Najlah Feanny Hicks
It ain’t over till it’s over.
Amidst the tumult of life’s challenges, and a 10-year Parkinson’s journey that led me to DBS surgery, I’m finally seeing a light at the end of the tunnel. A light of hope that brings both strength and vulnerability, a journey of trials and triumph etched in the depths of my soul. It is a disease that I have, it is not that defines the essence of my being.
In what seems like a prior life, I worked as a photojournalist documenting the American landscape, politics, breaking news and feature stories. In 2009 I founded Design for Social GOOD, a design company focusing on nonprofit work by using innovative design solutions to highlight critical social dilemmas.
I’m most proud of the work my colleagues and I did on the Heart Gallery of New Jersey, where we brought together more than 150 photographers, writers, editors and designers to photograph more than 300 kids in New Jersey’s foster care system and aid in their quest to find forever families.
Above it all, I am reminded that work is “work” and what matters more is family and friends. Sometimes it take a debilitating disease like Parkinson’s to bring you full circle to what grounds you.
The journey continues, but with deep brain stimulation surgery under my belt, Parkinson’s no longer rules my every breath.
I live live in Norther New Jersey, just outside of New York City, with my husband, son and our beloved rescue dog, Rosie.