I'm Rayshauna, an inquisitive BGN living in Boston. I was born and raised on the south side of Chicago and began my nerdy journey armed with a children's book of Roman myths and a set of Encyclopedia Americana. I soon began snatching ribbons at science fairs and spelling bees, eventually combining my love of ideas and language by majoring in Philosophy and Literature at North Park University in Chicago.
I built on my social justice background and broadened my critique of our shared culture by organizing events for New Wave - Young Boston Feminists, a diverse community activists through MeetUp. I've been volunteering with Boston’s Alliance Francaise since 2009 and I’ve just set up a position engaging communities on behalf of the Museum of African American History (www.afroammuseum.org / @MAAHMuseum). I enjoy engendering positive social change as a Legislative Task Force member with the National Organization for Women in Massachusetts (www.massnow.org / @massnow). We endeavor to enhance the quality of life for women and girls by promoting positive legislation. As a granddaughter of the Great Migration from Mississippi to Chicago, I have a deep appreciation for Black American vernacular and literary traditions, an appreciation that prompted me to read the Norton Anthology of African American Literature (#NAAAL) and return to school in 2014.
My blog, The Ideologue (www.theideologue.info / @theideologue), features a series of lectures, interviews and panel discussions with great minds throughout New England. I'm very excited to attend the TEDxCambridge talk on September 13, 2013 and the Massachusetts Conference for Women in December. I'd like to conduct research for the Library of Congress and the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture and to continue living a life of significance.
