We had the good fortune of connecting with Naima Hill and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Naima, what is the most important factor behind your success?
Community!

The Sunshine Tribe is made up of anyone who wants to help spread light by doing good in the world in honor of all of our lost loved ones. After I lost my 22 month old daughter in a car crash I was desperate for finding anything that was good in the world, a little sunshine in the darkness.

We’re a community committed to shining sunshine on what’s still good, while loving out loud the ones we miss, for eternity. From building a much-needed community playground to hosting a vibrant kite festival, engaging in local and online events, we’re always growing this circle of good humans doing good things.

If you’re hearing our story for the first time, welcome. Imagine this as a warm hug, a hand reaching out in understanding of how unfair life can be, and a little beam of sunshine to help us all wake up each morning and survive.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
Before my 22-month-old daughter, Aveline (Avy), was killed in a car crash, I spent over a decade as a biology and environmental science faculty member at our local college. After the crash, my world view changed. I left my faculty role to care for my surviving son, who was also in the car with me that day, and I made a promise to only pour my energy into the good left in this world.

That fall, just a few months after losing Avy, I began drawing on my iPad. At first, it was just a quiet way to give my brain a rest while also thinking about her. I’d hide or boldly draw her name inside each design. I turned four of those early drawings into stickers and posted them on my personal Instagram, hoping to raise a little money for a community playground in her honor. That small start brought in our first $1,000 and so I kept going.

Those early designs turned into more illustrations, then into more products, a website, and growing social media presence. I began showing up anywhere I could, meeting with city officials, developers, nonprofit leaders, anyone with insight into how to make this playground a reality. In Fall 2024, we became an official 501(c)(3) nonprofit: Avy’s Sunshine Tribe.

We hosted our first Avy’s Sunshine Kite Festival in the summer of 2024 and are now preparing for our second annual festival on June 21, 2025. It’s a free community event where people gather to decorate and fly kites in honor of their lost loved ones. We provide the kites, and the community brings the love. It’s also a celebration of all our lost loved ones with activities, live dj, face painting, water fun, food, and more!

What sets my art apart is that it was never meant to be art. It was survival. It was grief and love tangled up in lines and colors. Every piece holds Avy’s name, her spirit, and my desperate attempt to keep her light in the world. I’m not a trained artist, I’m a grieving mother creating from the rawest place I’ve ever known.

It hasn’t been easy. There is no map for surviving your life after child loss. I’ve had to navigate extreme cellular level heartbreak, intense legal systems, parenting grief, navigating a world that moves on, and the constant physical and mental pain of missing my sunshine. I don’t have any words of wisdom as all of this is survival but I just keep fighting forward and will scream from the rooftops to love your lost loved ones out loud forever. I scream so others can easily show up and not feel shame to talk about their lost loved ones. It’s hard being the leader of something I wanted to be the follower of, but what else can I do, then to create what we need in this world.

What I want the world to know is this: my Avy mattered, and every lost loved one does. Every grieving person deserves a place to commiserate the unfairness in the world, lean into the dark, and have little sparks of sunshine. We’re here to sit with you and hear your story as we work together to build an inclusive sunshine tribe community.

We’re doing that now, one sticker, one story, one kite at a time – join us!

AvysSunshineTribe.com
Follow us at @AvysSunshineTribe

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
OLD CITY PARK! I call this my heart park. It’s nothing fancy, it’s nothing crazy, it’s just a beautiful green space with old growth trees in the heart of Dallas. Not many people know about it, utilize it, or realize how much it means to so many. Old City Park has a long convoluted history and has been through some big changes but we’re fighting to preserve the space and uplift it to provide the community a much needed outdoor hub.

In the back of Old City Park is an underutilized green space the community has designated that we’d love to be the location of a community playground with a space for children to play, adults to gather, and events to be held. That’s why we’ve been raising money, engaging with the city, applying for grants, fundraising, and more to make this vision a reality!

My heart lives in that park and I know many others do too. There are several old historic homes that need saving too.

After your visit to Old City Park, there’s more to explore in the same neighborhood, the Cedars – just south of downtown Dallas. An eclectic art community that now has several bustling restaurants, two big concert venues, smaller dives, and much more! If you’re staying for a week, the Cedars is also a great location to easily get to other great neighborhoods with awesome food/drinks like Oak Cliff, Deep Ellum, and downtown Dallas. In a short 5 mile radius you could surf a wave at Good Surf, skateboard a half pipe at 4DWN, shop small boutiques in Oak Cliff, hike the trinity river, or more. The variety is crazy!

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
Honestly, we wouldn’t be here without the Avy’s Sunshine Tribe board which is currently made up of 5 amazing mommas who believe deeply in what we’re doing and show up and show out! With stories of their own losses, they are leaning into grief and helping to honor all of our lost loved ones in powerful community driven ways. Thank you so much ladies and let’s keep going and growing!

Website: https://AvysSunshineTribe.com

Instagram: @AvysSunshineTribe

Facebook: @AvysSunshineTribe

Other: TikTok: @AvysSunshineTribe

Image Credits
Avy’s Sunshine Tribe

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