Bekezela Mguni and Mi’Jan Celie on After Dinner Conversations

Join host Bekezela Mguni and her guest Mi’Jan Celie as they discuss the theme of storytelling on the next After Dinner Conversations, presented by OPA.

Bekezela Mguni is a queer Trinidadian artist, librarian, and educator. She has over 15 years of community organizing experience in the Reproductive Justice movement and holds an MLIS from the University of Pittsburgh. Mguni launched The Black Unicorn Project, a Black feminist community library, archive and cultural intervention that centers and celebrates the literary contributions of Black women and Black TLGBQIA+ people. She is currently an artist in residence at Artists Image Resource and the librarian in residence at the Pittsburgh International Airport. Mguni also serves as the Education Program Director at Dreams of Hope which affirms the voices and leadership of LGBTQ youth through the arts.

Mi’Jan Celie Tho-Biaz, Ed.D., is a cultural leader, oral historian, and restorative storyteller who shares narratives of personal transformation and community change. As the founder of the New Mexico Women of Color Nonprofit Leadership Initiative, she works with communities across the themes of sovereignty, transformation, healing, and equity. Celie is also a public speaker and has performed at Carnegie Hall, the Institute of American Indian Arts, and SXSW. Celie designed and led the Steinem Initiative’s public policy digital storytelling pilot at Smith College, was a visiting scholar at Columbia University, and served as a New Mexico Humanities Council Scholar. Her collaborations include serving as a 2019-2020 Kennedy Center Citizen Artist, a BMW Foundation Responsible Leader, and an Encore Public Voices Fellow.

After Dinner Conversations is an Instagram Live series, made possible by a grant from the Pennsylvania Humanities Council. To attend this live session, please follow Office of Public Art on Instagram at officeofpublicart.