Candice Brathwaite at Leeds Playhouse: Manifesto author on how manifesting can change your life

In her mind, great things can come from fanciful ideas.

“Even the phones we're probably talking to each other on now, 50 years ago, someone will go, ‘That's so unrealistic, we're never going to have a 24-hour personal laptop in our pocket’,” says the author, podcaster and mother-of-three.

The very idea of being realistic has Brathwaite animated.

“I think using the term realism or expecting people to be realistic immediately kills the dream. So I'm very quick to remind people of when they were a child and you used to go to nursery, you'd go to that dressing up box, and no one could tell you that you weren't going to be an astronaut or whatever you wanted to be. Your brain was so open, your vibration was so high to ‘I can do anything’.

"Of course, we get older, we go out into the world, peer pressure, ‘real life’ takes over, and I think we enjoy the safety of being realistic.

"I have absolutely no time for being realistic.

"I've always hinged my life on ‘let's be as unrealistic as possible’, because nine times out of 10 you're going to land on it or just on the edge of it and it's going to be mind blowing. I always like to remind people one of the quickest ways to manifest easily is to be in a childlike state.”

Speaking of wild ideas, London-born Brathwaite has just got back home to Milton Keynes after running the New York City Marathon in five hours and 40 minutes.

And encouraging readers to be unrealistic is all part of her latest book, Manifesto, which explores the concept of “manifesting”, one which she is likely to discuss at an ‘in conversation’ event at Leeds Playhouse tonight, organised by Out of Many People, an organisation which curates and promotes Black storytelling through arts, heritage and cultural programming in the North.

“Manifest” was Cambridge Dictionary's Word of the Year in 2024, coming after its use by celebrities such as Dua Lipa, and defined as: “the act of using methods such as visualisation and affirmation to help you imagine achieving something, in the belief that doing so will make it more likely to happen”.

Why did Brathwaite, author of bestsellers I Am Not Your Baby Mother and Sista Sister, want to dedicate 240 pages to the concept with 2024’s Manifesto?

She says: “I wanted to dedicate a whole book to it because we've never had any kind of educational tool about manifesting from a woman that looks like me. And whilst I found all the other books and podcasts and all those YouTube videos very helpful, I think it's really wild to ignore the fact that many people are going to struggle with the concept of manifestation just because of the body they've been born in.

"Especially living in the UK, wherever you are typically Black people don't have the privilege of seeing themselves as the lead role or we're not typically on the billboard. So it can be really hard to turn our frame of mind into this idea that ‘everything in this world supports us, it roots for us and it wants the best for us’. That's a really hard stretch for your mind to make.

"And it's not just about being Black. I've had people who are disabled read Manifesto and they're quite emotional because they're like, ‘This is the first time I've had someone explain the concept of manifestation whilst holding in mind the fact that I don't see myself, that there actually are spaces I don't typically get access to because I'm not able-bodied’.”

Essentially, Brathwaite thought: “Why not me? Why don't I be one of the first Black women in the UK to really, just like the man on the moon, put the flag in the sand and be like, ‘This is how manifestation works for me. This is how I think it can work for you’.”

It sounds like a preternaturally positive message and, well, perhaps even unrealistic. But Brathwaite stresses that this mindset was born from unhappiness, following the death of her father, Richard, when she was 21.

A couple of days after his death, “drowning in grief”, she was looking over her grandparents’ home library and came across The Secret by Rhonda Byrne, a self-help book about the law of attraction – the idea that positive or negative thoughts bring positive or negative experiences.

“No one comes to manifestation happy,” says Brathwaite, who is married to Bodè Aboderin. “No one thinks about law of attraction when everything's going well. I think we only take it seriously when we're on our knees. The Secret came into my life when I was really on my knees, and I was like, oh, okay, this feels like magic. This feels like something I can be a part of. You want to tell me that all I really need to do is get my head in the game and think that the world wants the best for me. Okay, I can figure that out.”

Years on, now in her late 30s, she is known for her insights on the Black British experience, has co-hosted the Closet Confessions podcast, built up an impressive social media presence and held forth on motherhood – she is mum to Renae, 17, Esme, who is 12 on Saturday, and Richard Jr (RJ), seven.

The conversation at the Playhouse is part of Rooted, which is Out of Many People’s inaugural programme featuring a series of events showcasing Black arts and culture.

“Candice is an inspirational, powerhouse voice for so many people, particularly Black women in this country,” says Susan Pitter, the organisation’s co-founder, who will interview the author on stage. “It’s a real privilege to be able to share a stage with such a leading light in Black British culture on what will no doubt be a memorable evening.”

It’s quite the endorsement, but does that status come with any pressure for Brathwaite?

“In the early days of my career, I definitely felt pressure. And then one day I was like, okay, we have to put that to bed, because I am human and I think my fan base has actually quadrupled the minute I was, for lack of a better word, a little bit edgy. I do swear, I do have a bit of a meltdown. People do annoy me. I am human. I dropped my guard, and I decided to communicate with my fan base in a very real way. And so now, especially as I creep towards 40, I don't feel any pressure. At all.

"I know I’m Marmite – you like it, you love it, you don’t, whatever. What do they say? ‘I’m not everyone’s cup of tea but I’m someone’s shot of Jack’.”

In the press release for the Playhouse event, Brathwaite said the conversation’s going to be “very real, very raw and very gritty. I like having these in-person conversations because you get to see a side of me that the internet does not get to see anymore.”

What did she mean?

“I think so much gets lost when you're just talking to your phone and people can't truly understand or, if they want to, they can pick your words apart, and now AI's entered the chat, they can literally put words in your mouth. Whereas I feel like the best of me now has to be reserved for people who are willing to buy a ticket and sit in a room with me. That's when you're going to get the best of Candy's Brathwaite, it's definitely not going to be on app.”

Talking: Candice Brathwaite, an 18+ event, is at Leeds Playhouse tonight at 6.30pm. Tickets £17. Book online or call the box office on 0113 213 7700.