaker, and as a scholar-in-residence and workshop facilitator to audiences throughout North America. She’s a chaplain at a retirement community in Seattle; a certified Wise Aging instructor (IJS), and adjunct faculty at a local hospital’s CPE Program. For ten years she served as the Ethics and Spirituality columnist for LivFun, a publication for Leisure Care retirement facilities in 10 states, and she has been published in The Gettysburg Review, The Sun, Post Road, American Letters & Commentary, and elsewhere. Elana also volunteers as a co-partner in the Seattle Limbe Sewing Circle, an intergenerational and interracial community which brings together Jews, Muslims, and Christians to create feminine hygiene kits for girls in Cameroon, Africa. Elana lives in Seattle, Washington with her husband and son. www.elanazaiman.com