Family pictures line the walls. Handmade cards, paintings, and elephant-themed motifs adorn the Pérusse-Shortte residence. Mirrors reflect light, and books line the cabinets.
“When my mom walks in the room, people smile,” Siena Pérusse-Shortte, 11, said as she unpacks her school bag.
Meanwhile, her mother, Moashella Shortte, adjusts an elephant ornament. “Elephants inspire me, they form a community and stick for, and with each other.”
Moashella is a local author and her book, Mirror is perched upon a shelf in her home. Moashella says she wrote Mirror for Siena.
She said that when raising kids, you have to lead by example. “Mirror was written with that in mind, kids mirror what they see.”
Sharing what was supposed to be a work just for her daughter touched many.
Single mother and Dalhousie student Brianna Rose said that this book helped her. “It made me feel comfortable in my Blackness, it made me feel powerful to be Black and reminded me that I am worthy.”
“I now read this book to my baby as an affirmation,” Rose said.
Moashella grew up in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines. “Growing up, I was raised by a community, and that is the way I choose to raise my kids too.”
She credits her maternal grandmother, who saw the spark in her to be a writer. “I remember her bringing me tea in the morning and asking about my dreams… sometimes I would make stuff up just to talk to her.” Moashella says these interactions were the building blocks of her creative writing career.
Currently serving as faculty at the Nova Scotia Community College for the Africentric Learning Option of the Adult Learning Program at Akerley, Moashella’s mission is to inspire and build up the next generation.
Cindy S. Williams, a student at Nova Scotia Community College, said, “Even though [Moashella] did not teach me, she was like a mother to us all.”
“She would take the time to look into our eyes and validate our identity and struggles, making each interaction feel personable and unique… she was like a mother away from home.”
Williams said that she envies students who are directly taught by her, “I can only imagine how they are impacted, if I feel super impacted from our limited interactions.”
Moashella first and foremost describes herself as a mother and then a writer, educator, and community service provider.
As a co-founder of Learning4YoungMinds, she aims to bring a mother’s protective wing over youngsters in the community. Learning4YoungMinds is a company that offers workshops on teaching empathy and socialization to young children, anti-racism training for educators, and writing support for BIPOC youth.
“I got to parent for the first time when my older siblings had children,” Moashella said. She recounts telling her mother that she sees herself having many children in her future.
Moashella said her love for children motivated her to work as babysitter for a Canadian family who was visiting her home country.
That family loved Saint Vincent and the Grenadines so much that they offered to host a student from the island as they pursued their education in Canada. “I gladly took them up on the offer, and then applied to universities in Halifax,” said Moashella.
Graduating with a degree in Child and Youth Studies from Mount St. Vincent, Moashella pursued her passion for doing good for her community. “Community is all I have ever known.”
Talking about her kids, Moashella gets emotional. “Parenting is not a thing I get to do, it is something I get to experience,” she says. “Colonization has impacted how we parent as Black parents.”
“To preserve our kids’ safety, we have had to talk down our children.” Moashella talks about how if a Black child was seen to be skilled, they would be sold off at a higher price, and that started the cycle of parents not celebrating their children.
“Black mothers would want to protect their kids, and thus diminish their achievements.” She said that the colonizers all over would listen to mothers praising their kids, and then act. “This was a part of the culture of enslavement prevalent from 1671 to around 1834.”
“I celebrate my kids because it is truly how I feel, and because it is a rebellion,” said Moashella.
Her youngest daughter, Siena, is an actress, model, musician, and poet. She recently performed her original works at the Fabric Of Our DNA award ceremony and showcase.
“A lot of what I do is inspired by her,” said Siena, adding that her friends love coming to their house. “Mom makes everyone feel safe, seen and loved.”
Siena takes pride in knowing that her mother’s book Mirror was written for her and now ranks as one of Amazon’s bestsellers.
This article appears in May 1-31, 2025.