Ashara Ekundayo

Ashara is a cultural worker of the urban landscape and brings her whole self and more than 20 years of professional experience into the social entrepreneurial movement. Through her company BluBlak Media Consulting, she has worked with local and national organizations to build capacity for increased community engagement through the uses of creative practice, exhibition, strategic communications design and project management. She is a non-profit professional, serial entrepreneur, and activist committed to social change, and has supported individuals and grassroots companies in the redesign of their brand strategy through permaculture principles and is an expert at negotiating collaborative space within the intersections of the public and private sector. In 2009, Ashara was selected by the Ashoka Foundation and the City of Denver in the U.S. launch of the “Change Your City” Campaign as a Social Innovator “stimulating the green economy.” She has worked with indie media outlets such as FreeSpeech TV, GritTv KGNU radio, and Just Media, and has presented at international conferences including the World Social Forum, the Biennial of The Americas and SXSW. She has held Fellowship positions with the U.S. Dept of State Bureau of Educational & Cultural Affairs and Green For All, and is currently a member of the “Future Soul Think Tank” at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts. Her passions for social media, technology, and civic hacking also find her writing STEAM Curriculum for BlackGirlsCode.com, and hosting a food Tumblr blog and in-person series called “Grits & Greens.”