Be more Kanya
Why Joni and Janet were right and legacy is everything
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It’s brought to you by Collette Philip, a multi-award-winning founder, writer, coach and facilitator.
This newsletter is a tribute to Kanya King CBE, Founder of the MOBO awards.
The MOBO awards were the UK’s first awards that specifically celebrated music that originated from Black communities and Kanya King was a pioneer who launched careers, kept musical traditions alive, inspired millions of people and consistently championed her vision.
In 2020, I was lucky enough to have been mentored by her during the pandemic after I won a competition - and after this, I went on to get to know her a little bit in real life.
Every time I met her, I was struck by her humility, her energy and her joyful presence. And every time we met I thanked her for her impact - on me personally, but also for what she has done for our community.
You can read more about Kanya’s life and work here.
Although I was heartbroken to hear of Kanya’s passing last week, reading the beautiful tributes online left me inspired and has strengthened my resolve around this work.
In the 90s, Janet Jackson recorded “Got till it’s gone” sampling the Joni Mitchell classic. And this song has been playing in my mind all week. Because it is so true - we don’t know what we’ve got till it’s gone. It’s really important that we act on opportunities, celebrate people while they are still here and support the people we admire.
So thank you Kanya King for your incredible work and legacy. I’ve learned so much from you and I’ll be forever grateful that I got to meet you and spend time with you.
How to be more Kanya
Lead with your values
Kanya was a passionate advocate of equity and creativity - it’s what she believed in and she made this her lifelong mission through her work at MOBO. Her values drove her partnerships and every decision she made and when I spoke to her, I found this incredibly affirming (since this is how I work too).
Never give up on your vision
Throughout her professional life, Kanya was relentlessly criticised for her work and decisions. The MOBOs were consistently misrepresented in the media- as violent, as tokenistic and even irrelevant. But throughout this, Kanya never lost faith.
Even though Kanya paused the awards from 2017-2020, she never gave up. During our mentoring call, I remember her sharing her excitement at deciding to bring the awards back stronger than ever. And at this year’s awards so many artists paid tribute to her tenacity and vision.
Speak up, not matter what the cost
Kanya King was a fierce advocate for Black communities in the music industry.
Even when it was portrayed as “biting the hand that fed her” she was fiercely critical of the music industry, for continuing to fail minoritised groups, especially people from Global Majority backgrounds. Here’s an excerpt from an open letter she wrote to the UK’s Culture Secretary in 2020.
“We do need to step up and speak up now so that the generations that come after us will not be demonised and just be tolerated but be able to thrive, succeed in life and make a worthy contribution for their family, friends, community and country.
We need to raise awareness and be comfortable having ongoing conversations about race with our neighbours, at school, in our local community and with those outside of our tribe so that there can be a deeper understanding of systemic racism and the devastation it often causes.”
Kanya King
I couldn’t agree more. So let’s continue to lead with our values, never give up on our vision of an equitable world and speak up and out about inequity, injustice and oppression.
Time to take action
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