After my career as a recording artist with George Clinton, touring the world as one of the Brides of Funkenstein with the iconic group, Parliament-Funkadelic, I decided to grow and blossom into new fields and genres of performance and entertainment.
So, as a veteran live performer, I opened myself to the world of acting, writing, and comedy.
It was then that I endeavored as a producer to help found the award-winning Obsidian Theatre Company in Toronto in 2000. Obsidian Theatre has since become Canada’s leading culturally diverse theatre company.
To say I’m proud of the work they do now is an understatement.
I had been telling stories all my life through music, theatre and comedy. However, it wasn’t until 2011 that I distinguished myself as a storyteller when I toured the country as a Moth mainstage storyteller and host. This led to invitations to share my stories on podcasts, other storytelling platforms and NPR’s Moth Radio Hour.
It was from there that I began hosting Ann Arbor’s Moth Story Slam, The Secret Society of Twisted Storytellers, Twisted Storytellers Podcast, produced by WDET Radio and other national and international events.
2012, though, was the year that I put grist into my vision and became the Executive Director of The Society for the Re-Institutionalization of Storytelling a Michigan 501 (c) nonprofit organization with a global mission to connect humanity, heal and transform community and to provide an uplifting, thought-provoking, soul-cleansing entertainment experience through the art and craft of storytelling.
In 2017, I became a Kresge Literary Arts Fellow forging a new category: Storytelling. The rest...is still unfolding and I’m in love with the journey.
The Secret Society of Twisted Storytellers®
Founded in Detroit, MI in (July 2012) and expanded in Utrecht, The Netherlands (November 2018), The Secret Society Of Twisted Storytellers partners with corporations, businesses, groups, nonprofits, educational institutions, churches and government to produce and program live events and to provide storytelling workshops in community.
Some of our clients include: Inside/Out Literary Project, Crain’s Communication, GM2020 Challenge Detroit, Bing Youth Institute, N’Namdi Galleries, Carhartt, Marygrove College, Wayne State University School of Social Work, New Detroit Racial Healing and Genealogy Project, Wayne County Community College District, New Economy Initiative, Issue Media Group, Wayne State University Business School of Social Work, Detroit International Academy for Young Women, Arab American National Museum, WDET 101.9, Hannan House, Shinola, Planned Parenthood, Aspen Institute for Ross Business School, University of Michigan, Edsel and Eleanor Ford House and the Detroit Historical Society to name a few.
And thankfully, due in large part to this work, I have had the honor of being recognized with numerous awards which includes I.Detroit, along with 100 other fabulous Detroiters, who are moving the needle forward in our beloved city.
Credentials, Accolades, Happy Clients
Music Performance at Michigan State University
Dramatic Arts at the University of Hawaii (Manoa)
Interdisciplinary Studies Degree from Wayne State University, 2008
The Art of Improvisation at the Groundlings in Los Angeles and Second City Toronto in Canada
Detroit Zoological Society, Eleanor and Edsel Ford House, Teen Hype, City of Southfield, Wayne County Community College District, Arab American National Museum, NEA, First Unitarian Universalist Church Detroit & Ann Arbor, Cass Community Methodist Church,