When I first moved to Paris from Harlem, I was a young girl stepping into a world that felt like a dream. Paris had a way of captivating me, but nothing captured my imagination more than the story of Josephine Baker. I heard about her not long after I arrived—how she walked the Champs-Élysées with two black panthers on leashes.
I’d close my eyes and picture it: the most famous boulevard in Paris, probably in the early evening, when the light was just beginning to fade. The city’s golden hour. She must have chosen that time deliberately, to harness not only the power of her presence but the magic of that Parisian glow. I imagined the panthers’ sleek, black fur catching the last light of the day, their golden eyes reflecting the city’s allure.
The collars she must have put on them—strong, luxurious, and bold, just like her. I wondered how she connected with those panthers, the way she must have moved alongside them, swaying as if the rhythm of her steps was in tune with theirs. I could almost see her, effortless in her grace, commanding the boulevard without saying a word. The way she must have held those leashes, not as chains, but as a thread of power that connected her to the wild beauty at her side.
Her stride must have been purposeful, hips swaying with the same rhythm she danced with on stage, her connection to the panthers as undeniable as her connection to the city itself. She moved through that famous boulevard as if she owned it—because, in many ways, she did.
The image of Josephine, fearless and in control, became a vision I couldn’t shake. It was more than just a story—it was a reflection of how art, travel, and fearlessness could merge into something magical. Josephine wasn’t just walking panthers; she was walking her power, her creativity, and her refusal to be tamed. She was adored by so many, yet misunderstood by just as many. To be both loved and judged, celebrated yet critiqued, Josephine embodied the complex dance of a woman who dared to live unapologetically. I never got tired of hearing about her.
For a girl like me, moving from Harlem to Paris, Josephine Baker’s story wasn’t just inspiring—it was a lifeline. It gave me something to reach for, a vision of what a creative life could look like if you refused to let the world limit you. I never got tired of imagining her, never tired of hearing about how she created her own narrative in a place that both embraced and challenged her.
But as the years passed, even though I kept creating and traveling, something shifted. The spark that once lit up my world of Arts & Travel began to dim. I was still moving, still producing, but the deep sense of connection I once felt was fading. I was chasing success, and somewhere in that chase, I stopped seeing the world through Josephine’s fearless lens. The magic of discovering new cultures, new stories, started to feel distant, replaced by the pressure to achieve more and more.
It wasn’t until I hit a wall—burnt out, overwhelmed—that I realized how far I had drifted. I had been traveling, but not really experiencing. I had been creating, but not from the same deep well of inspiration. I knew I needed to return to the heart of what had once moved me—Arts & Travel, not as a means to an end, but as a way of life, a way of seeing the world through the eyes of wonder and possibility.
In this new series of the Traciana Diaries, I’ll be sharing my journey of rediscovering Arts & Travel as a path back to myself. We’ll explore how creativity and adventure can reconnect us to the magic of life, to the cultures and stories that awaken something within us. I’ll reflect on how hearing Josephine Baker’s story was just the beginning of my own creative awakening, and how that spirit still inspires me today.
These aren’t just stories about places I’ve been—they’re about how those places shaped me, how they reconnected me to the part of myself that had been lost in the hustle. Through this exploration, I hope you’ll find your own connection to Arts & Travel, and rediscover the magic waiting to be found in the world around us.
Come with me, as we stroll through these stories, panthers at our side, and reclaim the creativity and freedom that’s always been within us.
—Traciana
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