Karama Sadaka's Client Recommendations

"I have known Karama since 2005 when he moved to Nashville, TN after he was forced to relocate from his home due to the unfortunate disaster of Hurricane Katrina. Karama is an artist of all trades, he writes poetry, photographs, conceptualizes designs, and records music but one thing that he has that most artists do not is the exceptional ability to promote, organize, and communicate with an audience in a professional and timely manner. Karama has documented a few of my art projects and murals including my recent collaboration in the 2015 Miami Art Basel. The work that he did for me was well received and praised by many. I highly recommend Karama as a trust-worthy, focused, visionary. He would make a valuable asset to any organization needing his skill set."

Brandon J. Donahue brandonjaquezdonahue.com artist/ assistant art professor at Tennessee State University 615 589 6892 bdonahue@tnstate.edu

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"My popularity was resurrected when Karama Sadaka and I met on-line. From the birth of my website he has instructed me in the art of social media pages, online radio stations, blogs and, online marketing. This instruction has raised the interest of my friends, family and, associates to the glorious workings of God. Karama's anointed creativity and continued instructions, are God given blessings." 

Harry Caldwell (a.k.a. Minister L.A.) Asst. Pastor Kilgore Baptist Church Kilgore, Texas

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"I was able to schedule a photo shoot with Mr. McCoy in New York City.  After a successful photo shoot he became my advisor for my social media page...His photography is amazing. His knowledge is very impressive. And his skills are fantastic. He has my highest recommendation."

Renee Azar Seisler - Health and Fitness Instructor, Pennsylvania

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"In martial arts, as in life, focus, discipline and attention to detail are incredibly important. Karama Sadaka's vision, creativity and focus have led to his success as an artist as well as social media manager. Adding someone of his caliber can only make your team more potent and powerful because he will never rest until the desired result is attained. Stop hesitating and start achieving all your online goals by hiring Karama Sadaka as your social media manager today!"

Luis Padilla - Los Angeles, CA

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"Karama Sadaka has a gifted eye for aesthetics and light that few of us grasp until we've seen the final product. He is a pleasure to work with due to his ability to get remarkable shots through respectful articulation and humorous wit as opposed to the rude agitation some photographers are known for."

Taalam Acey - spoken word KING - TaalamAcey.com

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" Karama is a jack-of-all-trades... Translation: you can have a formal photography session with him OR he can provide wonderfully witty commentary while adopting a more candid approach. Either way, he's passionate and has a unique POV: two earmarks of great artistry."

— Orriel Richardson, Esq. Washington D.C.

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"Karama's style is fitting for anyone who wants to be transformed in to greatness, even beyond their ideal selves... I would recommend him to anyone."

Lizz Straight - poet, teacher, host of "Poetry Is"... West Palm Beach, Fla

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“You are the epitome of what most artists long to be! You have a gift that far surpasses any talent that someone thinks that they can perfect! You have ...achieved what most hope to and never do.....you perfected your gift! You never cease to amaze me. The part that makes it even more incredible is that next week you will probably do it again! WOW!!!!”

Melissa M Jackson - New Orleans, La

Wake Up!

So my Uncle asked me “If Kayla was in a car accident and needed a blood transfusion, are you willing to let her die?” I was supposed to say “I have faith we will see her again in the new world” or something to that effect. But for the first time in my life, I truly couldn’t answer. My love for my daughter was too strong for me to even pretend to say the words. I was programmed to say them. I was programmed to think them. But now, as a father, my love made me speak up. I said “No.”

This was the beginning of a journey. My life as an ex-Jehovah’s Witness was about to begin, and I didn’t even notice. That question from my Uncle was only one of the many questions he’d asked me since I was a boy. My mother became a JW when I was only 3 or 4, but I remember her before then. She was fun. My Uncle, her brother, was a Muslim since as far back as I can remember, so as I grew up he would tell me that I was in a cult, that the Witnesses were crazy, etc. I was almost immune to his words, though, because I was indeed a true believer – or so I thought.

My father died when I was 5, and my mother told me the only way I’d ever see him again was if I listened to her and did everything the witnesses told me. So I did my best and over 20 years later I found myself struggling to answer this simple question: Was I willing to let my daughter die? Was I willing to let my daughter DIE? No, I was not willing to let my daughter die. Not without a fight. They could take the blood directly from my veins, they could cut my heart out of my chest and give it to her while it was still beating if it were up to me. So when I said no my uncle looked at me and said, “Finally! I think you can hear me now. Karama, wake up! You are in a cult!” I was confused for a moment, like I was waking up from a dream. I knew where we were, I knew who we were, I just didn’t understand WHEN it was. It felt like I woke up into a conversation that was already in progress… As he was speaking to me, I could understand everything he was saying, but something was different.

For the first time ever, I was hearing someone without the "witness filters". As a JW, you are constantly receiving instruction on how to think. They will explain that you should have a Bible-trained conscience, and you are taught so many different Bible stories that are supposed to serve as examples for you to live your life. Soon, everything you say and do reflects the witness lifestyle. When someone says Bless You after you sneeze, you no longer hear this as someone wishing you well or being polite, you see this as an "unscriptural practice". When someone invites you to a birthday party or anything to do with a holiday, you don’t take it as someone being nice to you, it’s an invitation to sin. Almost as if every interaction you have with a non-JW is a test of your faith and loyalty. To make it worse, this is often validated when you are around other witnesses and you share an experience of something that happened to you and they will all parrot back something from the Bible or something from the JW literature.  After years of this, reasoning with a witness becomes almost impossible, because they are trained to believe 2 things: they are right, AND you are wrong. (They also have thousands of other people who will verify their beliefs and whatever they say, as long as it’s from the watchtower. So remember, to them: They are right AND you are wrong!)

So, basically every conversation I had with my Uncle in my life up to this point had 2 components: what he said, and what I was hearing. He could say, “Hey, the witnesses said the world would end in 1975. They are false prophets” but I would hear, “He’s lying, the witnesses would never say that. This is your faith being tested. Be a good witness. Focus on seeing your daddy again.”

No one outside the JW's knew about this inner dialogue which ran 24/7 in my head. It dominated my entire life, but for some strange reason, for the first time since I was 5, I could hear my Uncle with no interference from the witness chatter.

“Wake up! You’re in a cult!”

It was as if I was hearing words for the first time.

“Wake up! You’re in a cult!”

Who is he talking to?

“Wake up! You’re in a cult!”

What do you mean, wake up?

“Wake up! You’re in a cult!”

I’m in a what?

 “Wake up! You’re in a cult!”

I’m not in a cult, I’m listening to the faithful and discreet slave provide me the proper spiritual food at the proper time to work with the 144,000 heavenly class even though I’m a member of the great crowd of other sheep who only have the earthly hope and that’s great because soon after Armageddon when god destroys all the wicked and casts Satan into the abyss for 1,000 years I can be with my daddy again when he is brought back to life and then we can grow for 1,000 years to perfection and then be tested by Satan again and if we pass that final test we can live forever in a paradise earth. I just have to go and make sure everyone has heard the good news and spread it to all the inhabited earth so I won’t be "bloodguilty". And I can’t listen to anything anyone ever says against gods organization because Satan, the father of lies, has blinded the minds of the unbelievers and he walks around like a roaring lion, seeking to devour someone. This is god’s organization, the one true religion, and definitely not a cult. We alone use gods name and only the governing body has a direct channel of communication with god, so god sends the angels in field service with us so we have divine protection and blessing. We just have to follow the slave closely in this time of the end. It’s just around the corner. And no, this doesn't sound crazy at all. You just don't speak the pure language.

“Wake up! You’re in a cult!”

I’m not in a cult, Jim Jones led a cult. The Branch Davidians were a cult. Cults have leaders. We follow Jesus Christ as the head of the Christian congregation of Jehovah’s Witnesses.

“Wake up! You’re in a cult!”

No, I’m not, I’m going to be one of the ones on the narrow road leading to salvation and everlasting life, while most will be on the broad and spacious road leading to destruction.

“Wake up! You’re in a cult!”

Wait, what?

“Wake up! You’re in a cult!”

I’m not in a cult, I’m IN the truth.

I would know if I was in a cult.

“How?”

Ummmmmmmmmmmmmm…

“Karama, I love you. You’re smart. Go do some research. You’ve been trapped in it since you were a kid. Look at it now as an adult and see if any of it makes sense. Look up the history.”

Ok.

So, now what?

Stay tuned!

Can.I.Help.You? aka I'm Not Scared

I need yall to see someone and then I'll get to the story.

Yes. SOMEONE.

So one night I went downstairs to the bodega to get a few munchies and as I stood in line I noticed this HUGE menacing dude as he entered. He looked JUST like the guy in the pic above.

So...wait...ok, never mind...

Again, in case you missed him

Like I said, I noticed him, but otherwise paid him no attention. I grabbed my usual bag(s) of Doritos, a few cookie-like items and as well as a handfull or three of Freedom Fries (are we still doing that?). Allegedly a couple of Twix's/Twixes/whatever somehow jumped in the bag, too, but  by  then I was ready. There was one woman ahead of me, then another behind me when the huge guy joined the line and stood behind the her. I noticed then that she was so short the guy could glare at me over her head. And glare he did.

I just wanna get my snacks, man

Now is the point in the story where you need to know a little more about me. I am 5 ft 11 in. At the time I was about 250 lbs. of PURE (imaginary) muscle. By imaginary I mean fat. And by muscle I am lying. I was straight up fat. I was also in fat denial. I wasn't fat, I was a professional pro-bono Doritos taste tester. Fat? Me? No, I was a quality control technician for Krispy Kreme. I was in the middle of a life-long quest to find the world's best snickerdoodle, but I wasn't fat. And even if my fatness was somehow debatable, one thing I DID know: I was far from fighting shape. Not that I'm a fighter, mind you. But there was this guy...

I like Cool Ranch. Are those Cool Ranch?

He was at least 6 ft 14 in. And he was STILL staring at me. He looked at my selections, then stared at me again. So, in my mind, I had a decision to make. Was I going to let this man stare me down in my own bodega? How am I going to let this monster of a man disrespect me in front of my Doritos? What could I say to my snickerdoodles to make it like it was before? I couldn't back down. Even if this dude was potentially a werewolf. Soooooooo I turned around and looked at him (over the lady's head) and said in my super deep voice "Can I help you?"  The little lady craned her neck to look up and see she was between 2 big Black guys and one looked like...well... I'm sure you remember by now, so I'll just continue. Once she saw her situation, she said, "Oh, my", and promptly got out of the line - leaving nothing between me and my nightmares. He stood motionless and then looked and nodded his head toward the counter when the cashier said it was my turn. I wasn't going to turn around, though, so I sort of backed up/moonwalked to the counter where the cashier then decided to talk to me about photography. Apparently there was some blog and he read something and wanted my opinion so why NOT ask me now? I mean... it's not like I was scared... right?

In times like these I take immense pride in being able to calm myself. (It's nothing amazing. Normally it involves lying like I just did when I said I take immense pride in being able to calm myself.) I calmly visualized myself moving as fast as I could short of running and tried to imagine how many steps it would take to get to the door. I moved  my  hand into my pocket to select my apartment door key and have it ready. It should take less than 14 steps and a twist of the wrist to be on my way and with both my apartment and the bodega doors between us, then I would be fine. Not too bad! But what in the world was taking so long? I said (still in my tough-guy voice) "Speed it up, yo" The cashier was doing his best turtle (not ninja) impression, but he sped up as he finished bagging my stuff. He was handing me my change when I realized the monster of a man behind me was only purchasing water. ONE item. After I made the cashier move even faster. That all-of-a-sudden-now-you're-in-a-hurry bastard! Now I'm standing here thinking all this to myself. And the guy is still staring. I should be halfway to my couch. 

I turned and moved like Steve Austin (not Stone Cold, you youngsters - the Bionic Man (I know I did because I heard that nu nu nu nu nun sound)) out of the bodega doors, and in 2 seconds flat with one motion my key was in the lock, turning and opening the door when I finally felt hot breath on my neck. I fully expected to turn around and see this:

No, no, no. Can I Help YOU!!

I said a quick "OHLAWDTHISDUDEISGONNAKILLMEANDEATMYDORITOSTOO" prayer and decided to go out like a man, face the  music  and confront the source of my fear. I slowly turned to see the same behemoth from the store now less than a foot away from my face. He looked me up and down as I asked even louder, "Can. I. Help. You?"

He finally started to speak and said, "Hey, brother, I noticed you don't have any fruit or anything healthy in your bag. And you also look kind of soft in the middle. I'm a personal trainer and if you ever want to start getting in shape, let me know. We've gotta stick together, brother! Here's my card." 

He shook my hand after handing me the card. It felt like shaking hands with the pavement.

He walked away, I went inside, made it to the couch, sat down and LMAO (laughed my a-- off)

Did I mention he had the voice of a 5 year old girl?

You're welcome. 

More to come. Stay close and stay tuned!