News & Events
December 2018
December 3- Talk, Swarthmore College, Philadelphia
December 8- Talk, Racial Hierarchy in Latin America, San Diego State University
November 2018
November 4- Keynote, Antiblackness in Latin America, Wesleyan University, Connecticut
November 8-13- Tour Host for AfroCuban centered tour, Afrolatino Travel Group Tour, Havana, Cuba
November 15- Keynote, Being AfroLatina and Self-Preservation, University of California- Davis
October 2018
October 4- Workshop, Postcolonial Feminism and Racial Hierarchy in Latin America, Brown University, Rhode Island
October 5- Keynote, Antiblackness in the Dominican Republic and Latin America, Carnaval 2018- Dominican Students at Brown University, Rhode Island
October 28- Special Guest, Solace film premiere, by director Tchaiko Omawale, NYC
September 2018
September 18- Talk, Antiblackness as Latin American Nationalism, Colgate University, New York
September 27- Keynote, Being AfroLatina and Racial Hierarchy in Latin America, Noche de Gala-Hispanic Heritage Month, Stephen F Austin State University, Texas
May 2018
May 23- Representa! Series premieres on Blossom TV in collaboration with AintiLatina.com, featuring Zahira Kelly as a panelist.
April 2018
April 8- Keynote, Antiblackness in Latinamerica, Black and Latina Womens Summit, University of Illinois
April 8- Workshop, Recognizing Antiblackness in Latinamerica, Black and Latina Womens Summit, University of Illinois
April 17- Talk, Antiblackness in Latinamerica, Occidental College
April 20- Keynote, Decolonizing Research Methods, Columbia University
April 25- Talk, Art and Resistance, University of Wisconsin
April 27- Keynote, Antiblackness in Latinamerica, University of California-Los Angeles
March 2018
March 2- Talk, Antiblackness in Latinamerica, Indiana University
March 24- Workshop, Blackness in Dominican Republic, National Dominican Student Conference, New York University
March 26- Keynote, Living as AfroLatina, Washington State University
February 2018
February 3- Keynote Speaker, Healing and Resistance as an Afrolatina, Womyn of Color Conference, University of California- Santa Barbara
February 27- Panel with Alan Pelaez, Afrolatinidad, University of California-Berkeley
February 28- Keynote, Latinas Beyond UPenn, University of Pennsylvania
December 2017
December 4– Panel, Being Dominican in Different Industries, Bella Quisqueya, 6-8pm, National Dominican Student Conference, 909 Kimmel Center for University Life, NYU
December 9- Panel, Episode 2: Solidarity: Intellectual Life, Contemplation, and Belonging in the Millenia, Chroma Collective Conference, 8 Ball Community, 21 Howard Street, NYC
November 2017
November 2 – TEDx Talk, #MaybeHeDoesntHitYou/ #QuizaNoTePegue, TEDx Mexico City-Women, Bridges/Puentes, El Teatro Barrio Santa Fe, Mexico City, Mexico
November 7- Talk, Boston College, Decolonizing Beauty Standards
November 14– Panel, Ni Negro Ni Blanco, 6-7:30pm, CMEP Lounge, NYU
November 18– Keynote Speaker, Teen Summit, Casita Maria, Bronx NY, Register at bit/ly/11-18-17
October 2017
October 6- Podcast, Ep 6: Dirty Scrapbooking with Zahira Kelly, Latinos Out Loud with Juan Bago and Rachel La Loca, Listen HERE
October 9, 10 – Talk on Afrolatinas Plight in Latin America/#QuizaNoTePegue, Foro Mujeres Lideres de Mexico, Sala Mayor de Rectoria, Tecnologico de Monterrey, Campus Monterrey, Mexico
October 21 – Talk, Antiblackness as Latin American Nationalism, Williams College, Massachusetts
October 25 – Panel, Feminism, Womanism, and the Struggle for Equality within Black Community, 6-8pm, Sleeper Auditorium, Room 129, Boston University College of General Studies, 871 Commonwealth Ave, Boston MA 02215
October 28- Art Exhibition, Light (An Ode To Women), 6-11pm, hARTlem, 226 W 145th Street, New York, NY, Tickets at hartlemartfest.eventbrite.com
September 2017
September 7, 8, 9– Panel on Feminism and Racism and Art Exhibition, Pitchwise Festival, Sarajevo, Bosnia
August 2017
August 19– Q&A, The Sex Myth, A Devised Play, 8:30pm, HERE Arts Center- 145 Avenue of the Americas, Entrance on Dominick, one block south of Spring St., NYC, Details here and Tickets here
July 2017
July 7- Panel, Community Economics & Women Entrepeurship, AfroLatino Festival, Schomburg Center for Research in Black Studies, Harlem, NYC, Details TBA at AfroLatinoFestNYC.com
July 8- Outdoor Vending of Art Prints, Apparel, Jewelry. AfroLatino Festival, BedStuy Restoration Plaza, 1368 Fulton St, Brooklyn NYC, More TBA
July 9- Art Exhibition and Panel, The Scarlet Event, 4-10pm, 2nd Floor, 478 Tremont Ave, Bronx, NY 10467, Includes All You Cab Eat buffet and open bar, Tickets at MpFrias.com/Shop
May 2017
May 1 – Panel Moderator, Right2Work, NYC (Details TBA)
May 28– Panel, Artists in Action Forum: The Revolution, 2:30-5:30pm, Harlem, NYC, Details TBA
April 2017
April 20- Talk, AfroLatina: Living as Embodied Myth, 6pm, Miller Hall, Western Washington University, Washington State
February 2017
February 14- The folks at KGB Bar’s True Story Series asked me to do a reading and Q&A session on decolonizing love and I was happy to oblige. Check out the event link here as you can send questions beforehand, NYC, 7pm.
February 15- I will be in Brooklyn, NYC at this art show debuting new work that is a bit different from what I usually do in that I used live models. Excited to share it with you!
November 2016
November 15- #QuizaNoTePegue
Last May, my friend Lauren Chief Elk and I started #MaybeHeDoesntHitYou on twitter to document forms of non-physical violence women like us experience and within hours, women all over the world joined in across social media to speak their truths and experiences.
I am so happy to announce that following the initial english-language, widespread success, we are launching it spanish with the help of Cynthia Garcia-Galindo of Plan C, our #MaybeHeDoesntHitYou embassador in Mexico.
Join us and read more on it here.
//Hace unos meses junto a mi buena amiga Lauren Chief Elk empeze #MaybeHeDoesntHitYou sobre el abuso no-fisico y dentro de horas, mujeres alrededor del mundo se unieron a nosotras y compartieron sus historias.
Hoy me place mucho anunciar que con Cynthia García-Galindo de Plan C, nuestra nueva embajadora de #MaybeHeDoesntHitYou en Mexico, lanzamos #QuizaNoTePegue, la version hispanoparlante, para alcanzar a mujeres en Latinoamerica.
Sumate y lee mas aqui.
October 2016
Sunday Oct 16– In-Studio Interview, The lovely ladies at the Tea With Queen and J podcast invited me to their Bondfire Radio recording studio for what turned out to be a hilarious sister circle, with engineer TastyKeish joining in for talk on Diasporic Black girl stuff. Listen to the Ep HERE., Bondfire Radio, NYC
(Left to Right: Queen, Zahira, J aka Janicia) Photo: Tasty Keish
Monday Oct 17. 2016– Due to my podcast’s success, the lovely folks at Bumpers.fm requested a 4 episode extension, with Ep 5 airing on this date at bumpers.fm/zahira.
September 2016
Monday Sep 19. 2016– Debut of “Shouting From The Margins” weekly 4 episode season podcast hosted by me at bumpers.fm/zahira, at bumpers.fm’s behest to join their fam.
May 2016
May 1- #MaybeHeDoesntHitYou
Lauren Chief Elk and I started #MaybeHeDoesntHitYou on twitter to document forms of non-physical violence women like us experience and within hours, women all over the world joined in across social media to speak their truths and experiences.
May 18– Speaking Event, Intergenerational Trauma: Recognizing and Healing Colonial wounds in the Latin American Community, NorthWestern University, Illinois, 7pm
May 18– Recipient of ¡Ahora! Award for commitment to organizing and demonstrating the necessity for ethnic studies as a praxis for a better future en la comunidad, from Northwestern University’s Alianza and Latina and Latino Studies Program
April 2016
April 21– Panel, How We Disappear: Missing in Life, Missing in Death, with Lauren Chief Elk and Shaadi Devereaux. Sarah Lawrence College, Yonkers, NY, 5:30pm
February 2016
February 9– Speaking Event, Knox College, Illinois- a talk for Black history month on being an Afrolatina.
February 12– Panel, Chillin Island Multimedia Art Show, Babycastles, NYC- on art with Aaron Bondaroff, Andrew Kuo, Z Behl, Sam McKinniss and Venus X.
February 25– Speaking Event, Davidson College, North Carolina- a talk on telenovelas and the ways they parallel reality for Afrolatinas.
October 2015
October 17- Live Reading of Written Pieces, SheWritesShe- Readings by Femme identified authors, Naked Heart Fest, Toronto
October 17- Panel, The Crucible of Trauma- on traversing trauma through creative expression, Naked Heart Fest, Toronto
October 3- Award Recipient at Awards Brunch, #AfroLatinasWhoRock- recognizing AfroLatinas revolutionizing the world around them, NYC
May 2015
May 28- Art Exhibition Closing Cerermony, Sweeties at The ICA- celebration concluding my art showing at a month long group art exhibition by Sweeties Art Collective, Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston
April 2015
April 18- Panel, Building Communities of Resistance- panel on healing intercommunal rifts and forming stronger communities within the liberation movement, Building A Movement Conference (#BAM2015), The New School, NYC
April 14- Panel, Toxic Twitter-duo panel with Shaadi Devereaux on the perils and liberatory power of twitter for marginalized women of color, Sarah Lawrence College, NY
January 2015
January 8- Panel, Disrupting the Digital Humanities- on driving, challenging and redirecting humanities discourse over social media, MLA conference, Via Satellite
April 2014
April 17- Speaking Event, Afrolatina: Living as Embodied Myth- a breakdown of afrolatina erasure, history, present and future, Depauw University, Indiana
April 17- Classroom Lecture, PostColonial Feminism: Deconstructing Damsels in Distress, Feminist Theory Class, Depauw University, Indiana
April 18- Classroom Lecture, Erasure of AfroLatinxs and Underground Libraries surging post-Tucson ethnic study book bans, Depauw University, Indiana
