MY STORY
The Founder of Priceless Incite LLC., Annika Leonard, is committed to forming the services and leadership opportunities she, as a little Black girl, deserved. Annika is a survivor of multiple forms of violence and these experiences caused Annika to internalize the actions of adults around her. As a result, she carried a lot of pain and trauma which made her feel inherently flawed and “not good enough”. Annika did not know anything about colonization, or anti-Blackness, racism, poverty, or homophobia; she simply believed something was wrong with her based on the way she was treated in church, school, in her community, and at in institutions. At the core, Annika started Priceless Incite LLC. on her own experiences of survival and adversity about little Black girls born to single Mommas who grew up resourceful and in conflict with who the world said they should be.
Priceless Incite LLC. Timeline
2010 - Resource Sharing Project (RSP) and Sisters of Color Ending Sexual Assault (SCESA) led a national conference
during some inter-generational networking an Elder, Darlene Ward began to refer to the women of color present as "diamonds".
2011 - Many of the women in the group adopted the term including myself and Ayana Nadiara, who decided to conduct trainings around the concept of WOC within mainstreamed organizations having value, this idea was pitched to a few coalitions without success.
2011- I applied the term Diamonds to the young women and gender expansive youth I engaged with in Milwaukee Public High Schools and created a curriculum that drew analogies around the life cycle of a diamond to the cycle of socialization and experiences of a Black girl (Cis & Trans) in America.
2014 - I began teaching the curriculum within a high school and the young women received a civics credit for the course and I created the certificate which they receive at graduation.
2015 - Founder, Annika Leonard, attended Incite’s COV conference and was incredibly inspired to extend the diamond analogy to the name of the organization and build on the framework of Incite.
2016 - Priceless Incite LLC. formally began.
2016 - Youth participants presented our work at the 2016 Wisconsin Healthy Teen Summit.
2017 - 1st Annual Denim, Diamonds & Pearls Sexual Violence Awareness Event held in Milwaukee, WI.
2017 - Facilitation of Diamonds Are Forever Priceless Curriculum in Milwaukee Public and Charter High Schools.
2018 - 2nd Annual Denim, Diamonds & Pearls Sexual Violence Awareness Event held in Milwaukee, WI.
2018 - One youth facilitator and one young adult present our work at the Texas Association Against Sexual Assault Statewide Conference.
2018 - One youth facilitator and founder presented our work with Diamonds are Forever Pricesles at National Sexual Assault Conference.
2018 - The Valuable Insight Project was founded.
2019 - 3rd Annual Denim, Diamonds & Pearls Sexual Violence Awareness Event held in Milwaukee, WI.
2019 - Youth Leadership Program was created in partnership with the Hmong American Women's Program in Milwaukee, WI.
2020 - 4th Annual Denim, Diamonds & Pearls Virtual Sexual Violence Awareness Event held virtually from Charlotte, NC with participants from across the nation.
2021 - 5th Annual Denim, Diamonds & Pearls Virtual Sexual Violence Awareness Event held virtually from Charlotte, NC with participants from across the nation.
2021 - One young adult and one youth facilitator present for End Abuse (Wisconsin's Domestic Violence Coalition).
2022 - Priceless Incite LLC. expanding to a national model.