IYAPIPHANY

Believe rather than Know...the Magic is YOU.

Iyapiphany or Ms. Sherry (as she is known in the field of after-school and youth development) is an Intentionally Black performance poet, educator and Training Specialist. Thoroughly enamored with her culture and three children, she devotes herself to the Creator, words and improving the world by improving herself. An avid student of Truth, she has studied various spiritual paths. Humbled and amazed by recurring themes, she meshed what resonated with her spirit into a workable scale of Gratitude & Guidance. In documenting her journey she penned a poetry manuscript, Dressing the Ground.

She has been featured at the Nuyorican Poets Cafe as a Spotlight Poet, and closed out Essence Magazine's Women Who are Shaping the World Summit in 2007 and played a powerful role in the play Evolution through Re-invention which received an Adelcuo Award. She has also performed at numerous venues throughout the Tri-State area.

She has taught in NYC schools and found an absence of the light that inspires true learning and self-discovery. Understanding the power of education, she found an alternative route to reaching children and youth via designing instructional curricula and managing after-school and youth development programs. The overwhelming success and impact of this work inspired her to delve into discovering the roots of social disconnect and find ways to derail its occurrence. A self-proclaimed advocate of BlackLove and Family, Iyapiphany works to obtain insight on issues that are of particular concern to the Black community. Her operating mantra being, "Make yourself the object of intense study and you will surely discover God."

Iyapiphany holds a B.A. in Sociology and a Master's in Public Affairs and Administration. She currently facilitates seminars and group discussions designed to lessen Cultural and Cognitive Dissonance.