The Importance of Preserving Black History with Dominique Luster
If you’ve ever felt like your story was overlooked, erased, or written by someone else, this episode will remind you of the power you hold to protect your truth and honor your legacy.
My guest Dominique Luster, founder of The Luster Company, is not only an archivist, she’s a guardian of stories that deserve to be remembered. Her journey didn’t start in a museum or a grand library. It began in Kentucky, where storytelling was woven into her family culture, and later, with a campus job she thought would be a quiet way to earn some money. Instead, she was handed centuries-old letters and family records, and in that moment, she discovered her purpose.
Dominique reveals that archiving is not just about paper and ink. It’s about the family cookbook passed down through generations, the sound of your grandmother’s voice in the kitchen, the photos tucked away in an old album. It’s the heartbeat of who we are. And she makes it clear that if women don’t preserve their own voices, someone else will, and history may not tell the truth we deserve.
She speaks with striking honesty about what it means to own your story in today’s world. We think the cloud keeps us safe, but as Dominique reminds us, we don’t actually own those platforms. If YouTube or Instagram disappeared tomorrow, would your work, your content, your voice still exist? Protecting your story is not just practical, it’s sacred. It’s about legacy, healing, and the future you are building.
But the beauty of Dominique’s story is not just in the warnings. It’s in the solutions she offers. She teaches us her simple “one two three” rule for keeping our creations safe like saving files in multiple formats, backing them up in different places, and always holding on to at least one copy outside of the cloud. These practices may seem small, but they hold the power to safeguard entire lifetimes of work, memory, and lineage.
In this sacred conversation, we explore
• Why documenting your story is one of the most powerful acts of leadership you can take
• How recording family voices and stories connects you to your lineage, your DNA, and your feminine strength
• The real risks of relying on platforms you don’t control, and what it means to truly own your intellectual property
• A practical yet soulful approach to preserving your work through Dominique’s “one two three” method
• Why building trust in yourself is the key to navigating fear, uncertainty, and big transitions
This isn’t just a conversation about history. It’s about reclamation. It’s about remembering that your story is not just the past, it’s your future. And if you don’t write it down, record it, and protect it, you risk losing the essence of who you are, and the women who came before you.
Listening to Dominique, you’ll be reminded that your worth isn’t measured by likes, followers, or platforms. Your truth doesn’t live in the cloud. It lives in your words, your creations, your voice. And when you choose to protect it, you are not only honoring yourself but also securing a legacy for the generations who will come after.
Whether you are a businesswoman sharing your message online, a daughter piecing together your family’s roots, or a woman searching for a deeper connection to your lineage, this episode will awaken you to the importance of preserving your story.
By the end of this conversation, you’ll walk away with more than practical tools. You’ll feel a renewed sense of responsibility — and permission — to protect what you create, to own your story, and to treat archiving as both a spiritual practice and a business strategy. Dominique’s journey proves that preserving history is not about looking back. It’s about power, healing, and stepping into the future with clarity and strength.
So settle in with your journal, open your heart, and let this dialogue remind you that your story is worth keeping. Because as Dominique so beautifully says, history always favors the one who wrote it down.
✨ Let’s stay connected! If this conversation resonated with you, make sure to follow along on Instagram, YouTube, Spotify, or Apple Podcasts for more episodes that blend soul, strategy, and healing. Your support helps us spread these messages even further, and I’d love to keep this journey going with you.
And of course, don’t forget to connect with today’s guest, Dominique Luster. You can learn more about her work through The Luster Company website, find her on Instagram, and explore the incredible projects she is leading to make sure our stories live on.