BE
Chris James
"WHY SETTLE FOR GOOD, WHEN GREAT IS AN OPTION?"
I am a full time creative who has literally created a career out of my art. I have overcome adversity and paved my own lane in the industry as a mental health advocate, life coach, award-winning playwright, TEDx speaker, spoken word artist, 4x author and gallery owner. I have mastered my gift and now I am passionate about showing others how they too can make a way out of no way.
Chris is a 2x TED TALK speaker. Both presentations encompass Chris' life work, helping people heal and inspiring them to dream.
WATCH TED TALKS
As a life coach, Chris collaborates with individuals on their journey to guide them in acquiring their highest level of success; peace, balance and freedom. Chris accomplishes this by providing a vast amount of information including, personal experiences, access to resources, interpersonal challenges and accountability. Chris challenges his clients to see themselves as winners no matter what. We live by the mantra, NO EXCUSES! ONLY EXECUTION! Through his Redefine Your Success method, he trains each client to not only see success in a nontraditional way but to also adopt this approach. Chris works with each client to learn complex ideals of success and happiness, simplify it and to master it. The most successful thought leaders never followed rules. They learned the rules and broke them.
As a teaching artist, Chris integrates art into education by offering a creative approach through his teachings. His workshops focus on enhancing creative writing and literacy skills while creating opportunity for his audience to paint pictures with their words and to express themselves. Chris is the Executive Director of two amazing programs; Poetry Saves Lives and The Roots Art Connection. He is also a member of nationally known poetry slam team, Foreign Tongues who ranked 2nd place in the world's second largest poetry slam in 2014(Southern Fried Poetry Slam). A residency with Chris James is guaranteed to have an impact on how you view poetry and education. He incorporates engaging poetry performance, theater, music and movement in his approach. The program goal is to give students a license to be creative in their writing process while also improving their literary skills. Students are given the opportunity to be performers, actors and slam poets. Each residency is concluded with a poetry slam or culminating event.
Chris James, who begun as a nationally traveling and award-winning spoken word poet took his poems and created theatrical experiences on stages on across America. He did so after being exposed to the late and great Ntzoke Shange, the poet and playwright who penned FOR COLORED GIRLS. In 2013, like Shange, Chris took a series of poems and mashed them into a interconnected story. Chris’ first play was titled THE ODDS AGAINST US, which told many stories of black youth who exist in systemic poverty. His plays almost give a feel of hip hop and poetry combined with the aggressive cadence and passionate tone. 7 years since his debut, Chris has written and produced 6 choreopoem plays and in 2019, was awarded Best Original Script at the Atlanta Black Theatre Festival for his popular play, DEAR BLACK PEOPLE.