Holds the field.

Interprets traces across generations.

Practices the work.

Lives the work.

Lisa Hazell, MA, is the founder of Paperdoll Journal, a heritage storytelling continuum rooted in the African diaspora.

Working with photographs, archives, family records, and other traces of lived experience, she explores how ancestral histories endure across generations. Her work integrates visual storytelling, independent archival preservation, and embodied awareness to restore coherence, illuminate legacies, and cultivate clarity across time, place, and memory.

Drawing on more than twenty-five years in visual storytelling, Hazell creates projects that connect personal histories to broader narratives of migration, belonging, and cultural continuity. Through Paperdoll Journal, she anchors ancestral histories while creating pathways between memory, awareness, and belonging across Africa and the Americas.

Her interest in home, inheritance, and cross-border belonging extends into her practice as a licensed Maryland real estate professional, reflecting her broader commitment to place, continuity, and generational stewardship.