Activist, podcaster Sheletta Brundidge named Minnesota honoree of USA TODAY’s Women of the Year

Sheletta Brundidge is one of USA TODAY’s Women of the Year, a recognition of women across the country who have made a significant impact. The annual program is a continuation of Women of the Century, a 2020 project that commemorated the 100th anniversary of women gaining the right to vote. Meet this year’s honorees at womenoftheyear.usatoday.com.

Sheletta Brundidge has always had a passion for helping others.

The 50-year-old Cottage Grove resident is a mother, activist, author and Emmy Award-winning comedian who started her own podcasting production company during Black History Month in 2020 to share Black stories and interview Black experts on a variety of topics. ShelettaMakesMeLaugh.com is one of the only Black media platforms in Minnesota.

Brundidge has also been known to give business advice to others who, like her, didn't know where to start. She's fought for police accountability, rallied for autism education and media representation and built a strong community in the Twin Cities.

This year, Brundidge was nominated by the public and later chosen to be one of USA TODAY’s Women of the Year from Minnesota. We spoke with her about what she's accomplished and what work still needs to be done. 

This conversation has been edited for length and clarity.

You talk about how through a lot of prayer, effort and therapy you were able to help three of your kids. What motivates you to be an advocate for other families with autistic kids?

When my autistic children started doing better, teachers had started sending other parents to me. You know, they start calling me 'the Autism Lady.' It just got so overwhelming, I thought, let me create a podcast so that I can just disseminate all this information and people can get it and I can answer questions and we can communicate in real time. And then I started doing free workshops for parents, whether it is about safety or information about grants – because a lot of times insurance won't pay for things that the kids need, like a fence, or playground equipment or a trampoline or weighted blanket.

When Philando Castile died, my 15-year-old son, he said, 'Mama, what's gonna happen if one of my brothers [who was nonverbal at the time] encounters police and they say, 'Stop, or I'll shoot?' And they don't understand, but they don't look like they don't understand? They're going to get shot.' So we went to Sen. Kari Dziedzic's office, and she passed legislation along with my son, who was 10 at the time, to fund autism training for police officers across the state of Minnesota.

So our entire family has been advocates for parents who have special needs kids. And that's just what we do. That's just how we operate. And we just continue to do that throughout this entire time, whether we are working with the NFL to create sensory-friendly rooms for kids with autism, or the Minnesota Department of Health to encourage communities of color to get their kids tested early if they see warning signs and what those warning signs look like.

You talked about how your young daughter told you she wanted to be white, like the characters she saw in her favorite children’s books. Tell me more about why you wrote, ‘Cameron Goes to School.’

When my daughter told me that I went marching down to the library because I was going to give that librarian a piece of my mind, and I said, 'You need to make sure you have diverse books on the shelf, and where are all the books about little Black girls with autism? That's the books you need to have on here.' And the librarian was like, 'Ms. Brundidge, you would find a book about a little red dog or the alphabet or a fur monster or a truck before you find a book about a little Black girl with autism, because there aren't very many.' There's not a lot of diversity in children's books, especially when you start talking about kids with special needs or non-white kids.

So I literally called Beaver's Pond Press publishing company in St. Paul. And I said, 'Yeah, we need to write a book.' And they were like, 'OK, well send over your manuscript, and we'll take a look.' I was like, 'Oh, no, I don't have a manuscript. I just have this idea.'

And I left school and went over to Beaver's Pond Press and I'm literally on the phone when I pull up, and the publisher and I sat there that day and hammered out, "Cameron Goes to School," the story of my daughter's journey as a little Black girl who was nonverbal, headed off to kindergarten and how I was afraid for her to go and her dad was afraid, and her brothers were afraid, and her grandparents were afraid – but she was bright.

Then at the end of the book, we put tips about autism so that the kids who read the book will understand their friends who have special needs, because what I realized in all this was that we have so many books for parents about autism, and what to look out for, tips and warning signs, but there's nothing for kids. And especially nothing for kids who are normal-developing to learn about their friends who have special needs.

DAVE SCHWARZ/DSCHWARZ@STCLOUDTIMES.COM

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I don’t have a lane that I need to stay in. I need to be wherever my community needs me.

DAVE SCHWARZ/DSCHWARZ@STCLOUDTIMES.COM

How did this book impact your daughter?

The first thing I did when the book came out was I took copies down to the school. And I made sure that all the teachers had copies, right? And we read the book to the classroom and it came out right around COVID, so we read the book virtually on Facebook, she did her own little book reading, and she was amazing.

So once her friends got the book, and they read the book, they understood Cameron better. So they all wanted to be her helper. So they started all working with her. Now mind you, six months before that they didn't even invite her to any play dates or birthday parties and sleepovers.

Once her peers started to understand about autism ... my baby started to blossom and bloom. This girl, you would not be able to tell she has autism. I didn't even know this was possible, but she has tested off the spectrum. All of her markers are either at or above average. Who knew that after all the stuff that we did, it will be her friends, her peer group, her teachers in the classroom that rallied around her that will make the biggest difference?

You’ve worked with the St. Paul police to build relationships in the Black community, to get food and supply baskets for health care workers and rallied against police brutality, even to the point of being threatened and having a storm grate thrown through your car window last year. What is something that motivates you to continue doing the work you do?

I watched a documentary about Fannie Lou Hamer, who was daring enough to register Black people to vote in Mississippi in the 1960s and '70s and helped people pass the required literacy test. The police arrested her and ordered inmates to beat her until they were exhausted. 

So she spent all night in jail, getting beaten by men with a baton. And the next day she went out and registered people to vote. And she fought harder than she had ever fought for freedom for people who look like her in this country, using the strength that God gave her to motivate people, to encourage them, to inspire them, to empower them, to educate them. She wanted equal rights for everybody. And I said, Lord have mercy. If she can do that, imagine what I can do.

That woman's story, her journey, her legacy, her blood is inside of my body. And I am going to fight until Jesus calls me home for those in my community, and I pray everyday that God makes me the answer to somebody's problem. 

I want to be the Fannie Lou Hamer to somebody, whether it is a parent with autism, whether it is a mother whose son just died, whether it is somebody who needs to be educated, whether it is injustice on the job, whether it is lack of diversity, whatever it is, I want to be that answer. I don't have a lane that I need to stay in. I need to be wherever my community needs me.

This Women’s History Month, do you have any advice you’d like to give other women?

My advice is if you have a goal, a purpose in your heart, and you know God placed it there, then you just do that. You don't let anything or anybody or any obstacle stop you. Because if God gave you the vision, he's going to give you the provision, he's going to give you everything you need. All you got to do is take that first step. 

Becca Most is a cities reporter with the St. Cloud Times. Reach her at bmost@stcloudtimes.com. Follow her on Twitter at @becca_most. 

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