Imani | Kwanzaa 2025
Kwanzaa Day 7 of 7 | #Imani (Faith): Today 2025 is officially behind us. For many, including those in my industry, 2025 was tough. I'm not sure how one deals with the complexities of life (aka 'adulting'), or finds the will to look forward into 2026 confidently, without having Faith as a foundation. To keep my faith strong, I've been part of a men's bible study group for many years. In 2025, when searching for passages for us to study, I've been using AI to help. There are
Ricardo Wilkins
7 days ago1 min read
Kuumba | Kwanzaa 2025
Kwanzaa Day 6 of 7 | #Kuumba (Creativity): Believe it or not, before I became a super nerd, I used to write poetry. 🤓 I can't explain what caused my season of poetry-writing back then, nor can I explain why I haven't written any more poetry in the many many years since. But, today's principle made me go back and look thru some of my stuff - I found one I'd written called "When Women Sing" that talks about the beautiful melody of the female voice. It's too long to post on t
Ricardo Wilkins
Dec 31, 20251 min read
Nia | Kwanzaa 2025
Kwanzaa Day 5 of 7 | #Nia (Purpose): In 2012, I wrote an article called “ The 3 T’s of Giving Back to the IT Community ”. It was a piece about the intentionality behind giving back to the community - in this case, the IT community. I was reminded of the article when I thought about Purpose. In the article, one of the things I highlighted was the concept of "Teaching", and I mentioned the year I was a volunteer instructor for a high school STEM/computer competition team (we
Ricardo Wilkins
Dec 30, 20251 min read
Ujamaa | Kwanzaa 2025
Kwanzaa Day 4 of 7 | #Ujamaa (Cooperative Economics): This principle is about the importance of building together. This year, we ventured forward on a commercial real estate investment with partners that we've been collaborating with over the last few years. For us, it wasn't just about a simple ROI calculation. It was also about creating networking opportunities & generating legacy wealth. Ujamaa reminds us that economic strength comes from shared effort and mutual support.
Ricardo Wilkins
Dec 29, 20251 min read
Ujima | Kwanzaa 2025
Kwanzaa Day 3 of 7 | #Ujima (Collective Work and Responsibility): In 2025 we became sports parents, as our daughter played on her season-winning school volleyball team, and went on to play Club volleyball as well. When I think about collective work & responsibility, the idea of parents working together to manage the responsibilities and logistics of raising a kid comes to mind. We take our marriage and our parenting seriously. And when it comes to managing schedules and acti
Ricardo Wilkins
Dec 28, 20251 min read