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Chantay Leonard
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“A pen and a prayer is my salvation”, Legacy Leonard affirms of her burning need to create and inspire. Ever since her childhood years Legacy has been enthralled with the art of written word. First published at the age of 13 in an anthology entitled Master Mixx, and making her spoken word debut at 15 at the Detroit Institute of Arts in 1995 she has shown a commanding ability to elevate and educate through poetry. Through arts and activism Legacy spreads her messages of self love, consciousness, community, upliftment and change with passion and power.
It was in 1997 after completing an internship at the Detroit Free Press that Legacy embarked upon the beginning of her performance career at the locally legendary Cafe Mahogany. In May 2001 she joined Black Ink Collective, and has honed her skills and commanded the attention of audiences in the Metro Detroit area and across the country at colleges, universities, festivals and numerous events.
She has shared stages with poetical icons The Last Poets, Amiri Baraka, Jessica “care” Moore, Black Bottom Collective, Third Eye Open Poetry Collective, Jamaal “Versiz” May, Queen Sheba and countless others.
Her poetry has also been featured in Internet magazines “Black Gurrl Poetry” and “Fresh Angles”. Her work has been a selected feature for Timbooktu.com and she is the first winner of the New Word Order First National Net Slam January 2005. She has spoken word audios in rotation on Internet radio stations Vocalized Ink.org, FreedomPath Radio.com, and Blackmic.com. She has been interviewed on radio stations WHPR 88 FM (Highland Park), WGPR 107.5 FM (Detroit) and has appeared on the local talk shows "Homegrown Detroit" and "Poetic Flow", Television 68. She has appeared in the documentaries “Detroit Poets Against The War” (2003) and the internationally acclaimed “Shrinking Cities” (2004).
Legacy is one half of HipSoTry Entertainment – the perfect blend of hip hop, soul and poetry, an emerging talent booking and management agency. She travels around the country with Hip-Poe-Tics, a lecture and performance activism series, which teaches college and university students how to target issues, organize and use art to aspire to activism. As a newly inducted member of the Strange Fruits, a collective of 8 women artists from across the country, she works in collaboration with the Strange Fruit non-profit program that caters to girls between the ages of 8-18, conducting writers workshops, offering counseling and self esteem building. She is also a member of the activist performance collectives Progressive Artists for The Millions More Movement (PAMMM), Pitch Black Poetry Collective, and Deph-Onyx.
Once a former gang member, Legacy now spends much of her time contributing to community activism and empowerment. She continues to support various causes, and organizing and coordinating community events. “The power belongs to the people, and only through positive investment can we counteract the negativity that destroys our people and our communities. It is so important to utilize the arts as a vehicle of positive and progressive change”
She pursues and polishes her craft as a writer and performer at local workshops and venues. Stanford University’s Black Arts Quarterly has recently featured her work. Legacy is currently working on her first book, Babylon Batafurai.
To witness a living testament to the power and peace of spoken word, you must experience Legacy Leonard in the flesh. “The universe was spoken into existence through words, and through the word we can change our lives and the world.”
legacyleonard's Genres: Poetry, fiction, spoken word
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