Join Women Sound Off in collaboration with The Wing SF on 6/18 for a screening of “Toni Morrison: The Pieces I Am”, followed by an in-depth conversation spotlighting Black leaders in the media space that centers around the power of storytelling in catalyzing social justice.
MEET THE SPEAKERS:
A-LAN HOLT // Dir. @ The Institute for Diversity in the Arts, Stanford University // @a_lanmoon
A-lan Holt is the Director of the Institute for Diversity in the Arts at Stanford University. There she trains undergraduates in the areas of diversity and culture; arts leadership and social justice. She is a mother and practicing artist whose work includes theater, poetry and film. She is a 2018 Sundance Fellow, a 2019 SF Film Screenwriting Fellow, and a frequent contributor on-air at KQED Arts.
ASHARA EKUNDAYO // CEO @ AE Creative Consulting // @blublackwomyn
Ashara Ekundayo is a Detroit-born, Oakland-based artist, independent multi-genre curator, creative industries entrepreneur, and cultural strategist working across spiritual, civic, and social innovation spaces. As a thought-leader and organizer expanding the design narrative that centers artists and their cultural production as poignant and necessary in the building and sustaining of society, she offers commentary and social practice through exhibition, project management and presentation through her company AECreative Consulting Partners, LLC and her “collaboratoriums,” Omi Arts Project + Space and Ashara Ekundayo Gallery. Her personal and professional practice epistemology requires an embodied commitment to recognizing joy in the midst of struggle, and she actively invites her resource partners and clients to recognize pleasure as a tool for transformation.
As a Certified Permaculture Designer, Certified Foresight Practitioner, and a lifetime activist committed to advancing racial and environmental equity within the public and private sectors Ashara stewards and moderates courageous conversations between stakeholders and investors. In 2013 she Co-Founded Impact Hub Oakland and worked as its Chief Creative Officer, and currently holds Advisory Board positions with Black Girls Code, the Oakland Public Conservatory of Music, and the Oakland Anti-Racism Organizing Committee. Additionally, she has participated as a Fellow with Green For All, Emerging Arts Professionals, Schools Without Borders, and Institute For The Future. She is an alumnae of both Thousand Currents Leadership Academy and Rockwood Leadership – LeadNOW: California, and recently completed an 18-month “Embodied Justice Residency” at Auburn Seminary in NYC where her research and design acumen influenced an institutional inquiry at the edges of power, racial equity, and gender justice.
Ashara’s commitment to spiritual and social transformation is informed by an unapologetic Afrofuturist, feminist, intersectional framework that centers the stories and art practices of Black womxn. She is currently writing a memoir titled, “Riot Babies.”
Moderated by RUTH GEBREYESUS // Writer & Producer // @kotetakotet
Ruth Gebreyesus is a freelance writer and producer based in the Bay Area. Through stories across various mediums, from audio to exhibits, Ruth explores the creation and consumption of cultural products. You can find her work in The Fader, The Guardian, and SSENSE.
Age(s): 21+
*This is a free event.