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All this year, Michigan Radio’s Morning Edition host Christina Shockley has been asking people across the state for their ideas of what we can all do to help improve Michigan. Today we hear from Juanita Moore. She’s the President and CEO of the Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History in Detroit.

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Juanita’s first idea is to ‘know your story’ and to ‘learn the story of others.’ When asked how that will help revitalize the state she explains, “I think that it’s important that you value yourself. And I think when people start to know their story and understand who they are they also understand what’s possible in their lives. And when they start to know the story of others they have a lot more empathy… It improves the self-esteem, it improves people’s hopes and dreams, and it also connects people together.”

To Juanita, the concept of ‘story’ isn’t rigidly defined, “I think it’s a very layered thing. For some people it is heritage. It is understanding your history, and your ethnic history and background. For other people it’s just knowing the story of their community, of their family. All of those levels effect us, and help us to understand who we are, and get a better sense of ourselves. Sometimes they uplift us, sometimes they push us.”

Juanita’s second idea is to talk to people and simply say hello. She explains that, “When you speak to people, you’re engaged. You start to pay attention to your surroundings…If you’re oblivious to it you just kind of leave it to somebody else. You’re not really making a contribution.”

Finally, Juanita believes in the idea of wellness.

“It’s sort of different than thinking healthy. Lot’s of times people think being healthy is eating what you don’t like and doing things you don’t like, and this is a struggle, it’s a challenge.”

She says that living and ‘being-well’ requires similar choices to living healthy, but wellness is a different mindset. She says this different approach makes healthy choices easier because they “won’t feel like such a chore.” She explains, “You will walk, you will drink more water, you will try to eat better. I think we often times associate healthy with exercise and looking good, as opposed to feeling good. But you think about wellness, it’s how you feel.”