Who is Black Girl in Maine?

Black Girl in Maine, also known as BGIM for those who want to keep their typing-related finger stress down, is a Chicago-born, Chicago-raised woman by the name of Shay Stewart-Bouley who relocated to Maine in 2002. A graduate of DePaul University and Antioch University New England, BGIM is by day (and sometimes nights and weekends) the Executive Director of a faith-based non-profit community center focused on youth, and has a career in the non-profit and social services sectors both in Chicago and in Southern Maine that goes back to the mid-1990s. In 2003, BGIM started writing periodically for publications such as the Portland Press Herald and the Journal Tribune, later that year landing her own column in the Portland Phoenix, “Diverse-City,” which she has used to share insight and commentary monthly on a variety of diversity issues ranging from race to class, gender relations to sexual orientation, and workplace issues to lifestyle choices. In 2011, she won a New England Press Association Award for her work writing on diversity issues.

The Black Girl in Maine blog was started in 2008 as a way to blow off steam and frankly to connect with any other people of color who are in Maine or other Northern New England states, whether by choice or by unforeseen circumstances. BGIM will tell you without hesitation that this is not a blog that can be easily categorized. She is a mother but not a mommy blogger, she pontificates on social issues but isn’t a social commentator per se, and she is a woman of color but not a race issue blogger. Her roles as mother, daughter, sister, wife, columnist and straddler (middle class but with a blue-collar upbringing) drive her to comment on many things and color her opinions on a multitude of issues, but in the end, she notes, “The truth is I am big mouth with an opinion on any and everything.” Oddly enough in December 2011, BGIM was named to Babble’s Top 100 Mom Bloggers of 2011.

Opinions expressed here are BGIM’s personal opinions alone and while many other people may share them, they should never be construed as the opinions of her current or past employers; any professional organizations with which she might be involved; nor anyone who may have contracted with her for consulting, writing or other services now or in the future.  To be honest, some of BGIM’s own opinions might not always be her opinions, as she continues to expand her knowledge and readjust her views of herself and the world.