OUR BOARD

Our Board is made up of Black Artists. We are who we serve.

Imani Sims

Imani Sims is an alchemist and author from Seattle, WA. Their passion for Afrofuturism and science fiction permeates every facet of their life. With a background spanning over three decades in performance, they've dedicated themselves to fostering spaces where imagination thrives.

Wonder is Imani’s specialty and drawing inspiration from the cosmos to integrate art, ritual, and the Black aesthetic into experiences tailored for QTBIPOC communities. Their shelves overflow with books delving into Afrofuturist realms, and their tarot deck, The Deck of NONE, embodies their deep connection to the genre. Imani’s work is a world within a world. They are available for pop up tarot installation work and afrofuturism focused collaborations.

Find Imani Sims on Instagram @bookthirtythree

Bubba Jones

Bubba Jones ( Executive Producer / Production Supervisor & Sound Designer and Audio Engineer) is a producer, engineer, composer and multi-instrumentalist from Seattle Washington. Born in the year of the Aquarius (1969), Bubba was a latecomer to playing music but an early bird when it comes to listening and studying the production of the music of the greats. From the age of 10 he began collecting records that pushed the sonic limits of the artist and technology. Beginning with the Beatles, he expanded his collection to include Pink Floyd, Stevie Wonder, Bootsy Collins, Led Zeppelin, Parliament/Funkadelic, Marvin Gaye, Black Sabbath and many others who offered sea change recordings. He began recording his church choir at the age of 14 with a crude Peavey mixer that summed to an old Teac cassette recorder.

But a year later another dimension of his creativity was unleashed when he bagan plucking on the church piano, Hammond B3 organ and an old sears guitar. Within a three year period he had expanded from 1 to 7 instruments and by year 5, he could proficiently play 11 and was composing in genres from Classical to Gospel, Rock to Hip Hop as well as EDM, Country, Blues and folk.

And there was more. Upon meeting his friend Oliver Archute, Bubba was introduced to the world of audio engineering where he helped Oliver to build the world renown Jester Enterprises and TAB-Funkenwerk, where they made amps for Keith Richards, Billy Gibbons and Eric Ambel. The also designed, built and repaired mic preamplifiers, compressors and microphones for Paul McCartney, Paul Allen, Butch Vig and countless other world class artist and engineers.

From this platform, Bubba turned his sights on helping other artist in all the above genres record, perform and promote their projects. His list his list of contributions ranges from indie to major artist: Erik Blood Mountain Con The Turn Ons The Peels The Lights Shabazz Palaces Wayne Shorter Erykah Badu Digable Planets Kim Waters Brand New Heavies The Caligeraphs (Co Produced with Stone Gossard) Alan White (Drummer John Lennon, Yes) Questlove Dr Fink (Prince & The Revolution).

Winfield Ezell Jr.

Winfield Ezell, Jr. is founder and CEO of Obsidian Creative Studios(OCS). As a content studio, Obsidian's principal purpose is creating content targeted at today's Multicultural audience. With a mission of Story, Art, Community, OCS will tell stories with global impact and underlying themes of Diversity, Positivity, and Community that appeal across generational, racial, and socioeconomic boundaries. In a nutshell, we inspire people and connect communities through storytelling and technology.

Winfield brings nearly 30 years of experience in Film/TV Production, and storytelling. As a Writer, Editor, Director, and Producer, Winfield has a proven track record in the Independent film scenes in Seattle, Atlanta, and throughout the South. The consummate storyteller and architect of the Content360 Ecosystem, his experience includes extensive work in the corporate arena with a client list over the years that has included companies like Microsoft, Regence BlueShield, BET, and Delta Regional Authority. Obsidian Creative Studios has garnered acclaim working with organizations such as Acres of Ancestry(Justice for Black Farmers), Ashoka(Worldwide Network of Fellows), and The Safe House Black History Museum(Preserving the Legacy of the Civil Rights Movement). Most recently, Obsidian had the honor and privilege to work with Converge Media on the Emmy nominated documentary, “Reconciliation Tour”.

Obsidian is poised to launch a slate of original content as we move into 2024. Winfield is preparing to launch projects and platforms with a diverse group of content partners and co-collaborators. Obsidian will continue to grow and activate it’s physical footprint in the Pacific NW, and throughout the Southeastern region of the United States, including the Mississippi Delta, and Alabama Black Belt.

Monique " Verbal Oasis" Franklin

Monique Franklin (Verbal Oasis), is an activist, poet, performer, scientist, and mother from Rainier Valley, Seattle. She has been referred to as “The unofficial poet laureate of South Seattle,” “The Billie Holiday of Spoken Word,” “the Verbal Manifestation of Nina Simone’s Soul” , “The High Priestess of prose, poetry and the art of storytelling" and "The Soul Seamstress". Monique is a 15+ year member of African American Writers' Alliance and has self-published three volumes of poetry entitled Acoustic Accolades, Erotic Annals of a Poet and Mama'z Muezz. She has released three spoken word albums Acoustic Accolades Volume 1, Hot Summer Nights and Mama'z Muezz all are available on soundcloud. As a performer you can find her poetry commingling with the ancestors, musicians, vocalist and dancers. The subject matter of her poetry stems from the rich spectrum of her life experiences. This woman is a creative soul.