Featured Contributor

Ashley Cornelius is a spoken word poet in Colorado. She won Gold for the Colorado Springs Independent Best of Artist Category 2019. She has won four Hear Here Poetry Slams in Colorado Springs. She was the Women of the World Poetry Slam Colorado Springs representative and competed in Dallas at Nationals in March 2018. She has been featured at Keep Colorado Springs Queer Open Mic, the Black Voices Matter Open Mic, NAACP Colorado Springs, Pikes Peak Community College, the Colorado Springs Women’s March, At the Ink Well, The Mercury Cafe and events in Denver and Colorado Springs. Ashley is the Co-Director of Poetry 719. 

Ashley was nominated for two 2018 Pikes Peak Art Council (PPAC) awards and won best recurring poetry event. She has also been featured at Tedx Colorado Springs. She graduated with a master’s in International Disaster Psychology from DU. She focuses on providing creative therapy for adolescents. Her poems reflect her personal struggles and journey as a young black woman. She aims to inspire, empower, evoke change.

Ashley has a background in poetry education and was the Program Director of an arts nonprofit in Denver focused on poetry workshop and curriculum. Ashley is committed to using poetry as a platform to speak up and out for marginalized groups and be a voice for those who have been silenced.