Anneshia Hardy | The Hardy Exchange
I had the joy of being a guest on the Behind the Magic podcast hosted by Dr. Danielle Pendergrast, an experience that felt less like an interview and more like sitting on a Southern porch naming truth, memory, and possibility out loud. I walked into that conversation as myself: a Southern-grown, truth-telling, heart-led, community-centered social impact entrepreneur and narrative strategist who believes deeply in the power of story.
I often say that storytelling isn’t simply art, it’s armor and resistance. It’s strategy. It’s survival. And in that space, with the mic open, I felt the weight and the wonder of what it means to carry our stories publicly.
Where I Come From, Storytelling Is A Birthright
On the show, I talked about growing up in Montgomery, a city stitched together by both the wounds and the brilliance of Black resistance. The birthplace of the civil rights movement and the former cradle of the Confederacy. That duality shaped my entire worldview. It taught me that democracy is not abstract; it’s deeply human, deeply local, and deeply tied to the narratives a nation chooses to elevate or erase.
I shared how my mama began every school day reminding me:
“Access to knowledge is access to power. But knowing how to use that knowledge? That’s your superpower.”
She was not alone. I was raised by a constellation of Black women including my mother, my grandmothers, my aunts, my teachers, and the women in my neighborhood. Each one watered seeds of power and clarity in me long before I understood the language for what they were doing. They were the first architects of my narrative work.
My father introduced me to Curtis Mayfield, an artist who taught me that music could be protest, prayer, and political theory all at once. Curtis gave us roadmaps disguised as rhythm. He helped me understand narrative as something lived, not just spoken.
How I Found My Way Into Narrative Work
On the show, I talked about starting my professional life in communications and marketing, becoming a professor, and eventually co founding Blackyard in 2020 as a response to the uprisings around George Floyd.
I did not enter narrative work because it was trending. I entered because it was necessary. The South, our people, and our stories deserved infrastructure, investment, and intention.
Soon after, I became the founding Executive Director of Alabama Values and Alabama Values Progress, where we build narrative and messaging strategies to fortify democracy in the Deep South. Today, that work lives across Alabama Values, Alabama Values Progress, Blackyard, and The Hardy Exchange. Different vessels, same mission: tell the truth, build power, protect our people.
I am doing all of this while raising two Black sons in the South. That part of my story grounds everything else. I am raising them to understand systems and to dream beyond them. To know their worth and name their boundaries. To see softness as strength. To build, not just endure.
Leading While Black and Woman in the Democracy Space
This was one of the richest parts of the conversation.
Being a Black woman in this sector means carrying both the visionary work and the weight of systems that were never designed for us. I named the reality that Black women are often invited for our brilliance but asked to shrink our boundaries. People want our strategies but not always the structural shifts required to honor the labor behind them.
I spoke about the nonprofit industrial complex and how it often extracts from Black women without offering reciprocity, safety, or sustainability. I have watched Black women build organizations, raise funds, execute the work, and still be questioned about their competence or sustainability.
Yet we continue to lead because we come from a lineage of Harriet, Ella, Fannie, and the women who birthed movements without being centered in them. We lead because our communities deserve more than surviving. They deserve dignity, joy, and power.
Ideology, Memory, and Why Narrative Matters
Toward the end of the episode, I talked about something core to my work: ideological power.
Ideological power is the ability to shape how people see the world. It shapes beliefs, values, and the narratives that define what feels normal, what feels possible, and what feels right. Laws can change behavior. Ideology changes the game.
Narrative work is how we shift ideology.
Narrative work tells the truth about systems designed to harm us.
Narrative work makes space for futures that honor our histories but are not defined by them.
Narrative work moves people from awareness to imagination to action.
Legacy: What I Hope My Work Leaves Behind
When the host asked about legacy, I felt the question in my bones.
I said that I want future generations to say I told the truth even when it was uncomfortable. That I loved my people out loud. That I left behind tools, strategies, and blueprints that made their journey easier. I want them to recognize themselves in the work and to feel seen, worthy, and powerful.
I hope they say I did not fight for freedom alone. I fought for liberation.
Freedom can be granted or revoked.
Liberation is self determined, collective, and unapologetic.
How I Am Caring for Myself While Doing All This
In the interview, I shared something I am learning slowly, intentionally, and sometimes through exhaustion.
Care is a discipline.
Rest is strategy.
Joy is political.
I have created boundaries around my time, my spirit, and my energy. I go to therapy. I log off without apology. I play with my boys. I produce creaive work. I listen to old school R & B. I remember that I am more than my output.
The world I am fighting for requires building lives we do not need to escape.
A Final Truth I Had to Leave Listeners With
I closed the episode by naming something many know but few say plainly.
The harm we see in America is not accidental. These systems were built to keep certain people at the margins. If we cannot name that truth, we cannot transform it.
My work and our work is not to polish broken systems. It is to expose the truth, tell our stories, build ideological power, and create pathways to liberation.
A world where rest is revolutionary.
A world where joy is non negotiable.
A world where our stories are sacred.
A world where our futures are ours to shape.
About the Author
Anneshia Hardy is a narrative strategist, scholar-activist, and social impact entrepreneur committed to leveraging storytelling and messaging for transformative social change. As Executive Director of grassroots communications and media advocacy organizations, Alabama Values and Alabama Values Progress, she leads efforts to strengthen the pro-democracy movement in Alabama and across the South through strategic messaging and digital strategies.
Co-founder of Blackyard LLC, Anneshia equips changemakers to amplify their impact in marginalized communities. With over a decade of experience, she has conducted narrative and messaging trainings for organizations like the NAACP and the Obama Foundation. Anneshia has also shaped strategies for landmark voting rights cases, including Allen v. Milligan and Louisiana v. Callais Rooted in the belief that culturally relevant narratives can drive equity and inspire action, she bridges academic insight and real-world advocacy to create lasting change.