Staff
Tia Ross has directed and produced the Black Writers Reunion & Conference since its inception in August 2000. She was also the founder and executive director of the former Black Writers Alliance (BWA), the Houston African-American Writers' Society, and the Gold Pen Awards, a national multi-genre literary awards program. Tia founded the National Black Writers Foundation in furtherance of her efforts to promote excellence in writing, African-American literature, and the professional growth and development of Black writers through educational programs, networking, scholarships, and public information.
Outside of BWRC, Tia is a convention and conference planning consultant and solopreneur specializing in information design and copyediting nonfiction, web copy, and technical and business documents. She is the editor of the NAACP Image Award-winning "More Than Entertainers: An Inspirational Black Career Guide," recipient of the 2005-2006 Platinum Page Award for her contributions to the African-American literary community, and was a nominee for the 2008 Influential Black Women in Business Award. The Los Angeles native currently resides in a Dallas, Texas, suburb. For more information about Tia, visit www.tiaross.com.
Shani Lasana, Chairperson - Editor/Agent Committee
Coordinator, Poetry Slam & Presenter of the workshop "Creating The Poet: Exploring the Craft and Business of Poetry"
From the day she picked up her first book and read the words Shani knew that she wanted to be a writer. Just like the gumbo from her native state of Louisiana her writings are a flavorful mixture of southern flare and folklore mixed with northern attitude. She cultivated her skills as a member of Scribia, a writing group at Grambling State University where she majored in sociology and minored in theater. The day after she read Cotton Candy on A Rainy Day, by Nikki Giovanni she began to devour, study and read any and everything about poetry. She has studied the art and craft of poetry at Temple University, Grambling State University and Virginia Tech. She has performed her poetry in Philadelphia, Louisiana, New York, Virginia, Texas and Oklahoma.
Frustrated by the traditional publishing experience, Shani formed NubianThought, a company geared toward helping those who want to self-publish go through the process. Her passion doesn't just end with the written words but extends to spoken and artistic expression. The mission of NubianThoughts is to bring back the love and appreciation of the African American artistic experience.
Her upcoming projects include a community theater company, a Historically Black college and university (HBCU) poetry slam, and a series of anthologies focused on the HBCU experience. She is also the founder of Alpha Omega Psi, a Greek community organization geared to preserving African American artistic expression.
Currently she has a short-story collection entitled I'm Every Woman and a book of poetry entitled Just a Clever Assemblage of Words. She is also working on a stage play in conjunction with her first novel called And Still I Rise. Her two art collections look at the different faces of women and a collection mixing art and poetry.
She currently resides in Memphis, Tennessee.
www.nubianthought.com
Angela Smith, Chairperson - Sponsorship Committee
Angela Smith is President of Exodus Outreach Services, Inc. and owner of S&M Consulting. Her work with Exodus focuses on collaborative projects; corporate sponsorships with local, statewide, and national agencies; and facilitating valuable communication to the media and the general public. Through S&M Consulting, she offers extensive knowledge and expertise in outreach projects, mental health advocacy, and community development, and she contracts her speaker management, fundraising, and event planning skills with companies in New Jersey, New York, and Indiana. In addition, Angela is an independent published author, workshop facilitator, and speaker.
Angela has an undergraduate degree in accounting and is pursuing her masters degree in Christian counseling psychology. A native Floridian, Angela now resides in Indianapolis, IN with her two youngest sons. She is a member of the Indiana State Department of Health (ISDH) Influential Womens Forum and a Prevention Committee Member of the ISDH Adolescent Health Coalition; a Board Member of the Indiana Minister of Music Association, and volunteers with the YMCA as a soccer coach as well as the Indianapolis Motor Speedway 500 Festival.
Omavi Mafujo Ndoto
Omavi Ndoto a/k/a Yusuf Chaotic, the Alkhemist, is an artist who attempts to bring chaos into an otherwise faux ordered reality. He is a writer, web designer, graphic artist, and all-around computer geek.
"Alchemy may be compared to the man who told his sons he had left the gold buried somewhere in his vineyard; where they by digging found no gold, but by turning up the mould, about the roots of their vines, procured a plentiful vintage. So the search and endeavors to make gold have brought many useful inventions and instructive experiments to light." - Francis Bacon
Omavi deems himself a modern day alchemist. Using words to transfer the mundane lead-likened life of this reality to a chaotic mental plane of untold richness. A writer for as long as he can recall, Omavi likens his need of the written word to the need of oxygen to sustain life. A poet first and foremost, he also tinkers in short stories, essays and other forms of literature. In addition, he also enjoys the business aspects of writing.
Omavi's work has been featured in multiple anthologies, magazines, and newspapers; as well as on many online literary journals and websites. His work has been published in the anthology Web of Words published by ShowEMall! Omavi's poem "Black Beauty" has been sampled by the artist Soel in his composition "Black Woman" on the album Momento. He is currently preparing his first book of poetry aptly titled "Lyrical Bondage." Also in progress is his first novel tentatively titled "Silence"; a story of mystery and intrigue laced with old world magic. These are just two of Omavi's many projects. You can also find his worlds online at Vox, MySpace, Xanga, and other on-line blogs and communities.
In addition to his writing projects, he is also the creator/editor of the literary E-zine Chaotic Dreams Online. A former moderator of the now defunct Black Writers Alliance regional mailing lists, he still lends his assistance to the Black Writer's United conferences. To fill in his spare moments, Omavi designs web pages and does layout and typesetting for books. He is always willing to share his knowledge of web design, book layout, graphic design, and computers with anyone who asks.
Originally, from the Commonwealth of Dominica in the West Indies, he now resides in Columbus, Ohio. While working towards his big break as a full-time writer he is employed as a Biomedical Equipment Technician for a worldwide corporation and doing computer repair on the side. In his spare time, he reads as much as he can.
You can find out more about Omavi and the chaotic realm of alKhemiKal Soulism at omavi-alkhame.chaoticdreams.net.