talks & conferences
SELECTED INVITED TALKS & SEMINARS
2019. Workshop facilitator. "Writing the Memoir," Countee Culleen Library, New York Writer’s Workshop, Harlem, NY.
2019. Lecture, “Africana Studies, Journalism and Filmmaking,” Upperman African-American Cultural Center, University of North Carolina-Wilmington, Wilmington, NC.
2019. Lecture, “Traditions and Practices of the Orisa Religion and Its Influence and Presence in Modern Day Religious Practices,” Upperman African-American Cultural Center, University of North Carolina- Wilmington, Wilmington, NC.
2018. Guest lecture and film screening, “Orisa in the Ghetto: The Black Divine,” Upperman African- American Cultural Center, University of North Carolina-Wilmington, Wilmington, NC.
2018. Talk on learning how to develop research skills while in a doctoral program for the Mellon Mays Undergraduate Fellowship Summer Program, CUNY, Hunter College. New York, NY.
2018. Sponsor and panelist. "Break Bread & Build." Alternative Education Resource Institute. Chicago Teachers Union Foundation, Chicago, IL.
2018. Moderator and organizer. "In Conversation with Roxanne Shante." New York University, Global Liberal Studies, New York, NY.
2017. Workshop facilitator for NYU Liberal Studies professional development seminar (with Mitchell Jackson), "If Black Isn't an Identity Then Tell Me What It Is?".
2016. Film discussant for screening of Herman’s House for art exhibition, “Elizabeth Duffy: Maximum Security.” Visual Performing Arts Center of New Jersey, Summit, NJ.
2016. “What the Hell is Nollywood? A Historical Analysis of an Anglophone West African Film Industry,” at Wesleyan’s African Film Festival. Department of History, African Studies Cluster, Wesleyan College, Middleton, CT.
2016. “Unpacking the Narrative of Frederick Douglass.” Class workshops on African-American Literature, English Department, William Patterson, Paterson, New Jersey.
2016. “Effective Blogging.” Blogging workshop, Essex County College, Newark, New Jersey.
2015. “Eating Poems: Black Women Poets.” Class workshop on African-American Literature, English Department, William Patterson, Paterson, New Jersey.
2015. “Talking Film Series.” Visual Performing Arts Center of New Jersey, Summit, NJ.
2014. “Nollywood and Negotiations of Diasporic Identity in Newark, New Jersey.” Mass Communications Talk, Xavier University of Louisiana, New Orleans, LA.
2010. “Nollywood in Newark.” African Americans in Film course, Essex County College, Newark, NJ.
SELECTED CONFERENCE ACTIVITY & PARTICIPATION
2019. "Women in Media." Panel organizer and moderator. Center for Multicultural and Educational Programs, New York University, New York, NY.
2019. "Black Experience in America: Liberal Studies Black History Month" Started and organized Liberal Studies' inaugural Black History Month Celebration with a month-long exploration of Blacknesses in the US: 1. The Black Millennial; 2. Afro-Latinidad in the African diaspora; 3. Social Justice & the Criminal Justice System; 4. The Black Aesthetic.
2018. “I Believe Women: Sexual Assault Townhall,” Co-organizer and moderator by Ark Republic, Global Spectrum Group and Lisa Durden Productions, Acorn Theatre, New York, NY.
2018. Fall and Spring workshops co-facilitator "Linkedin: Building Your Professional Portfolio." Honors College, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ.
2017. "Local Travel Blogs," in Liberal Studies Summer Symposium, New York University, London.
2016. “Afromodernity and Afrofuturism: Representation of Blackness in Nollywood,” in panel on Representations and Media Landscapes, Race & Media Conference, New York University, New York, NY.
2016. “Primal Sites of Nollywood Consumption,” in panel on “‘Black Pleasure is a Critical Thing:’ Centering Black Audiences’ Consumption, Critique, and Desire,” Society of Cinema and Media Studies, Atlanta, GA.
2016. “Street Pedagogy: Blogging the Urban in Newark, NJ.” Urban Humanities Convergence: A Conference of the Humanities Division of Essex County College, Newark, NJ.
2015. “Circulation, Consumption and Readings of Nollywood Audiences in Newark, NJ,” University of Southern California, Annenberg Summer Diversity Institute Presentation, Los Angeles, CA.
2014. “Black Americans Have No Culture: Exploring African Diasporic Nollywood in the Digital Age,” Northeast Modern Language Association Convention, Harrisburg, PA.
2014. “Black Americans Have No Culture: Exploring African Diasporic Nollywood in the Digital Age,” Northeast Modern Language Association Convention, Harrisburg, PA.
2014. “Nollywood in Newark.” Vortices: From Modernism to Mid-Century: A Conference of the Humanities Division of Essex County College, Newark, NJ.
2013. “Social Media, Newark & Hurricane Sandy: Examining State, Municipal and Community Use of Social Media during a Natural Disaster.” Social Media & Technology Conference, Bowie
State University/Howard University, Bowie, MD.