Our Season 1 guests span a wide range in age, geography and more, yet they all maintain an emphasis on community and many of them share a knack for writing. Learn more about our guests below and click each photo to visit their site.
Damola Akintunde
Based in North Carolina, Damola Akintunde is a photographer that utilizes visuals as a form of expression of the self. She uses self-portraiture to capture her own personal story as a Nigerian-American woman, in addition to lending herself as a tool for others to align their self perception with their physical presentation, turning them into art. Holding a Bachelor's degree in Psychology with a minor in Medical Anthropology from The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Akintunde hopes to incorporate her understanding of the human condition into her freelance work.
Anuradha Bhowmik
Anuradha Bhowmik is a Bangladeshi-American poet and writer from South Jersey. She is a 2018 AWP Intro Journals Project Winner in Poetry, and she earned her MFA from Virginia Tech. Anuradha has received awards from the Kimmel Harding Nelson Center for the Arts, the Community of Writers at Squaw Valley, the New York State Summer Writers Institute, the Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown, Frost Place, the Indiana University Writers’ Conference, the Eckerd College Writers’ Conference, and the Juniper Summer Writing Institute. Her poetry and prose are forthcoming or have appeared in Nashville Review, The Sun, Indiana Review, Quarterly West, The Offing, Bayou Magazine, Contrary, Crab Orchard Review, Slice Magazine, Zone 3, The Normal School, Copper Nickel, Ninth Letter Online, and elsewhere.
Anna Cantwell
A purveyor of peace, mindfulness, and movement, Anna is an RYT-200 certified yoga instructor influenced by vinyasa, Forrest, and Pralaya. When she's not teaching public classes or in corporate settings, she crafts private sessions for students to dive deeper into their practice, achieve their goals, and heal injuries. She works as an affiliate of Mind Tribes, a yoga-inspired coaching company that offers yoga teacher trainings, online courses, and personal development. Specifically, she supports public servants in bringing yoga and mindfulness to their workplaces.
Katie Kay Chelena
I'm Katie.
I'm a playmaker-poet-performer-director-writer-teachingartist.
Raised all over the South.
Rooted in Asheville, North Carolina.
Schooled in Chapel Hill, North Carolina.
Currently in New York, New York.
I make performances and poems about
Appalachia
Outer Space
being a woman
being queer
childhood
holiness
punks
sweat
love
and lots of other things.
Shanina Dionna
Shanina Dionna is a visual and performing artist, mental health advocate and non-profit youth arts educator based in Greater Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Since 2011, her Embryo art exhibition series has helped raise awareness for mental health; chronicling the life of one millennial’s growth journey. The series is supported in-part by local businesses and the wellness community. Her art for social change practice is rooted in the exposure of her own personal battle and history with mental illnesses, diagnoses, hospitalization and therapy treatments. Life-sized acrylic portraits, improv performances, dance/movement, botanical therapy and "safe space” installations all help convey her intent for communal wellness and healing. In 2016, Shanina Dionna helped found the youth art program, @artbudsphilly (on Instagram), currently housed at the Urban Art Gallery in West Philadelphia. In 2018, she became one of twenty artists worldwide to receive the first-ever TDC20 Grant (The Dean Collection 20) presented by Alicia Keys and Swizz Beatz. She is a current student with PCEAI (Person Centered Expressive Arts Institute) in Sonoma, California and is due to receive certification in 2021; she will facilitate expressive arts therapy sessions post graduation.
Jaki Shelton Green
Jaki Shelton Green is a writer and poet, a North Carolina native whose publications include Dead on Arrival, Dead on Arrival and New Poems, Masks, Conjure Blues, singing a tree into dance, breath of the song, Blue Opal (a play), and Feeding the Light. Her work has appeared in publications such as The Crucible, Obsidian, Essence Magazine, Callaloo, and Black Gold: An Anthology of Black Poetry, among many others. In 2014 the North Carolina native was inducted into the state’s Literary Hall of Fame and was nominated for a Pushcart Prize; in 2009 she served as the North Carolina Piedmont Laureate. Among other honors, she was named the 2016 Lenoir-Rhyne University Writer-in-Residence and received a 2007 Sam Ragan Award for Contributions to the Fine Arts of North Carolina and a 2003 North Carolina Award (literature), the state’s highest civilian honor for significant contributions to the state and nation in fine art, literature, public service, and science. Green is the owner of SistaWRITE, which provides retreats and travel excursions for women writers and the 9th North Carolina Poet Laureate.
Rachel Eliza Griffiths
Rachel Eliza Griffiths is a poet and visual artist. A Cave Canem and Kimbilio Fellow, she is the recipient of fellowships including Yaddo, Provincetown Fine Arts Work Center, Cave Canem Foundation, Vermont Studio Center, The Millay Colony, and others. Griffiths recently completed her first extensive video project, P.O.P (Poets on Poetry), an intimate series of micro-interviews featured online at the Academy of American Poets’ website. Griffiths is the author of Miracle Arrhythmia (Willow Books 2010), The Requited Distance (The Sheep Meadow Press 2011), Mule & Pear (New Issues Poetry & Prose 2011), and Lighting the Shadow (Four Way Books 2015). Currently, Griffiths teaches creative writing at Sarah Lawrence College and IAIA (Institute of American Indian Arts). She lives in New York.
Ashley Harris
Ashley Harris is an Aquarius that aspires to be both a physician and poet. She attended the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill with the Johnston Scholarship, a four-year scholarship based on merit. She graduated in 2015 with a major in Chemistry and Hispanic Culture and Literature with a minor in Creative Writing. Her lifelong goal has been to be able to translate and create bilingual work and in May 2015 she began that journey by publishing a short story entitled “Black Wall Street” in both Spanish and English in an online magazine entitled Aguas de Pozos. After graduation, she won the Gerard Unk Fellowship Grant to travel to both London and Portobelo, Panama to study the poetry and art between the two locations. In addition, she helped Dr. Renee Alexander-Craft with her studies on the Carnaval tradition in Portobelo through the online database Digital Portobelo. She has also published her work in journals such as Event Horizon, Cartridge lit, Wusgood.black and the Yellow Chair Review. Currently, she is one of the founding members of Hear&After, an organization dedicated to presenting poetry workshops and open mics to the Durham, Raleigh and Chapel Hill NC area. She has an upcoming poetry book called “If the hero of time was black” that has been published through Weasel Press. Ashley is currently emerged in clinical research, poetry, and the Legend of Zelda.
Kimyona & Keoyona Ray
Founded by twins sisters(K2K), DoubleLinkks, L.L.C is a life coaching business. We mentor, educate, and coach people using art, literature, and film.
Sade Sellers
Sade Diana Sellers was born in New York. She was raised in Lansing, Michigan and first caught the acting bug when she watched Jurassic Park for the first time when she was eight years old. She finally received her first leading role while attending Lansing Eastner High School as Miss. Maudie in the novel turned play "To Kill A Mockingbird". Sade attended Michigan State University before dropping out of school in 2009 to pursue her acting career. She is a TV One Screenplay Competition Finalist, aan ATT Create A Thon winner and owner of Best Sellers Productions, LLC.
Michelene Wilkerson
Michelene J. Wilkerson, is the creator of Soul Elevated. She is a 23-year old who wants to inspire lives with curating. Soul Elevated is a black art and culture hub. Like every generation before us, we have an obligation to push the margins. We’re ditching social media trends, click bait articles, and traditional media in pursuit of something greater–a broader, bolder, and more beautiful representation of black people. Soul Elevated is dedicating to spreading the creative work of young, talented black creatives.
Carrboro Creative
WE ARE CARRBORO CREATIVE.
A team of collaborators, creators, and change-makers.
Based in beautiful Carrboro, North Carolina, we work with organizations in Raleigh, Durham, Chapel Hill, and beyond. We are a proudly women-owned business and work with businesses, entrepreneurs, non-profits and educational institutions to bring their ideas to life.
Our team of designers is driven by relationships. Consequently, we spend a lot of time getting to know you to better serve you. Your organization doesn’t fit into a template, so your design shouldn’t either.
We are always exploring, growing our skills, and expanding our creative services so we can tackle new challenges. We can’t wait to work with you.