Linda Duverné

Linda Duverné is the founder and director of Sajès Living. She is a certified trauma-informed mindfulness practitioner, a flower essence practitioner, and a self-described guardian of Haitian heritage. Her work connects Black and Haitian women with their intergenerational wisdom, in service of intergenerational healing. She does this through mindfulness programming, meditation sessions, journaling workshops, flower essence therapy, wellness consulting, and speaking engagements.

Linda is a first-generation Haitian American woman, the daughter of two Haitian immigrant parents, and she grew up in Brooklyn, New York. She says healing herself taught her to understand the trauma behind the resilience. A trip to Haiti in 2012 awakened her commitment to Haiti and her ancestral roots, and she made a promise to collaborate with the Haitian diaspora to rebuild Haiti. Today she is committed to guiding Haitians and Black people to use intergenerational wisdom to heal from intergenerational trauma.

At New York University's Gallatin School of Individualized Study, she created a concentration called "Self-Care, Mindfulness, and Ancestral Healing for Haiti's future." It examined intergenerational trauma in the Haitian diaspora, with a focus on Haitian Millennials and Gen Z. She used Haitian history as a guide, looking at the U.S. Occupation, the Parsley Massacre, and the Duvalier regime. Haitian history, Black feminist ideology, and the epistemology of Haitian Vodou informed the study. Her work outside academia spans generations beyond those two.

Her journal prompts are known for their gentle, reflective questions. One participant said they ask you to look inward more than other questions do. Linda describes her approach this way: "Healing is not pastime work, it is lifetime work that transcends generations."