Bianca Jazmine | Singer-Songwriter

positive lyric as affirmation/motivation e.g. “bounce that ass” etc etc Read more>>

Kelsey Bryan-Zwick | Pronouns: she/they. Assitant Director of The Poetry Lab

“Wouldn’t it be nice if…” This short phrase was taught to me by my dear friend Gerard Wozek. My mind can be a bit of a worrier: my imagination runs wild with possibilities. This little string of words replaced the , “but what ifs,” that often plagued me. Now instead of imagining the worst outcomes I relish in the possible pleasures. I think it is a perfect ‘mind spell,” which is what Gerard called it, and has fundamentally changed my daily thinking practice.  Read more>>

Dale Guy Madison | Award-winning educator, LGBTQ activist, playwright, author, filmmaker, performance artist and doll collector

As a black kid growing up in the 60s, I had so many dreams to do so many things. I wanted to be an actor, a model, a dancer, an artist, and a fashion designer. I wanted to live in Hollywood; I wanted to make a difference in people’s lives. My father put me out of his home in 1976 when he learned I was gay. My dreams of going to college disappeared for 30 years. I went after other dreams and became an actor, artist, model, dancer, and television host, yet when I look back over the past 30 years of my life; the one thing I regretted was not going to college in 1976. To paraphrase lyrics from DREAMGIRLS: Read more>>

Patrick Li | Concept Artist and Architect

My favorite quote is “Everything you can imagine is real” by Pablo Picasso. Growing up, I have always been told to fit in into the majority and have forced myself to limit my creativity. However, that is not who I am. I always had a dream of living in a world where I am my own creator and director, and have the power to build everything in my mind. Therefore, this quote has always been my motivation throughout my career to constantly remind myself who I am and to not be afraid to project my imaginations into reality. Read more>>