255: Plot Twist: How Divorce and a Leap into Writing Transformed Christine Platt into The Afrominimalist

In this Plot Twist episode of The Light Watkins Show, Light Watkins brings listeners the inspiring story of Christine Platt, a writer, speaker, and advocate for minimalism. Christine’s journey, shared through a heartfelt and relatable narrative, explores the defining moments that led her to rediscover her passion for storytelling and become known as “The Afrominimalist.”

The episode begins with Christine’s early experiences—her unexpected choice to attend law school, becoming a single mother, and her determination to succeed as a young Black woman in a world where opportunities felt limited. As she navigates the high demands of her career in law, Christine begins to feel the weight of burnout and a growing lack of fulfillment. But then, after a life-changing divorce, she finds herself at a crossroads: surrounded by material items she doesn’t need, Christine faces the choice to either stay comfortable or completely redefine her path.

When a friend invites her to join a 30-day writing challenge, Christine rediscovers her love for writing, unleashing a spark that sets her on a new course. This experience leads her to publish her first novel and embrace a minimalist lifestyle, which soon evolves into a larger movement around intentional living and her identity as The Afrominimalist.

Light and Christine’s conversation is a powerful reminder of how “plot twists”—even those that seem daunting—can lead us toward a more authentic life. Listeners will walk away with insights on the courage to let go of what doesn’t serve them, the joy of rediscovering long-buried passions, and the beauty of simplifying life to make space for what truly matters. Whether you’re at a career crossroads or looking for ways to simplify, this episode offers inspiration for anyone ready to take a leap into the unknown.

Transcript

CP: “I remember being that woman that was like, ‘I’m in my 30s, I already have a child.’ The clock is ticking, right? Now, I remember telling him, which is so frightening now, but I remember saying, ‘I’m not going to be dating you forever, so you need to figure out what' – we’re on our third date! We don’t really know each other. We had dated for six months before he proposed. Had a very small wedding. Had we dated longer, we would have realized that we were better as friends, as we are right now.I had not thought about what I wanted and needed for myself as a woman, only what I wanted and needed for myself as a mother. He had been given an ultimatum by a beautiful woman and felt, he’s in his 30s, it’s time for him to settle down and be serious. It’s just this recipe for disaster that I feel so many couples find themselves in, and some are able to make it work and some are not.”

[INTRODUCTION] 

Hey friend, welcome back to The Light Watkins Show. I'm Light Watkins, and I have conversations with ordinary folks just like you and me who've taken extraordinary leaps of faith in the direction of their path, their purpose, or what they've identified as their mission in life.

And today I've got another bite-sized Plot Twist episode for you. A Plot Twist is a shorter clip from a past episode where the guest shares the story of that pivotal moment in their life that set them on a new course toward what became their path or purpose.

And the idea behind sharing their Plot Twist is to inspire you to lean into those plot twists whenever they happen in your life, because they're often those detours that lead you exactly where you need to go for your path and purpose.

Sometimes that plot twist looks like losing money, getting fired, or in the case of today’s guest, Christine Platt, it was getting a divorce, which left her feeling unfulfilled, and surrounded by stuff that she’d bought over the years, but never used or needed.

Then a friend suggested she join a writer’s challenge where she would write a novel in 30 days. And that process led to Christine rekindling her passion for storytelling and ultimately set her on a path to rebranding herself as The Afrominimalist.

Christine’s story is a reminder that sometimes, letting go of what we don’t need is what makes room for what truly matters. 

Let's listen in…

LW: What inspired the law school decision?

CP: I was in grad school majoring in Black studies, which is around the time when you realize like, “Oh!" This is why everyone was asking me what was I going to do with this degree, right? I was like, “Oh! So I only have one choice. I could just get my PhD and teach,” like that was it. That didn’t – I don’t know. It wasn’t just appealing to me at the time. It just seemed so limiting. You know what I mean? I felt like I could always go teach. I remember a professor saying, she’s like, “I mean, look, you either go get your PhD or you can go to law school.” I was like, “Oh! I guess I’m going to law school.” Like no rhyme or reason other than that.

I remember talking the LSAT. I had also applied to a few grad schools just in case, but I’d gotten into like University of Wisconsin. I got into a school in Miami. I remember contacting the LSAT trying to get my money back, so I didn’t have to take the test. This is so embarrassing. They were like, “The test is coming up. We cannot give you your full amount back. We can just give you a portion.” I was like, “You know, forget it. I will just take the test.” I take the test. I did well on it. I started getting all of these letters. Cornell, it’s this place, it’s that place. I was like, “Oh! Maybe I should go to law school.”

Ended up going to Ohio and started at a small school there called Capital University Law School. Because again, I had no idea. I didn’t have anyone to guide me and say like, “No, you need to go to the most prestigious law school ever.” I was like, “This is super convenient. I won’t have move across country. This is going to be great.” They gave me a very generous scholarship. Then, around that time, my step-father, which my mom got married after I went off to high school. Another thing that I respect her for greatly, especially going to college and hearing so many horror stories from some of my classmates about what their step-fathers had done this. She waited until I was out of the house before she married. Apparently, they were dating the whole time, but whatever. That’s whole another story.

Around this time, he was diagnosed with total kidney failure. I applied to transfer to a law school in Florida so I could be closer to home, and ended up going to Stetson Law School and, surprise, I had one little room with a friend of mine in grad school.

LW: One little romp.

CP: One little romp.

LW: That’s all it takes.

CP: That’s all it takes. I get down to Stetson, and I’m moving. I’m like, “Oh! I’m tired. It’s so stressful. This is so much. Where is – wait a minute.” I count the days, I’m like, “No way. Like there’s no way.” Yes, that was the way. It was so funny because I remember calling my friends, being like, “you’re not going to believe this. I’m pregnant.” They would just laugh. They would be like, “Stop. Girl, we all know. You don’t even have sex.” Like, “You’re such a nerd. You’re such a nerd. You’re not out here doing anything, right?” It was such a shock to everyone.

I remember having to make this choice, right? It was a very quick like, “I guess I’m about to be a mom.” I mean, I was 27. I ended up giving birth to my daughter when I was 28. All of a sudden, I was in law school with a baby.

LW: Was that a decision to be a single mom or were you trying to work it out and figure things out with the father?

CP: We were friends and both very much held steadfast to like, just because we have this – we didn’t want to fall into this trap of, “Let’s try and make it right.” No, we’re friends for a reason.

LW: Right, and pretend like it’s more than what it was.

CP: Yeah, like it’s not, bro. I think that helped as well too. We just were coparents from day one and partners in that respect. He was still in grad school, so he was still in Ohio and I was going it alone.

LW: Which makes it even bigger decision for you.

CP: Very big decision. Again, we’re talking almost 20 years ago. There’s still a lot of stigma around being a single mother, being a Black woman as a single mother. You get this like older women, just these looks of disappointment like, “You almost made it. You are in law school. Damn it!” I dealt with a lot of that sort of thing, but she was born and just – it was almost like she knew mommy was in law school and that all she could – all I could handle was her being the happiest baby ever. Like we still joke. Her dad does robotics, and we joke that she’s a robot. She was a robot baby because she was so sweet. She liked never cried, she was just happy, and she ended up being the law school baby.

When it was around finals time, everyone would come over to my house and be like, “I just need that baby aromatherapy. I just need those good pheromones.” In retrospect, of course, this is me reflecting 18 years later. It was a beautiful time. Not easy for sure, but yeah, it could have been much, much worse, I will say that.

LW: You have a law degree, you have a young baby and in your resume it says, you’re an African-American major. Did you find it hard to get employment?

CP: Yeah. They’re like, “What?” There was no Black Lives Matter Movement going on, there’s none of that.

LW: Yeah. You said your faith wavered? What was that like?

CP: Oh man! Because again, I really believed in doing what you love and felt that it was very important. I had so much passion and joy around African and African-American history that there was nothing for me. I was just like, “How did I end up here? God, what? What? You couldn’t have closed this door sooner?” I remember the first career coach telling me like, “I think you got to take the Black studies off your resume.”

LW: Was that a Black person or white person who told you that?

 CP: I don’t even remember, but it was probably a white career coach. But I feel like I would have got the advice from anyone at that time. It was just like, “Girl!” The minute they see that, it’s like, “Next.”

LW: Did you have any hotep tendencies back then? Did people know that you were African-American studies major just from having a five-minute conversation with you?

CP: I was not smelling like patchouli and doing the thing out there. No, I think it was very clear that I had a love of history. I think anytime folks and engaged me in conversation, but no, there was no way of telling that I was a Black studies major [inaudible 00:30:29] my resume. I remember her telling me to like change that to the social sciences, and I was just like, “It just felt so deceitful.” You know what I mean?

She was like, “No law firm cares what you majored in in undergrad, but when they see that, then they start caring.” Took it off and sure enough, I started getting hits. The first law firm that reached out to me was a small boutique law firm that did energy and environmental work. It was on the plaintiff side, which meant there was some natural intersection there with race. I was just like, “I could have kept it on my resume.”

But anyway, it ended up being just a wonderful opportunity just doing a lot of brownfield litigation. It was amazing.

LW: Is that Erin Brockovich type of work, where people are class-action suits?

CP: Yeah, but I was more like Erin Brockovich’s assistant.

 LW: Got it.

CP: You know what I mean?

 LW: Yeah. I was fresh out of law school. Yeah, around that time, no one knew what energy and environmental work was. Think early 2000s, and then all of a sudden, renewable energy became a thing. Everyone was talking about renewable energy. Everyone was talking about the environment. Everything that we’d say like, “Oh! That’s crunchy granola people. That’s what they do.” All of a sudden, it was like a national movement.

I was one of the few Black women in energy, which meant I could write my ticket, which meant I did because I had a toddler and I was still a single mom. I was like, “I am going to work in big law.” I went to a larger firm that was not doing plaintiff’s work. They did a lot of project finance work. Think wind turbine development, solar panel development, but early 2000s. I made a lot of money but I worked a lot of hours.

I think that is when my spending really started kicking in, because I had the resources. It was a way for me to escape reality and ecommerce was just starting, so I could order things online and have it delivered to the firm. Which is so funny to think about how stuff that take like days back then, and now I could like order something right now and be like, “Yeah. I need that by five o’clock” and it would be here –

LW: If you order in the next 34 minutes, it will be there by seven o’clock tonight.

CP: Yeah, it will be out your doorstep. But yeah, the beginning of ecommerce and so, that was how my journey sort of started with accumulating all the things. Then there’s sort of a trajectory that a lot of lawyers follow if they don’t end up going from junior associate, midlevel to – in the hopes of making partner, you realize that you get burnout and you hate [inaudible 00:33:25] and you want to leave. You go big law to smaller law firm and then the government, right? Like government is like this last sort of pit stop before you figure out like what your true calling in life is.

I remember around the time, it was Barack Obama’s first election season and we were all like – we were just happy that – I never thought in a million years that we would even have a Black candidate. Then it became clear that he was going to win, I’m like, NDC and I was like, “This is amazing.” I think like, every Black person who had any sort of wherewithal in terms of wanting to work under this administration. I mean, the day after he was elected, I was like, “Okay. Where can I work?” And was able to get a job at the Department of Energy. Again, one of the few Black women in energy [inaudible 00:34:21] whoever, right? It ended up just renewing my love for working with people and changing lives. I worked in the office of weatherization, so weatherization assistance. They provide low-income homes with energy retrofits to make their homes more energy-efficient. It’s just beautiful, meaningful work.

Around that time, I met now ex-husband. I remember just being really tired of being a single mom. I was exhausted. I was like, “I just need to meet a nice guy that’s going to help me raise the baby.” That’s exactly what I got. A nice guy that helped me raised my daughter.

LW: How did you guys meet? Because there weren’t any apps back then.

 CP: Yeah. There were no apps. Do you know I still have not been on a dating app, but that’s another conversation for another day. But we actually met at a March Madness party with one of the other Black woman attorneys that I know. She was having this – she did not have a child, so she was always out in the street. She had like this big March Madness party at some nightclub or whatever. We met –

LW: You didn’t want to go but you went at the last minute.

CP: You know how, you know the story. You know the story. Now, I wanted to go because I had a babysitter and I was like, “Whoa! I have a night out.”

 LW: Get to get out.

CP: I get to get out. I met Joe and he was just the nicest guy and I also think he’s a nice guy. We’d go on a date. After the second date, I don’t even know if we have enough time for all these stories, but I remember being that woman that was like, “I’m in my 30s, I already have a child. The clock is ticking,” right? Now, I remember telling him, which is so frightening now. But I remember saying, “I’m not going to be dating you forever, so you need to figure out what” – like we’re on our third date, we don’t really know each other. We had dated for six months before he proposed. Had a very small wedding. Had we dated longer, we would have realized that we were better as friends, as we are right now.

 I had not thought about what I wanted and needed for myself as a woman, only what I wanted and needed for myself as a mother. He had been given an ultimatum by a beautiful woman and felt, he’s in his 30s, it’s time for him to settle down and be serious. It’s just this recipe for disaster that I feel so many couples find themselves in, and some are able to make it work and some are not.

We ended up sharing our divorce story quite a bit to help other couples. We ended up being married for six years, and I think we both knew in year one. But you know, everyone is like, “Oh! It’s always hard after year one. Oh! Every marriage has” – You know what it mean? Like it took us a minute to be just like, “Now what? Forget what everyone else’s say.” I’m like, “This is just not working.”

LW: I have a friend who told me – she was together with her husband for 17 years before they got a divorce. Having, again, being around your same age and just being in the world for that long, I was like, “Oh! So that means it probably started to deteriorate around 10 years and you tried to hold on for seven years before you finally decided it’s much easier to let go than it is to try to keep making this thing work.”

CP: It’s so much easier. It is, but I understand also why so many people have the fear of doing that. There’s so much stigma and societal pressure to stay and make it work, to stay and make it work, to stay and make it work. I think when you’re in a situation like we were in, which was, there was no abuse, there was no – you know what I mean? I mean, he’s a great guy. What are you doing? Make it work. It’s like, I’m not happy. He’s not happy either, but he don’t even realize how unhappy.

LW: That’s the theme of our current work, our minimalism work. There’s nothing wrong with having all this crap, but if you let it go, you may discover that you’re actually weren’t even happy with all the stuff that you accumulated. Actually, there’s some freedom in there for you to really hone in on what it is that you’re inspired by and passionate about and all of that. It’s interesting to see that that was where – that’s just one little symptom that this minimalist inside of you is starting to awaken.

CP: It was starting to emerge. I mean, we were like right at the point of deciding, “Yeah, we’re going to get a divorce,” when I actually started my journey. You could only imagine how much more stuff that I brought when I had two incomes, to play around with. I was just like, “We have too much stuff and I’m going to start decluttering.”

LW: Before that, you had rediscovered your passion for storytelling, because I want to get to the point where you’re sitting in your home with no job, writing, and starting to realize how much stuff you have. Because that’s a key part of the story.

 CP: It’s a big part of the story. Me sitting in my house looking crazy like, “What am I doing?.” Just to give your listeners some context. This was right around like 2014. I realized that I am also unfulfilled in government. This is also another part of making this transition. Again, I say, like so many lawyers and so many professions I think go through this and it just ends up leading you to your calling. But anyway, I was just very unfulfilled. I could do my work with my eyes closed. I had a friend say, “You know, we should do a National Novel Writing Month.” I was like, “That sounds so nerdy.” Even to a nerd that sounds nerdy, like what is that? She’s like, “Oh man! Every November, people around the world commit to writing a novel in one month.” I was like, “That sounds so crazy, but yeah, let’s do it.”

 I ended up deciding to write a book about a theory that I had heard in grad school, which was, the spirits of slaves were not at rest and that they were embodied in the winds of hurricanes. This was an opportunity for me to do all the historical research that I wanted to do. I looked at the top 10 hurricanes and looked to see if there were any corresponding moments in Black history that would justify the rage of a hurricane. It was the most magical soul awakening journey ever. But we’ll have that in a whole other conversation, it was –

I start writing this book, doing this research and my soul is on fire. I was like, “I forgot how much I loved writing. I forgot how much I loved research. I forgot how much I loved focusing on African and African-American history.” It awakened that or reawakened that. I think once it was reawakened, there was just no way that it could ever be dormant and go to sleep again. I ended up indie publishing that book, thinking. “Hey! I accomplished something amazing.” Mind you, to anyone thinking about National Novel Writing Month, it is a time to write a good first draft of a novel.

 LW: Not the final draft.

CP: Yeah, did not publish that book.

 LW: It won’t be print ready after 30 days.

 CP: No caveat there. Yeah, I mean, I edited it for like a year.

 LW: Did you have a mentor that walked you through that process?

 CP: I had no mentor.

LW: Did your friend even continue on beyond the month of November?

CP: No, she did not, which is wild. We met online, it’s so weird. She just came into my life for that season and that reason.

 LW: Wow! To get you to write your first book.

 CP: To get me to write my first book. It is so wild. Her name is Crystal and she’s always like, “I’m so proud of you.” Like we’re still cool, but she did not continue on. But yeah, I indie published this book, like a big little book launch party, big, little. This is how we – it was big for me, but it was small.

 LW: Back then, you had Amazon direct publishing, so it’s that what you did, KDP?

 CP: That’s what I did. I did KDP, and I also did the print. Because back then, you could do like –

 LW: It was called CreateSpace I think back then,

 CP: Yeah, it was CreateSpace. That’s what it was. I did CreateSpace and then I did the Kindle version of the book. It was just wild. I like found the cover designer online. Anyway, it looked amazing.

LW: 99designs?

CP: No, thank goodness. Or Fiverr, no. Like, I paid real money.

LW: Fiverr? You paid real money. Craigslist?

CP: Yeah. I always tell people, I’m like, “I found this cover designer that also worked with traditional publishers” and still works with traditional publishers. I bought a premade cover because I couldn’t afford like – and them I’m like, “This is not my career.” I’m just like, “Let me find a premade cover.” But I had them do all the formatting, and fonts, so it looked like a not self-published book, which back then, indie publishing was not as hip and cool as it is today. But anyway, I have my big little book launch party, all my friends and family come and I think I’m just going to go back to work, right?

 Then my friends start to read and they’re like, “This is actually really good.” I’m like, “Really? Thank you.” That was amazing. But you don’t believe it when it’s your friends, right? I saw people start leaving reviews and then I started hearing from educators, I started hearing from professors and they’re like, “I just want you to know, I’m going to be using your book in my Af-Am 101.” I’m like, “Wait! What is happening right now?

LW: That’s crazy.

CP: Isn’t that so wild? So then, I get a call and it’s the woman, who is now my agent, she’s like, “Are you represented? Would you like to seek representation?” It’s just like the wildest journey ever that led me to where I’m supposed to be.

[END]

That was Christine Platt sharing the story of her unexpected journey toward minimalism and storytelling, and how she found purpose as The Afrominimalist. If you’d like to hear how the rest of Christine’s story unfolds, including her insights into living with less, tune into episode 68 of The Light Watkins Show and start at around the 45-minute mark. And be sure to follow Christine on social media at @afrominimalist for more on her inspiring work and tips on mindful living.

If this conversation resonated with you, check out my interview with Nicky Walton in episode 62. Nicky built Curly Nikki into the top natural haircare blog but ultimately found peace in spirituality beyond her success.

Also, listen to episode 149 with Rosie Acosta, who grew up in East L.A. and transformed her life through yoga and meditation, inspiring others to embrace radical love.

If you know of someone else who’s had an incredible plot twist in their life and is making the world a better place, please send me your guest suggestions at light@lightwatkins.com.

My other ask is that you take a few seconds to leave a rating or a review for the show. You always hear podcast hosts like me asking listeners like you for ratings because that's how many guests will determine if they’re going to come onto the podcast. So it does make a huge difference.

And all you do is look at your device, click on the name of the show, scroll down past those first few episodes, and you’ll see a place with five blank stars. Just tap the star all the way on the right, and you’ve left a five-star rating. And if you want to go the extra mile, leave a one-line review to let a potential new listener know which episode they should consider starting with.

That’ll go a long way as well. Also, don’t forget, you can watch these Plot Twist episodes on my YouTube channel. If you’d prefer to see what Christine looks like as she shares her Plot Twist, head over to YouTube, and don’t forget to subscribe there as well.

All right, I’ll see you on Wednesday with the next long-form conversation about an ordinary person doing extraordinary things to leave the world a better place.

And until then, keep trusting your intuition, keep following your heart, and keep leaning into those plot twists whenever they happen in your life. And if no one’s told you recently that they believe in you, I believe in you. Thank you and have a fantastic weekend.