HATTIE BELLE, LLC is named after my paternal grandmother, who gave me my name--the one she was saving for the daughter she never had. Her name has multiple meanings and layered significance. Passed down to her, it literally means a beautiful girl or woman who rules her home. I was told stories about her matriarchal reach. Burdened by an illness that would rob me of the opportunity to know or remember her, I am told she demanded respect and reverence--refusing death until after I was born. Her face favored my father's, I later learned, as I stared at it for recognition. I had never seen her image until a few years ago when a relative sent me a picture of a picture--her face dulled by the Polaroid, mine faded with other female kin in the background. I am told I inherited her love of writing and way with words--which means she shaped my whole life in the moniker she saved for me. Hattie shared her name with her mother and mother-in-law, meaning it is mine from both sides of my father's family. I imagine that if she had lived, my grandmother would have loved me fiercely as her namesake. It feels fitting to honor her (and the other women who shared her name) by making her name mine--securing her/my/their legacy as ours. Hattie Belle is a consultancy that offers thought leadership and creative ideation through public speaking, public writing, and public intellectualism.