Teisha Marie Mckie
A Musician. A Teacher. A Community Member.
This England-born/Maryland-raised singer-songwriter, is a classically trained multi-instrumentalist, and poet. She's also one who's not afraid to take risks. After graduating from Spelman College (where she studied Music History and Theory) in Atlanta, Georgia, Teisha Marie then headed to Philadelphia. "At that particular time, "One word: life. Life isn't one-dimensional, so why should music be that way? Music is definitely a universal language, and I want people to listen, and understand exactly what it is I'm trying to say." With one listen, it's affirmed that Teisha Marie definitely has a "message in the music." No matter the medium (acting, public speaking, music, poetry) Teisha Marie seeks to encourage and expand people's lives.
=====
Cole Rodriguez has been teaching students of all ages for over 14 years. Covering a vast range of subjects, her use of interactive methodology governs the classrooms she leads.
As a performance poet, Cole has traveled nationally and competes as a part of Boston’s Lizard Lounge Slam Team. With a lengthy performance resume, Cole uses her stage and teaching experience to engage participants in the process of listening, analyzing and creating.
Joyce Angela Jellison is a native of Philadelphia,
Binahkaye Joy, Jade Andwele and Shonda Goward of The Saartjie Project.
The Saartjie Project (pronounced Sar-key) is a black woman multidisciplinary artist collective/theater company producing and developing original work through collaborative processes, and contributing to the ongoing global dialogue on the intersections of gender, race, class and power. Spoken word performers, singers, performance artists, visual artists and dancers gather to create a dynamic, lasting and ever evolving tribute to the struggle and humanity of our namesake, Saartjie (Sara) Baartman*.
We work under the paradigm that race, gender, class and power are a part of our daily interchanges; our performances speak to universal human paradoxes and complexities in the voice and bodies of black women. Our work also speaks to the struggle of performing for diverse audiences; telling our stories on stage while honoring the sacred spaces we create by merely existing as black women griots.
Sariane Leigh is a graduate of The George Washington University with an MA in Women's Studies. Ms. Leigh researches the various ways women of African descent globally respond to psycho-social trauma. Her research focuses on the unstructured spiritual spaces formed by women of color and how these spaces function as mental and emotional healing resources for women recovering from trauma associated with violence, war, poverty, and natural disasters.
Sariane Leigh is currently exploring the existing and emerging green marketing strategies targeting women of color interested in holistic health. She currently blogs about health and wellness in Washington D.C.'s Anacosita neighborhood at http://anacostiayogi.blogspot.com/.
Meghan Guidry
"Personal experience can serve as the springboard that creates universal resonance in art. Our role as artists is to offer our experiences, our voices and our crafts not as self-contained artifacts, but as starting points for all who come into contact with them. This is the shift from the personal to the universal, the point at which the physical body of art becomes a catalyst to something outside itself.
In my work as both a writer and a teacher, I have dedicated myself to exploring the authenticity of voice and experience as a means by which to create more accessibility for artists and their audiences. My novels are being published through Empty City Press and I have contributed fiction, nonfiction and poetry to: Boy Culture: An Encyclopedia, The New England Deli, Some Other Magazine, The Pitkin Review, The Merrimack Review, Spare Change and What's Up?
