Blaxperts
Akilah Newton
Akilah Newton is an activist, entrepreneur and author. She has always had a fascination with the arts and pursued her passion by studying music, drama and dance, and performing in productions at John Abbott College and as a member of the Montreal Jubilation Gospel Choir. In 2003 she moved to England to attend the Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts. After earning a BA in Arts, Music & Entertainment Management she returned to Montreal and founded an organization for artistically-inclined youth. She founded Overture with the Arts (OWTA) in 2009; an organization committed to making the arts accessible to youth from all walks of life. She made it her mission to produce OWTA programs and events that spark discussions about social change. One of OWTA’s most popular programs is their annual Black History Month school tour. The tour visits schools across Canada and educates youth about Canadian Black History using music and spoken word.
Diane Roberts
Diane Roberts is an accomplished director, dramaturge, writer and cultural animator, who has collaborated with innovative theatre visionaries and interdisciplinary artists for the past 30 years. Her directorial and dramaturgical work has been seen on stages across Canada and her reputation as a mentor, teacher and community collaborator is nationally and internationally recognized. Diane is a PhD candidate in Interdisciplinary Studies at Concordia University in Montreal, a 2019 Pierre Elliott Trudeau Foundation Scholar and a 2020 Joseph-Armand Bombardier Canada Graduate Scholarship award holder.
Diane’s celebrated Arrivals Legacy Project www.arrivalslegacy.com has birthed new Interdisciplinary works across Canada, throughout the Americas, in the UK, Europe, Africa and the Caribbean. This work has allowed her to articulate, cultivate and realise a vision for theatre that encourages Indigenous ways of knowing as a steppingstone to creative expression.
Diséiye
Born and raised in Nigeria, Diséiye from an early age was drawn to the craftsmanship of tailoring, learning from their mother’s tailor to repurpose scraps of fabrics into garments for their siblings. Moving to Toronto at 15, they studied Contemporary Arts at Ryerson University and classically trained in design from their time at The Toronto Academy of Design, graduating in 2016 showcasing their graduate collection at Toronto Fashion Week as well as Fly Beyond Cancer Benefit raising funds for survivors.
Drawing inspiration from their Nigerian heritage; Diséiye’s design aesthetic highlights the exuberance and vibrancy of their culture in their colors and silhouettes. Diséiye also draws inspiration from the ballroom community which they have been a part of since 2016, it has been an avenue for expressing themselves through dance as well as a platform to explore and showcase their creativity.
Diséiye has honed their design skills and techniques from their apprenticeship with Greta Constantine to their time designing at Lea-ann Belter Bridal, they also created their own line that was showcased at Fashion Art Toronto and Brosche Bridal. Diséiye now specializes in custom clothing and celebrity styling; styling music videos and live performances for artists like Aiza and DVSN.
Dr. Jill Andrew
Dr. Jill Andrew, PhD is the MPP for Toronto-St. Paul's and the first Black, Queer person to be elected to the Ontario Legislature and reportedly in Canada. Since then, she has been a leading voice on issues of gender, race and social justice, the housing crisis, healthcare inequities, education and the immeasurable benefit of arts and culture to our communities but also to our physical, mental and social health. Named Best MPP - First Runner Up by NOW Magazine Reader's Choice Awards, Jill is also a member of the Ontario NDP Black Caucus, a first of its kind in Ontario legislative history, and she sits on the Standing Committee on Public Accounts.
Outside of politics, Dr. Jill Andrew is also co-founder of Body Confidence Canada and is an award-winning educator, former columnist, equity and body-image advocate, speaker and writer. As the co-founder of #SizeismSUCKS and Body Confidence Awareness Week, Jill advocates to end size, weight and appearance-based discrimination, harassment and bullying. She is a community co-owner of Glad Day Bookshop – the world’s oldest LGBT bookstore – and has been an avid volunteer and donor supporting organizations across the GTA that prioritize Black and racialized communities, youth, women, the arts, LGBTQ2+ communities and chronic health advocacy among others.
Miss Lady Andi
Miss Lady Andi is a Montreal-based Divine Feminine Healing Workshop facilitator and entrepreneur. She is the creator of La Villageoise, a unique line of waist beads and feather pleasure wands, crafted for the body shrines of her clientèle to get in touch with their divinity and sensual natures. In her own words: “I am Miss Lady Andi, professional angel. I decided to stop making a living and make my life count. I engage the angels of our higher nature to emerge by speaking words of power and inspiring us to erect ourselves as living altars of the Divine Self. Sacred play and pleasure are my hot sauce, I sprinkle it generously over everything. I am wild woman wisdom. I am the “love your life” coach. I am you, and you are me. I and I. Miss Lady And I.”
Mx. Bukuru
The name is Mx. Bukuru. That’s B-U-K-U-R-U and if you don’t know what it means honey, look it up. Mx. is the church being your momma never wanted you to meet. They are the inaugural winner of Van Slam’s Drag Slam (2019) and runner up in the Eastside Drag Derby (2019). A member of the Diasporic Dynasty, Mx. ascends colonial ideas of religion and will bring you to the sexiest church that ever did exist. Their ass fat, their hips fatter, don’t fucking forget, BLACK LIVES MATTER!
Titi & Beck
Montreal-based Tihitina Semahu (Titi) and Rebecca Gaelle Joachim (Beck) are hosts of the award-winning podcast, “Woke or Whateva”. Over the last year, they have gained a following of over 20K on Instagram. In their own words, they are ‘black women talking their shit. We read, analyze, deconstruct and vulgarize concepts of race. What the kids call woke or whateva.”
A poet and a spoken-word artist, Titi is passionate about social justice and never shies away from voicing her opinion on issues of race and women at any given time. She enjoys fashion and views her short hair as one of her favourite accessories, which is why you might see her rocking a different hair colour every few weeks.
Beck is a Black feminist, a book lover and owner of their own virtual book club. An avid conversationalist, they enjoy sharing critical thoughts on any topic, with friends and strangers alike. Platform boots are another passion of theirs: buying new boots is, as they'd tell you themselves, one of their favorite personality traits.