Poet, producer, activist, educator, and entrepreneur Sierra Leone captivates audiences with her unassuming ingenuity, profound insight, and comedic sense of “knowing.”

A Governor’s Award winner and writer, Sierra is the president and artistic director of OFP Theatre and Production Company. For more than a decade, Ohio has benefited from Sierra’s vision of creative urban arts as a powerful artistic medium to bring communities together across racial, cultural, ideological, and economic divides. Her project “The Signature: A Poetic Medley Show” presents a hybrid of urban poetry, music, dance, and visual arts from local, regional, and international talent. The show later expanded to include an energetic poetry competition called The Last Poet Standing. In December of 2018, she became a playwright, co-writing Eunice: Starshine and Clay with her partner Nate Leone. The show was named one of the 2018 “top 10 theatre shows in Dayton, Ohio.”

Her work with youth arts organizations, schools, and community organizations has been ongoing through her company’s educational arm, Signature Educational Solutions. In the spring of 2019, Sierra graduated with her second master’s degree, an MBA from Wright State University. Sierra is continuing girls’ and women’s empowerment work through I am Moon Power, which inspired her to complete the Inner Visions Institute Spiritual School two-year personal development program in spring of 2019.

Sierra has written and performed commissioned work for many local and national organizations. Several years ago, she wrote a fictional monologue entitled “Katrina 2031″ that she featured at TEDx Dayton 2014. She is currently a TEDx Dayton speakers’ coach. Sierra was a featured artist at the 2017 National Breaking Silences Conference, where she was commissioned to write a poem about her journey with dyslexia.

Currently, Sierra is working on her new book of poems and short stories. Her recent recognitions include being named a 2020 Kennedy Center Artist Fellowship Finalist Nominee, receiving a 2020 Special Projects Grant for $10,000 funded and administered by Culture Works, and receiving a $5,000 award in 2020 from the Allegro Fund of The Dayton Foundation.

Availability

9am-3:30pm

RECENT PROJECTS:
Kettering Foundation Artist-in-Residence

DECA High School (Dayton, OH) Creativity at the Core: Murals, Meaning, Muse 2.0. – Course designed to allow students to discover, explore, and expand their creative potential through music, self-care journaling, spoken word, and engagement with local visual, fashion, and fabric artists and muralists.

DECA High School – Black History Month production – Black Joy 2.0 – Student-led production designed and executed over two months. Students created original skits, poems, choreography, visual art, and production design. Over 90% of the students who attend DECA High School are Black. Understanding and connecting with the legacy of Black history through the leaders and shapers of culture who have come before them is important.

DECA Talks – Worked with students weekly to provide coaching alonngside other community speaker mentors who have experience in writing and performing. The students learned persuasive and creative writing, public speaking, storytelling, critical thinking, and collaboration skills. Click here to hear DECA Talks.