Rheonna Nicole is a spoken word artist and writer from Louisville, KY. Her poetry is a direct reflection of her. Bold, black and unapologetic about its existence. She created Lipstick Wars Poetry Slam, an annual competition that offers a soapbox for women, trans women, and girl poets all over the nation to speak out against injustice and celebrate womanhood through the art of slam poetry. Rheonna has been a featured speaker at The National Council of Negro Women's Martin Luther King Jr. brunch, Girls IdeaFest, World Festival, Kentucky Women's Writers Conference, Louisville Literary Arts InKY Reading Series, and the Indiana University Poetry Festival. Rheonna and her work has been featured in Today's Woman Magazine, Leo Weekly, Insider Louisville, The Courier Journal, Spalding University’s Art & Literary Hotel journal. She has won  multiple poetry slams in Lexington, Indianapolis, Cincinnati, and Brooklyn. Most recently, the Women of the World Poetry Slam ranked Rheonna sixth place amongst ninety-six female spoken word artists in the nation. Rheonna continues to use her voice to break down barriers, motivate and uplift people, encourage victims of body-shaming, and celebrate black uniqueness through poetry.

Ashley Taylor, a poet performer and MFA candidate at Spalding University’s School of Professional and Creative Writing. Ashley is an educator who designs diverse, collaborative creative arts workshops; more at www.ashleytaylorpoet.com. 

Lance G. Newman II, also known as Mr. SpreadLove, was raised in Louisville, Kentucky. He is a writer, poet, host, actor, and a performing, visual, and teaching artist. His experience is the culmination of a sixteen-year career performing around the country. He regularly facilitates creative writing and public speaking workshops using spoken word poetry for public and private schools, community centers, and organizations in and outside of Louisville. He co-hosts the largest and longest running poetry slam in Louisville, created the public art “LITS Project” on Fourth Street, and has been featured in newspapers, commercials, and feature films. 

Shasparay Lighteard is a Black, queer, performing artist from Austin, Texas, with a  B.A. in Theatre and a Minor in African American Studies from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. In 2018 they were the 10th Ranked Spoken Word Poet in the World. She was a recipient of the First Wave Hip Hop and Urban Arts Full Tuition Scholarship, a speaker at the 2016 TEDxYouth Austin conference and is a National NAACP ACT-SO Gold Medalist. Shasparay has been a finalist in national and regional slam competitions such as Women of the World Poetry Slam, Southern Fried Poetry Slam, Texas Grand Slam, and is the two-time Lip Stick Wars Poetry Slam Champion. Shasparay has been featured on Button Poetry, Youth Speaks, BuzzFeed, and Huffington Post. She has been published by Planned Parenthood and Our Lives Magazine. Shasparay is the founder and producer of the Black Arts Matter Festival, created to uplift Black artists in predominantly white areas. The festival featured over 40 Black artists boasting audiences of up to 400 people in its first year. Shasparay is currently working at Union Theatre as an Artistic Director where she plans to hold a virtual Black Arts Matter Festival in the Fall.

Nelly Jay is a Chicago-born, Louisville-cultured, Brooklyn-living child of Jamaican immigrants. Despite all of the places she's lived, she has always brought her poetry with her. She currently teaches middle school while also coaching high school students of color through their own process of finding their voice in activism and bringing text to life. As one of her favorite poets Kwynology says, Nelly is a "poem trying to person." She competed in the first Lipstick Wars making the top 8 out of 16 poets and has competed and performed in slams and open mics all over the country. She loves the art of writing. The ability to heal and deal through spoken word has been a joy of hers since she started in the 3rd grade. She attempts to bring her artistry into every classroom, auditorium, or debate she enters. In an effort to empower folks, especially queer black women into using their voices for advocacy, Nelly leads a group call Melanin Minds that encourages high school students of color to use scholarship by black and brown writers to inform their activism. She is so excited to be working with these poets during the Lipstick University workshop, and hopes to be able to spark a little advocacy and healing in all of the attendees. 

RADI is an artist, award winning poet, and teacher specializing in spoken word poetry, performance art, and workshop facilitation. Her work covers topics such as civil rights, body/sex positivity, colorism, and sexism, while reflecting her real life experiences as a plus size lesbian Black woman. Competing for 6 years, RADI has had the honor of representing five national poetry teams, including three in her home state of New Jersey. She has traveled all over the world performing in New York, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Georgia, Florida, North and South Carolina, Alabama, Kentucky, Illinois, Texas, Colorado, California, Antigua, and many more. She is based in East Orange, NJ and has been teaching since 2009.