Today we’d like to introduce you to Aniyah Brown.
Hi Aniyah, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
OperationYes is the beautiful result of a series of unfortunate events. As a young child, I was repeatedly molested by a trusted party. At that young age, I had not yet been educated about sex or sexual abuse. So, during these events, they did not trigger any specific feelings other than confusion. Growing up, it was strange to make sense of it, so I pretended it never happened. However, those experiences had a significant impact on my mental health, and it showed through my behaviors during my late teenage years. It wasn’t until I started undergrad that I finally decided to confront my experience and work through that trauma. In accepting that reality, I felt an overwhelming pull to heal that younger version of me.
Coming to that decision was easier said than done and when I started, I had absolutely no guidance. So, figuring out the direction in which I wanted to approach this part of my life wasn’t completely thought out. I believed I could rush past my feelings and get to the finished result of being this young woman who was happy and fixed everything with “one size fits all” solutions. This kind of thinking quickly shifted when the safeguards I poorly implemented in my life failed when I encountered situations that would require consistency and resistance.
Understanding that the journey ahead would be a mental and emotional whirlwind, I wanted to be very intentional about the way I worked through my past and made sure that I had a structure in my personal healing, the methods I chose were healthy, and my support system was aware of this new era in my life.
When I launched OperationYes in 2021, I received so much support from my family and friends. During that same week, I felt a range of emotions. Friends and family were telling me their stories of being assaulted and in the same breath let me know that the work I planned on doing would be helping their inner child in healing as well. Since starting, I have been struggling with making sure the presentation of the work I do is aesthetically perfect. But overall, the quality of information, love, positivity, and encouragement I cultivate within my community is what is most important to me.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not, what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
The mission of OperationYes is to dismantle rape culture by teaching the importance of consent, boundaries, and body ownership. That being said, the road is ever-winding. Growing up in a culture that views the discussion of mental health, physical abuse, sex, and mental health as taboo and having it reinforced or even dismissed under the veil of church culture seems impossible to navigate. Breaking generational curses is a frequent discussion in our societies, so I don’t think of this goal as a single road but as a spaghetti bowl of highways.
One of the challenges in promoting OperationYes is hosting the conversation of our mission values with people in older generations or influenced by older generations and their dated mentality towards not only sexual abuse but boundaries altogether. One value shared interculturally is the importance of elders and how they are respected. In every interaction, I strive to show mutual respect and understanding while also upholding and staying true to the objective of my work.
To speak out and denounce certain habits, false entitlements, and ideals as wrong, harmful, and conducive to empowering rape culture is scary. Being bold in that conversation, irrespective of age or social status can be challenging. But not having the conversation and perpetuating the cycle of generational curses is even more frightening. In turn, I’m encouraged to stay on this path. This is not easy work, but I have learned that there can be lighthearted ways to get my points across.
Another challenge I face is actively incorporating the values of OperationYes in my daily life and standing by my choices regardless of who is impacted. Sticking by my boundaries and prioritizing my mental health has cost me relationships with people I love dearly. But the real value lies in the love and connection I have for myself, and nothing is worth compromising or betraying that relationship. This is a message I hope others can internalize for themselves one day.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
In addition to being the Founder of OperationYes, I am working towards law school, and I am very passionate about practicing as a criminal law and medical malpractice attorney. In a decade, I would love to have my own firm and even practice as an international attorney and extend my career beyond North American borders.
Being a pageant girl, I am excited to start my Miss USA journey and represent California one day. Pageants have been a key part of my personal development as a woman and orator, and I am excited to see how I grow in this new chapter.
I am most proud of being a recipient of congressional recognition on the state level while living in Nevada. I lived there for a short while, but in my time of maximizing the opportunity for community service, I was also awarded my own holiday. I think that having my efforts acknowledged with such prestigious recognition sets me apart because the effort I give to serve my communities is genuine and impacts locals from various backgrounds.
Alright, so before we go can you talk to us a bit about how people can work with you, collaborate with you or support you?
Following OperationYes on social media platforms and engaging with our content would be ideal. We have ‘bite-sized’ challenges that help our followers break into boundary setting and discussing consent with their peers and spreading that knowledge and exercising it is really beneficial. The website for OperationYes is in the works and will feature projects that locals can help execute. By then, I hope to see the west coast running with this platform and influencing all over the States.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/operationyes/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/301756251505511
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/OperationYes_
Image Credits
Matty Jacobsen
Magic Dreams Productions
Sheldon May
Dominique Harris
