There are authors who are on the spectrum of self-publishing, to having agents, to having their own publishing company. I was surprised at the number of bestselling authors who were in attendance.
A lot of people will see the number of books that I have written and will think that I started out on this journey purposefully; but, I didn’t on January 31, 2014, I woke up like any other Saturday. I thought I was just going to chill. I wrote twelve books.
I kill people in my books. I used to be a lawyer and an economics professor. I got sick. I had to do something to keep my mind off of it. I started writing books in my fifties.
We are both writers. I wrote a play and I have written other work as well. Most of my work has been for adults. Carmella has a fabulous history writing children’s books. We knew that it was a completely different genre. Plays for adults are one thing.
I am here because of this book. It won the Ohioana readers’ choice award. It is a book about my daughter and how much I love her. I talk about being a parent about being an immigrant, getting to know who I am and getting to know my daughter when she is being raised in a country that is not mine, with a language that is not mine.
If I didn’t write the book, I don’t know what else I would do. Writing is so deeply engrained in me, that it would keep me up at night every night if I wasn’t getting this out there, if I wasn’t sharing this art.
We have seven uplifting and inspiring rhyming stories for children with positive messages. I used to home school. I didn’t see a lot of those books on the shelves written by people of color, about people of color, with positive messages. I decided to change that.
I always loved books. I started writing when I was twelve. I got into fan fiction. From twelve to nineteen, I wrote five novels. I was deeply obsessed and invested. I had a weird home life. Writing helped me.
It is the story of her life. Her great grandmother was a slave. Deseree grew up in Mississippi during Jim Crow. It was very hard. She told some stories that were terrorizing.
I self publish these books because I saw a hole in the market for children that have mixed heritage. These books for kids that have two cultures.
I wrote the book to share my story and to be a solution to the problem. Everything that is in my book is what I went through, why I went through it and how I overcame it.
I did not start out to do all of this. My background is in journalism. I worked as a freelance journalist for a long time. I did digital marketing for a long time. I am an avid romance reader. One night two characters, the ones from my first book, showed up and would not leave me alone.
This is an organization comprised of Jane Austin fans who enjoy her novels, her wit, her humor, social commentary and politics at the time.
When I was young, I wrote for comfort. It is my stress reliever. I never imagined I would be doing it for business or a career. I just always did it for myself.
Zora’s House has a social justice mission. We believe that when women of color have what they need to disregard the status quo, to build lives and careers that recognize all of who they are, it is a better world for everybody.
I love the splash of color! It also allows residents and visitors to be exposed to and appreciate some of the talent of the artists who live in the area.
My class is called R&B yoga flow. We do yoga to R&B and sometimes a little bit of jazz. We are teaching you to breathe and move in your body.
The cartoons are photographic reproductions of the original cartoons that are in England. Raphael made the cartoons in his studio. The cartoons were used as templates for the weavers who made the tapestries.
It blows my mind that many of the works that I was drawn to was created in the 1960s. It is amazing that she came up with this process and the results she achieved.
The first year we had about 20 artists, a small stage with three bands. It was a little one-day event. We have now grown to over forty artists, many from out of state, six bands, two different stages.
Since I moved to Columbus, Ohio, a couple of years ago, as things started opening up from the pandemic, I started immersing myself into the art scene here. I have been taking part in as many art events as I can
There is a common theme in my work. It is usually a bonding relationship between humans and animals, especially dogs.
Finding out that this is an event that I can do. I like talking to people, being here all day and seeing people walk by and admire my work.
I have done it for years. I have worked at Via Colori as a charter artist many years ago.
I love it! That is what I think is so great about this opportunity. I tell this to my students, too. Art is not something that hangs and you look at. It can be something that you interact with.
Hot Times is one of the golden treasures of Columbus. It serves as a cultural bridge in our community. It is so important as everything changes in our city. It is so important to hold on to the cultures of the different communities. That is what Hot Times is about.
Not only is all my food inspired by the anime; but, at all of my pop-up events, I dress in cosplays. It creates a vibe where they are getting the food and seeing me and my friends dressed in costumes.
It is like I brought the outside to the inside of the vehicle. I have the fun world around me watching people giving me high fives and thumbs up.
I play with an all-women’s group called “Sistah Ngoma.” I am incorporating the men. When I incorporate the men, we call ourselves the “Spirit Drummers.” Ngoma is an African phrase that means song, drama and dance. I am working on the group being more multi-cultural.
Plant the power was started in 2019. I was seeking community. I transitioned to being plant based in 2017. I wanted it to be a space that felt safe for black and brown communities to explore and to ask questions and to be in community with one another.
My mother planted the earliest seed because she was really health conscious. When I was a sophomore in college in 1986, Dick Gregory did a lecture about why black folks eat the way we eat, why we are unhealthy and why we should go vegetarian. That started me on the path.
My book is called “Kaydee the Bumblebee” it is a children’s picture book, dedicated to my goddaughter, Kaylin. Kaydee is a feisty little bumblebee who has dreams. Everyone tells her everything that she can’t do. “They” the group of insects. Kaydee does it regardless. She uses positive self-talk and affirmations.
I started writing for leaders at organizations who are undergoing transformation, transition, acquisitions, new processes, rolling out new software, to help them keep their employees engaged while they are going through changes. Also, doing things outside the norm.
I am a living testimony of how good God has been to me. How He covered me when I was in a dessert serving in the US Army in Iraq and Kuwait.
I couldn’t control what happened with these sisters; but, I would carry them with me in my spirit and my soul. It has got to be us to tell our stories as black women. We do not deserve to die exhausted. We do not deserve to die not experiencing love the way God intended us to experience love.
I have a lot of clients that have come to me and said, “I’m not crazy; so, I’m not sure if I want a therapist.” I tell people, “Therapy does not mean that you are crazy.” Therapy is a partnership. I am partnering with you for your journey, to help you navigate through your journey.
We can’t help what life gives us. We can grow and rise above it. I am a product of rising above what the enemy has tried to bind me with. I refuse to be bound.
We wanted to create a safe space for black women to feel that they could show up as their full selves to find some sense of calm, healing, and community. We all felt like we gathered that from being in nature. We wanted to provide a space for other black women to come together to experience that as well.
I grew up in New York on Long Island. Me and my friends would get into trouble and spray paint on whatever we could. We didn’t have trains in my neighborhood; so, we painted on warehouses, eighteen wheelers, or whatever we could. I developed from there.
I do whatever I feel like painting or whatever the wall allows. I have no ideas; no expectations. I see what the wall wants painted.
I did graffiti for a little bit. I have been getting back into it for the last six months or so. I love art. I love seeing other people’s art.
There has been a rise in violence. We want to do our best to mediate that and address it through faith. We have praise and worship teams, activists, B.R.E.A.D. and some other politicians to bring awareness.
We are a faith-based organization. B.R.E.A.D. was formed because the faith community had untapped power. Here is what the faith community agrees on. They agree that God exists. We may call him different things, have different faith traditions, different congregations, and worship differently. As long as an organization can agree that God exists and He is a God of justice, you can be a part of B.R.E, A.D.
Your job is to create laws. In order to be a good state rep, you need to show up to events, have meetings, have town halls, at churches (not just during election season).
The book is self-published. I put in a lot of blood, sweat and tears. It is a proven fact that kids’ vocabulary words will increase with this book.
Most of the time, I am trying not to stick in a certain theme. Most of the time, I will do letters. I will take the same letters and put them in different orders, different styles, change the way I do a 3D (dimensional), change the color, change the heights, change the widths, change the thickness, change the way they pop out.
For me, the real focus of chess is how it develops young people. My focus is young African Americans and young people of color. Young people everywhere; but, particularly young people of color because there have been special challenges in our community.
If you want to relax and listen to live music this just might be the festival for you.
There is so much positivity going on here. The Hilltop Arts Collective is a part of that. This festival has been around for eight years. It has always created a positive environment.
I think I fall into a secular gospel sound. Negro spirituals formed a lot of our music. I named my guitar after Sister Rosetta Tharpe. She was a black woman in the 1910s and 1920s who was playing the electric guitar in bars (gospel songs).
I am doing a tiger with a flower and a snake inside of it. It is like the area that we grew up in. It was kind of rough; but, there were nice communities which is the sweet side of things.
Music is about trying to connect with people. There are so many ways to connect. We are here for those people who want to find a connection.
The 39th Annual Doo Dah Parade, is an opportunity to exercise the right of free speech through humor.
I help everybody that needs help. I know that sounds silly; but, there are underserved communities everywhere, underserved artists everywhere.
We started this group last summer. At the close of summer, we realized we formed such great friendships.
We are depicting a Jubilee Day observation in the 1890s what it would be like. We have some visiting characters that had connections with Ohio back in the day.
It was like going to an event not knowing if you were going to see anyone you know. Once you arrive, you feel at home.
I go with a vibe. I want to show that we are royalty, we are united, and we are loved.
I am volunteering on behalf of the Franklin County Board of Commissioners Office of Diversity Equity and Inclusion. I am the Chief Economic Equity and Inclusion Officer. It is important for me to be here to support my black community.
Why I chose to participate is to remind people that chess, critical thinking and open mindedness is a part of our culture. A lot of people can be intimated by chess. The more we expose people to the game, the less intimated they are.
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