Author Talk: The Enneagram for Black Liberation | Chichi Agorom in conversation with Hollis Heath

Am I worthy of belonging? Am I loved just as I am? Am I safe to exist without worry?

How do Black women return to our truest selves in systems that answer no to these three questions?

The Enneagram is an ancient system of human development that shows us the limiting stories that keep us stuck in unhelpful patterns, and invites us into more expansive stories. For too long, conversations about the Enneagram and its personality types have been centered on and by whiteness. In The Enneagram for Black Liberation, certified Enneagram teacher and trained psychotherapist Chichi Agorom reclaims the Enneagram as a powerful tool for Black women to rediscover our wholeness and worth that existed long before systems of supremacy told us we weren't enough.

For Black women in particular, our Enneagram personality types reflect more than just our way of being in the world; they are shaped by armor that we use to protect ourselves from pain, suffering, and shame. Breaking down each Enneagram type as a form of armor, this book offers practices to help Black women, and all who live on the margins, begin to build a sense of self separate from our mechanisms of self-protection, while working to dismantle the systems that require us to stay constantly armored up. Chichi Agorom takes readers through each of the nine Enneagram types, along with stories of Black women who identify with them, to illustrate the stories people must tell themselves in order to feel safe. In the process, Agorom seeks to inspire us to expand beyond our type patterns.

Wholeness work is justice work. Centering freedom, ease, and rest for Black women, Agorom invites each of us to claim the Enneagram as our tool for resilience-building in the continued fight for liberation.

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Chichi Agorom is a writer, a Certified Enneagram Teacher & Practitioner through the Narrative Tradition, adjunct faculty at The Narrative Enneagram and a former psychotherapist whose life’s work is to support people on their journeys towards wholeness and healing. Her greatest joy is learning how to belong to herself, and creating spaces—both physically and with her words––that help others feel less alone and more known. She earned a Master of Arts in Clinical Mental Health Counseling and Post-Master’s Certificate in Marriage and Family Therapy. She also holds a Coaching Certificate from The Enneagram in Business. She lives in Los Angeles, cultivating a life of rest and peace by the water.

Hollis Heath is an award-winning theatre artist, writer, and girl’s empowerment leader. She is co-founder of Harlem KW Project, a theatre company that produced the Audelco award-winning play, “Renaissance in the Belly of a Killer Whale.” Hollis earned her Master’s in Educational Theatre in  and has spent the last decade creating programming, content and curriculum to empower young women to identify purpose, own their unique voice and connect them with brands and organizations to increase their social capital. Brands she has produced events for with young women include Coach, Verizon, Refinery 29, Benefit Cosmetics, American Express, Jet Blue, Universal Records, Salesforce, and many others. Her work as empowerment leader has led to invitations to speak at the White House and work as a Self-Esteem ambassador with Dove. She currently serves as an associate producer for VOICES, a new interdisciplinary performance arts project and campaign grounded in Black women’s stories to unify the vision of ending violence against women: cis women, trans women, and non-binary people across the world.