Co-founders of KayJo Creatives
Natalie Graham
Production Director
Natalie J. Graham, a native of Gainesville, Florida, earned her M.F.A. in Creative Writing at the University of Florida. She completed her Ph.D. in American Studies at Michigan State University as a University Distinguished Fellow. Her first poetry collection, Begin with a Failed Body, was selected by Kwame Dawes for the 2016 Cave Canem Poetry Prize. Her poems and articles have been published in San Francisco Chronicle, PEN America: A Journal for Writers and Readers, Callaloo, Obsidian, New England Review, Southern Humanities Review, The Journal of Popular Culture, and Transition. A widely-published scholar of African American Studies, she focuses on race, masculinity, and regional identities and has taught cultural studies at the college level for over 15 years. She currently serves as the Director of Cal State Fullerton’s Institute of Black Intellectual Innovation and as the Chair of the Department of African American Studies.
Keya Vance
Creative Director
Keya Vance is a painter, photographer, and graphic designer from San Bernardino, California. She uses art to challenge society to have difficult conversations. Her work dramatizes the dynamic nature of relationships, both the healing and destructive power of community. Before working with KayJo Creatives, she co-facilitated visual arts workshops at Cal State University, Fullerton and screened her short film, “Underneath There is a Wound.” She was the primary investigator for a two-day multi-genre creative arts workshop, “Imagining Home: The Stories Photos Tell,” funded by Cal Humanities. Her workshop examined historical and contemporary representation of African Americans through photographs. Vance has a B.A. in African American Studies, has completed significant course work in the performing arts, and is currently working on her first feature-length screenplay, “Undone.”
We are community-centered through and through. Nothing great happens in isolation. Book us for a paint party, poetry workshop, or custom event for your organization. Keep track of all our events, musings, and updates @KayJoCreatives.