Speakers

Kai Cheng Thom

Kai Cheng Thom

Writer, performer, cultural worker & speaker

https://kaichengthom.com

I believe that each of us is born to reshape the world.  The prophet and storyteller Octavia Butler has written that we change everything we touch, and everything we touch changes us – and every moment of my life has proven this to be true.  I am a storyteller in the lineage of change-makers, and my message is simple: we need to discover a revolutionary love. I speak this message in poetry, in song and movement, in words delivered straight from my soul.

My teachers and mentors include d’bi young anitafrika, Deanna Smith and Jason Blackbird Selman of the Kalmunity Vibe Collective, Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarsinha, and others.  These artists and thought leaders taught me that words matter, that the role of the storyteller is to speak truth to power in service of the people.  Over the past ten years, I have been asked to speak on many topics all over the continent: anti-oppression, trans rights and gendered violence, racism, mental healthconflict resolution and social change.  My views on these topics are shaped by my lived experience, as well as my professional training as a former clinical social worker and therapist. 

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