Whatever You Do, Let It Be Bold with Alex Tha Great

In Episode 20 of D’Ville Voices, Mary Ann Taylor sits down with spoken word artist, speaker, playwright, and activist Alex Tha Great for a conversation about creativity, expression, and using your voice with purpose.

Alex Tha Great (an acronym for “Given Real Encouragement Amongst Turmoil”) has performed on stages across the country since 2011. A finalist in the 2017 Women of the World Poetry Slam and runner-up in the 2018 National Civil Rights Museum Drop the Mic Poetry Slam, she brings together poetry, performance, scholarship and advocacy in work shaped by culture, identity and lived experience.

Her creative work extends beyond spoken word. She is the author of Sticks and Stones Don’t Break My Bones, Black Souls Dance On Beat and Everything My Daddy Taught Me. Her award-winning one-woman show, Passport to Womanhood, debuted in 2013 and toured for two years. She also created the Alex Tha Great Award for Black Studies Scholar to support others pursuing academic work in African American Studies.

From the stage to the classroom and community, Alex has built her work around the power of words to connect, challenge, and encourage others — guided by a simple philosophy: “Whatever you do, let it be bold!”