Today we’d like to introduce you to Tasjha Dixon.
Hi Tasjha, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
Well my name is Tasjha Dixon and I am an interdisciplinary artist and creator.
I am the founder, owner & teacher of Empowering KC with Tasjha which is my creative, wellness-focused practice where I offer yoga classes, writing and poetry classes and community events/open mics, amongst many other community and individual sessions.
On to how I got started……first things first, I’ve always been a highly sensitive person. I feel things deeply. So I entered the U.S. Army at 19 but was injured so after 2 years I was medically discharged honorably from service.
I returned home to Kansas City from my last duty station which was El Paso, TX, and I attended Kansas City Kansas community college and received my Associate’s degree in Computer Science because that’s what my job was in the military. But in my final semester I took a Mythology class with my beloved professor and we focused heavily on female deities and something in me was captured. I loved that class so much and I credit that professor (though she has no idea) with shifting the direction of my life both personally and professionally.
So after receiving my Associate’s Degree in Computer Science, I attended the University of Missouri – Kansas City and received my Bachelor’s degree in Sociology with a minor in Women and Gender studies. I completely change my major and noticed an internal shift regarding how I wanted to be and live and eventually interact with others in the world.
After receiving my Bachelor’s this then began my career as a social worker which continued for about 20 years.
I’ve worked in:
Domestic Violence shelters
Homeless shelters
Early Headstart
Parents as Teachers
Mental Health crisis worker
Behavior interventionist
State of MO mental health intake worker
On-call hospital advocate for sexual assault victims
and more….
But I say all of that to say that I’ve always felt my own emotions very deeply but I am also an empath and feel the pain of others deeply. That spurred a lifetime of helping and trying to repair the world, by myself, which obviously does not work. LOL.
I’ve learned over the course of my life that helping one is just as significant as helping many. Quantity does not translate automatically into superior quality. I’ve been able to be in enough boardrooms and behind the closed doors of Vice Presidents of non-profits and the like. I’ve been in solo meetings with school superintendents telling me things that sound like they break the law but nonetheless, I digress.
The way I’ve always processed the world is through writing. I’ve had a journal or diary for as long as I can remember. I’ve always written. When things were good and when things were bad, I wrote. It was like my safe space to question why things were the way things were and to be confused about it on that fresh blank piece of paper.
So i no longer do social work, 20 years worth of being with others in their pain and confusion and absorbing more than was healthy, I went to graduate school in 2023 at Naropa University which is a Buddhist-inspired university in Boulder, CO and in 2025 I received my Master’s of Fine Arts in Creative Writing from the Jack Kerouac school of disembodied poetics which stems from the Beat Poets generation.
So I often tell people when they say, “When did you become a writer?” I say, I’ve always been one. I just never called it that. It didn’t seem to fall into the category writing because it wasn’t in any kind of form or style, nor was it always coherant and making sense.
But I’ve always written and have boxes upon boxes of journals/diaries to demonstrate how far back my writing career actually goes.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
“I’ve never driven over a smooth road, there’s always a bump or two, but hopefully no big ass pot-holes……” – Me
Some of the struggles along the way:
Single motherhood
Experience of being un-housed
Poor personal boundaries
Family crisis
Financial instability
Domestic Violence relationships
Secondary-trauma from career
Physical health
Declining self-care practices
The mental space to persevere…..
I mean I could probably continue right? To live is to be challenged, at every turn. But we’ve all met challenges before and have amazing stories of triumph over said challenges and/or obstacles. This is just another one of those stories.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
So the evolution my life has completely become the canvas of my art, so to speak.
And that’s my medium, my voice.
I tell stories of facing unbearable traumas and the resilience it took to overcome.
I tell stories of watching someone’s faith carry them thru hard times.
I watched opportunities fall into the laps of families and communities that needed a life-line.
I’ve also received so many gifts and blessings from my career that I now watch bloom and blossom in my own life which also becomes part of my art.
I’ve been witness to non-verbal people smiling at me and I heard everything I needed to hear.
I’ve been witness to immigrants choosing a better life even if it meant packing up the one suitcase and landing in front of me telling me that she has no idea what comes next, AND trusted me, a complete stranger, to help her and guide her.
I’ve been witness to 12 year old girls coming into the hospital emergency room after having been raped and beat, 1 hour earlier.
I’ve been witness to a teenage girl who was a cutter, slice her wrist in front of me.
I’ve been witness to 6 year olds who throw chairs at teachers and cause them physical injury.
I’ve been witness to a child eloping, running out of the front doors of the school and out into traffic with me chasing behind.
I’m most proud of the nature of my heart.
Everything I’ve done in my life and everything I’ve been involved with over the 20 years has provided me such an amazing perspective on life and what we can overcome with the love and support of others.
I’ve been bitten by a 6th grader and it broke the skin who had been in and out of foster care her whole life. I loved her through her pain because I recognized that’s all it is. That’s all it ever is.
What sets me apart is my community-service mind. Anyone who knows me knows my heart. If you know me, you’ve seen me cry, it’s always love hiding behind those tears. It has always looked like grief, and grief is just the longing for the loss of something you’ve loved. So when I knew I was just looking at the pain of loss, how could I be mad at that little girl. She never had a solid home, her classmates did though, so that was a loss for her, she knew it and it made her mad. She was never mad at me, she was hurting.
Do you have any advice for those just starting out?
Regarding social work: Develop, cultivate, nurture and set firm personal boundaries to protect your own energy and remember that the capacity to serve others stems from your capacity to serve yourself 1st. The pilot says to put your own oxygen mask on 1st before you help the person next to you, it’s same in life.
Regarding writing: Carry a journal every where you go. Write about any and everything. Just document your life as often as possble. And watch the story begin to emerge on its own.
Regarding speaking: Let your voice and hands shake. They are gonna do it anyway. Keep speaking anyway. Some people will like what you have to say and some people will not, accept that. But speak anyway.
Regarding poetry: Just write. Don’t write poetry. Just write. Whatever form it eventually becomes is for down the line. First, you just write. Don’t fit your voice into poetry, witness poetry be born from inside your daily voice.
Regarding yoga: Go to your edge, then stop. Do not push beyond self-compassion, meaning when it begins to hurt or become too difficult, you have lost the compassion for your body’s limits. We do yoga to learn our own limits and work there. If our neighbor touches her toes, that’s her body’s abilities. If you cannot touch your toes, that’s your body’s abilities. Both are yoga.
Regarding spirituality: Your experience or lack thereof of any spirituality sorts of things, is your experience, period. Connect deeply with yourself and your own personal values, that’s a good starting place if you need one.
Regarding life: To live till we die, is the point. Hopefully that living looks like love and hopefully to die is to be reborn.
Pricing:
- $20 dollars a class for yoga and/or writing classes, both in person locally in Kansas City area as well as online options
- Custom mini-retreats also available by inquiry, www.empoweringkcwithtasjha.com, click Contact
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.empoweringkcwithtasjha.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tasjhadixon
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/tasjhadixon
