natashathomasonline
| Forum role | Member since | Last activity | Topics created | Replies created |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Member | Jan 14, 2011 (15 years) |
- | 1 | 0 |
- Forum role
- Member
- Member since
Jan 14, 2011 (15 years)
- Last activity
- -
- Topics created
- 1
- Replies created
- 0
Bio
Natasha Thomas is a writer, artist, ritualist, and liberation activist working at the intersections of women’s empowerment, youth advocacy, spiritual wellness, and social justice. She has led and worked for a number of organizations and public institutions dedicated to equity and social change and her work has been featured in Teen Vogue, National Public Radio (NPR), PBS NewsHour, NowThis, Broadway World,Huffington Post, Hyperallergic , Mashable, Vulture, Yahoo , Revolt, Blavity, and more.
In 2012, the Detroit Pistons honored her as one of their first ever Community Impact Awardees, granting $25,000 to support her work. In 2017, she was the keynote speaker at the annual conference hosted by the Michigan Chapter of the National Organization for Women (NOW).
In 2019, she partnered with world-renowned cellist and advocate Yo-Yo Ma and the University of Michigan Musical Society (UMS) to host the “Culture, Community, & Resilience - Day of Action and later collaborated with Yo-Yo and UMS again, along with artist Tunde Olaniran, for The Living Room Open Mic.
In 2021, she partnered with Al Gore’s Climate Reality Project, presenting for his Climate Reality Leadership Corps Global Training. She has also worked alongside black feminist and legal scholar, Dr Kimberle Crenshaw (who coined the term “intersectionality”) and the African-American Policy Forum for the #SayHerName & #BreakingTheSilence initiatives.
As a writer, Natasha has contributed to digital publications and academic journals including The Hollywood Reporter, Kalfou: A Journal of Comparative and Relational Ethnic Studies, The Body is Not an Apology (TBINAA), and more.
She also wrote the foreword for IMAGN – Increasing Minority Awareness of Genetics Now, a report co-sponsored by the Black Congressional Caucus and John Hopkins University Genetics and Public Policy Center.
Natasha has performed for Harry Belafonte’s inaugural Many Rivers to Cross Music & Social Justice Festival, Blackout for Human Right’s #JusticeForFlint concert, Busboys & Poets, and at a number of conferences, summits, and festivals merging performance art and activism. As a performer and speaker, she’s shared the stage with Stevie Wonder, Angela Davis, bell hooks, Common, Janelle Monae, Danny Glover, Chris Rock, Ledisi, Public Enemy, Musiq Soulchild, Dave Matthews, Carlos Santana, Ryan Coogler, Robert Redford, John Legend, and more.
Natasha is the Buckham Fine Arts Project’s Writer-in-Residence and enjoys reading, yoga, somatics, meditation, interior and digital design, photography, tarot, officiating weddings, and spending time with her 3 kids, 2 cats, and myriad house plants.