Alicia Walters, visionary and creator

Alicia Walters (she/gawdess) is a dreamer and creator exploring how we get free. As an artist, writer and facilitator, she invites people to envision and embody joyful liberation. The visionary and creator of the Black Thought Project, Alicia has designed and facilitated interactive art installations engaging thousands of Black people about their experiences and visions of a world where they are truly safe and free. With decades of experience in social justice movements, Alicia is a sought-after speaker and advisor, training communities and organizations in Centering Blackness as a path for personal and collective transformation. Believing deeply in the power of rest, ease and flow, Alicia also facilitates retreats where people can tap into their deepest knowing, embody their joy, express their visions and engage their gifts. 

Alicia has spent 20 years centering the needs, visions and gifts of Black women and women of color toward liberation. She is a fellow at The Maven Collaborative where she documents the impact of Centering Blackness on narrative and culture change. She was facilitator and co-creator of the Black Future Newsstand and creative director and author of WHOLE: a Vision for Abortion Freedom. She has authored legislation that ended the shackling of pregnant incarcerated women in California, led national community-based research on the impact of incarceration on families, and organized for full access to reproductive healthcare, among many other issues. Alicia and her work have been featured in numerous outlets including The New York Times, The Guardian, CNN, Ebony and TIME.

When not dreaming and manifesting liberated futures, Alicia rests, gardens, rollerskates, laughs and enjoys time with her family and village.

Learn more at aliciamwalters.com.

The maven collaborative, co-conspirators

The Maven Collabortive centers race, gender and joy in the pursuit of economic justice. From grassroots movement building to grasstops debate, their work pushes progressive movements to properly diagnose economic problems, build new policies, and promote new politics to address the root causes of economic exclusion.

The dynamic staff of The Maven Collaborative are thought partners and co-conspirators of the Black Thought Project. It was during her time facilitating the Power Narrative Learning Community with staff of the Maven Collaborative that Alicia came up with the idea for the Black Thought Project and they have enjoyed collaborating ever since. Learn more at mavencollaborative.org.