SELF PORTRAIT Christina Shutt

■ DATE AND PLACE OF BIRTH: Aug. 25, 1986, Kansas City, Mo.

■ FAMILY: Husband John Shutt and son Jonathan, 6

■ MY FAVORITE WAY TO RELAX: Crafting and making handmade cards.

■ A QUOTE THAT IS PARTICULARLY MEANINGFUL TO ME: “Your silence will not protect you.” — Audre Lorde. It is meaningful to me because it reminds me that in a world filled with systems of oppression and obstacles to my survival, that it is better to speak. It is a reminder that the things the world would say make me vulnerable — my Blackness and my womanness — are, in fact, my greatest strengths.

■ MY FAVORITE MUSEUM: Picking a favorite museum is like picking a favorite cookie — there are just too many good options! A few standouts would be the Boston Children’s Museum, where I love the Japanese House exhibit; the National Museum of Mexican Art in Chicago, one of the best art museums in the U.S.; and the Pine Street CommUnity Museum in Victoria, Texas, a newer museum that came together through the perseverance of community people documenting their own local history.

■ MY HIDDEN POWER: Perseverance

■ FAVORITE GUILTY PLEASURE: Fresh-baked chocolate chip cookies.

■ THE THREE THINGS I AM NEVER WITHOUT: Headphones to listen to good music and podcasts; a phone to keep up with all of my reading and a pen because I love a good writing instrument.

■ MY FAVORITE BOOK: “One Hundred Years of Solitude” by Gabriel Garcia Marquez. I love the multi-generational story and how the author uses history as a cyclical narrative infused with magical fantasy.

■ MY FAVORITE MOSAIC TEMPLARS EXHIBIT THUS FAR: “Don’t Touch My Crown.” The exhibit was about celebrating the culture of Black hair and acknowledging how Black women found agency through building their own hair care businesses and schools. While working on the exhibit, I got to know the phenomenal women at Velvatex College of Beauty Culture in Little Rock, who run one of the oldest Black women-owned businesses in the U.S. (90+ years).

■ ONE WORD TO DESCRIBE ME: Innovator