Mahogany L. Browne

Mahogany L Browne is a vocalist, organizer, writer and poet. Browne was born in Oakland California and started writing when she was just four years old and in kindergarten. In high school, she was forced to drop out since her teacher forbade her from writing poetry in her English honors class. Making use of her experiences with oppression, addiction, sexism, and racism, she was inspired to write her very popular brand of poetic novels. Her spoken word performances created a platform for girls and women to feel heard and empowered. Even though she dropped out of high school, she went on to attend the Pratt Institute where she got her MFA in Activism and Writing. She would also become the institute’s Black Lives Matter program director and founder of the Women Writers of Color Reading Room. Alongside the likes of Sherina Rodriguez Sharpe, Amanda Johnstone, Jericho Brown and Jonterri Gadson they founded the #BlackPoetsSpeakOut a social active literary collective that was inresponse to the Mike Brown murder.