Heather Canuel is a carceral justice activist whose work is linked to and fueled by her experiences with incarceration. An organizer for the Women’s Justice Institute, Heather provides hairstyling services to currently and formerly incarcerated people alongside her own work in the arts and humanities.
Ky Ajayi taught political science for 15 years at several universities in Illinois, including at Illinois State and Illinois Wesleyan. He is a leading member of the Bloomington-Normal chapter of Black Lives Matter, where he works closely with their bailout fund.
Sonny Garcia is a longtime community activist and organizer who has worked on local, state, and federal campaigns. Sonny was recently elected as the interim co-chair for the Afro Socialist and Socialist of Color Caucus of the Bloomington-Normal DSA. In the fall of 2016, Sonny was asked by local Black Lives Matter leaders if he would consider running for the Bloomington City Council. As the team was preparing to kick off this campaign, they learned that Sonny would not be eligible to run due to a 23-year-old DUI conviction.
Vera Traver is a well-known social worker raised in Bloomington, IL, where she likes to say she has lived two lifestyles in one lifetime. Vera takes pride in giving back to the same community she thought had failed her. Vera currently works at the YWCA of McLean County as the Program Coordinator of the Labyrinth outreach program. She serves a population of women who share backgrounds similar to her personal story. Vera is dedicated to sponsoring women, guiding them through a 12-step Anonymous program, and being transparent about her personal experience.
Allen Chambers was born in Chicago and raised on the west side of Bloomington-Normal by a single mother, and has been hosting cooking nights since he was 10 years old. He speaks openly about how cooking helped him overcome challenges and his belief in the restorative nature of entrepreneurship. Chef Allen has a bachelor’s degree in culinary arts and an associate’s degree in applied studies. For him, cooking is a way of life.
VAM STUDIO is an award-winning production company and film collective behind some of the most disruptive narratives, commercials, and branded content in culture today. VAM is an unapologetic, diverse team of filmmakers working from a variety of backgrounds, perspectives, and disciplines while standing out on a global scale.
The VAM STUDIO team includes filmmakers and writers Sam Bailey, Fatimah Asghar, Jordan Phelps and founder Vincent Martell.
Black owned.
Meredith Nnoka, the Envisioning Justice Fellow at Illinois Humanities, is a Chicago-based writer, educator, and social justice advocate originally from Southern Maryland. She studied the intersecting histories of Black expressive arts and social movements at Smith College for her BA and later the University of Wisconsin-Madison for her MA, where she first considered the questions now central to her work: What is the power in bearing witness, and how can controlling our own narratives be used toward liberation?