Author: Jasmine Barber

Cheptu came to the Liberation Plate Challenge as a way to celebrate her Blackness in community with others while building her personal health through nutritious, melanin-enriched eating. In addition to empowering others for vibrance and well-being, she enjoyed the challenge as an avenue to exercise her creativity through food preparation and presentation. Cheptu enjoys bringing forth life and creativity through whatever she endeavors. As an independent musician/teacher, Cheptu nurtures and draws out the musical talents and expressive gifts in her students of all ages. Through her ministry, Now Journey Home, Cheptu is deeply committed to her calling as an archetypal dreamwork analyst and spiritual companion who helps others explore the language and messages of their dreams for personal growth and actualization. She is also a writer, a perennial gardener, and the loving mother of an adult son.