Much of my work is woman and self cen- tered. It revolves around my experiences of self-actualization as an African American woman. We live in society which tries to shape who we are. Often race, gender, age, weight, class and other qualifiers are use to determine who each of us are. These qualifliers often hinder one’s spiritual growth and self-actualization. The spiritual connectedness between self-awareness and the total human experience leads me to explore who is really “self”. One of the human experience includes dealing with those who want to either determine who others are or to use people. Without self-actualization one cannot not combat those who want to destroy your inner being.