Toni Blackman Biography

Toni Blackman is a proponent of improvisation and a cultural ambassador. Her background as a diplomat makes it easy for her to navigate a variety of sectors, including the arts, politics, international meetings, youth organizations, academics, and the music business. Her work has continually stated that hip-hop is the worldwide platform to position the US as a good global citizen as she is America's first Hip-Hop Ambassador. Senegal, Ghana, Botswana, Swaziland, Ivory Coast, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Brazil, South Africa, Angola, and a number of locations in Europe are just a few of the 30 nations that Blackman has visited and worked in. Her diplomatic work covers gender violence prevention, literacy, HIV awareness, and peace and reconciliation. As the creator and head of Freestyle Union, a cypher workshop that employs free styling as a means to promote social responsibility, Blackman is highly regarded, and his work has had a significant impact on the hip-hop activist scene. This former Echoing Green Fellow has also served as a fellow at the Open Society Institute of the Soros Foundation. The Freestyle Union's woman-focused campaign Rhyme Like a Girl, which debuted in collaboration with Girls, Inc. and eventually teamed with the New School University, played a significant role in Blackman's creative organizing efforts. Toni Blackman has turned her love of improvisation and creativity into a stirring speech on "becoming open," "centering," and utilizing one's own inner strength. She has given performances and speeches at several conferences, including the famous Pio Manzu International Conference in Italy, the ManUp Summit in South Africa during the World Cup, and the FORD Foundation and City Xpo Big Ideas Conference in Virginia. The NBA, Craigslist Foundation events, Julliard, Ross School of Business-UM, Smithsonian Museum, Harvard, Girl Scouts "Beyond Bars" program for incarcerated mothers, Latin American Youth Center's Gang Violence Prevention, MDGFive UN program for Maternal Health, and Institute for Policy Studies are just a few of the organizations for which she has led workshops and training. Blackman, a former visiting professor at the University of Michigan and adjunct professor of hip-hop at Binghamton University, serves as a judge for the American Music Abroad initiative of the US Department of State. With the help of Jazz at Lincoln Center's Musical Ambassador Program, she performed throughout Southeast Asia. She has performed onstage alongside artists such as Erykah Badu, Mos Def, The Roots, Wyclef, Dougie Fresh, Wu Tang Clan, GURU, KRS One, Bahamadia, Dead Prez, Boot Camp Clic, Me'Shell NdegeoCello, Sarah McLachlan, Sheryl Crow, Jill Sobule, James "Blood 2003 saw the publication of her debut novel, Inner-Course (Villard/Random House). Toni Blackman is available for coaching in small groups and privately as well as for lectures, seminars, and motivational speeches.

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