J LeShaé is a visionary who is obsessed with freedom. She appears in the documentaries Natural Hair the Movie and Building the Bridge; and was a guest on the Positively Gam Podcast by Adrienne Banfield Norris (Red Table Talk). J has exhibited art at the African American Museum of Dallas, the Goldmark Cultural Center, the Abrons Arts Center of New York, the J. Erik Jonnson Central Library, the Msanii HOUS Gallery, the Pencil on Paper Gallery, and The Black Woman is God Exhibition. She is the Founding Executive Director of Building Opportunities & Opening Minds (BOOM), a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that co-creates spaces of affirmation, decolonization, organization, and innovation with Black and Brown youth committed to liberation. She also heads Ms. J’s Classroom, a creative lab for freedom-based art + education + activism. This Dallas native is a proud graduate of Clark Atlanta University (HBCU), with a B.A. in History, and National University with a M.A. in Teaching. Her Introzine, Born Again: The Case for Self Study, is featured on Blurb’s Black Voices List; and her social justice teacher education framework, “Education for Justice,” covered in Slate, Education Week, and Vox, is incorporated into study at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. Learn more about J at jleshae.com
J LeShaé is a visionary creative, historian, and educator who is obsessed with freedom. She appears in the documentaries “Natural Hair the Movie,” and “Building the Bridge;” and was immortalized as Akofena, the matriarch of seven generations of warrior women in award-winning photographer Missy Burton’s series, “Dynasty: A Peculiar Search For Totality.” Her freedom campaigns have been exhibited at the African American Museum of Dallas, Goldmark Cultural Center, the Abrons Arts Center of New York, the J. Erik Jonnson Central Library, the Msanii HOUS Gallery, the Pencil on Paper Gallery; and is currently a part of the The Black Woman is God Exhibition.
J is the Founding Executive Director of Building Opportunities & Opening Minds (BOOM), a 501(c)(3) youth leadership organization that co-creates spaces of affirmation, decolonization, organization, and innovation with young Black and Brown visionaries committed to liberation. She also heads Ms. J’s Classroom, a multimedia production agency that marries art, activism, and storytelling into creative freedom campaigns and educational experiences.
Learn more about J at jleshae.com.