4 minute read
Applauding Two Charlotte Women
Two Charlotte Women Blaze Trails in the Arts and Mental Health Advocacy
Professional Charlotte actress balances arts and academics
Ashley Rae Harper appears in a recently released Amazon Prime film.
Fonda Bryant, mental health and suicide prevention advocate
Anative Charlottean, Ashley Rae Harper, is on a trajectory to stardom at just 19 years old. She was recently featured as “Young Renee” in the Amazon Prime film, All We Got, a drama that follows a woman returning home to face her dysfunctional siblings and execute their deceased mother’s final wishes. The movie was an official selection of the 2021 Charlotte Black Film Festival. A fter winning the Remarkable Woman of the Year Award in Charlotte earlier this year, mental health and suicide prevention advocate Fonda Bryant went on to win Nexstar’s 2021 National Remarkable Woman of the Year competition in Hollywood, California. The competition honors women who have greatly influenced public policy, social progress and quality of life in the U.S.
Harper began acting when she was 10, starring in the musical Annie Jr. Not only does Ashley act, she also writes, produces and directs. She is engaged in quite the balancing act. Currently enrolled in Central Piedmont Community College (CPCC), she is pursuing her Associate’s degree in Mathematics and Computer Science. She’s hoping to use her knowledge in the field to help other youth when she’s not working on set.
In her down time, Ashley prepares for auditions, attends talent manager meetings and writes film scripts in the teenage drama genre. She sets aside a period for brainstorming each day — usually during evening hours, and her subject matter runs the gamut from LGBTQIA issues to kidnapping to divorce. Her ideas tend to morph into series or short films.
Additionally, Ashley created a talk show, Ashley & Friends, where she interviews other teens in the entertainment industry. The show, which airs on IGTV, is gaining a lot of traction. It has become extremely popular among her target audience as guests discuss topics that include juggling undergrad and life in the entertainment industry, setting boundaries, journeys into entrepreneurship and coming of age as YouTube personalities and influencers.
You can catch Ashley & Friends bi-monthly on Saturdays at 3:30 p.m. on Instagram Live @ashleyraeharper. P
This remarkable woman is on a mission to help save lives. Bryant, an attempted suicide survivor, said she can teach anyone how to identify someone who is suicidal, listen and respond in a non-judgmental way, and find the person in distress the help they need. She teaches these three simple steps in QPR or Question, Persuade, Refer. QPR is an emergency mental health intervention technique used to save the lives of individuals experiencing mental health issues. Trained certified QPR instructors like Bryant learn how to recognize the warning signs of a suicide crisis and how to question, persuade and refer someone to help.
Bryant wields this knowledge as a skillful sword that slashes taboos surrounding mental health in Black communities — where it is widely propagated that depression should be handled differently, or outright ignored. “Think about our culture — pray about it, don’t claim it, give it to God, it’s a sign of weakness,” Bryant laments, echoing a litany of harmful fallacies responsible for many Black people failing to seek proper treatment for mental illness. “There’s no shame in it. Go get help. Everybody needs to go to therapy twice a year at least.”
At 26, while working as a pharmacist technician, Bryant devised a plan to take her life. After an atypical conversation with her beloved Aunt Spankie on the day she premeditated her own death, Spankie called Bryant back and asked, “Are you gonna kill yourself?” Fonda said, “Yes.”
Eventually, a Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department officer arrived at Bryant’s home and took her to a psychiatric facility. There, she was diagnosed with clinical depression. While at the facility, Bryant began her journey to selfcare and therapy, and gained tools to help her live with depression. Although Bryant attempted suicide again in 2014, because she had gone through therapy, she decided to reach out again to her therapist for help.
Through her own struggles with mental health, Bryant understands that assisting others comes down to offering “empathy, compassion and kindness.”
Bryant, who sits on the board of the North Carolina branch of the National Alliance on Mental Illness, will be featured in an upcoming PBS documentary highlighting her life and focusing on mental health awareness. Donations can be made to her non-profit, Wellness Action Recovery at wellnessactionreceovery.org. P
