Singer and songwriter Kenyatta Emmanuel Hughes is an artist and activist who has shared his music from Sing Sing to the Carnegie Hall, offering a full live concert the same day of his release after serving 241⁄2 years in prison. Kenyatta collaborated with a range of stakeholders in and out of carceral spaces to impact the world artistically and socially, forming initiatives such as Voices From Within, which serves the children of incarcerated parents. He is an example of and tireless advocate for the wealth of potential awaiting discovery in the nation’s carceral spaces. His offering of music and message is consistent from his 2014 TEDx talk, through his presentation at the 2022 International Wellbeing Summit, exploring the beauty of life, love, and the human condition, reminding us of all that we hold in common.

Kenyatta Emmanuel is a Galaxy Leaders Fellow and an Artist in Residence for the Initiative for a Just Society at Columbia University School of Law, as well as a teaching artist with Carnegie Hall’s Musical Connections program. He has just released his debut single, Me For You.