D’dra White is many things. She is a Kearny Street IWL Fellow, NAACP Image Award Nominee, and the oldest granddaughter of the first Black mayor of Menlo Park, California. Armed with a smile, and the knowledge that this is her calling, D’dra is an empath, using poetry and spoken word to tell the stories of those who forgot that they had a story to tell. At its core, her work is a love letter to the Black Experience.
She has featured all over the United States and shared the stage with Prentice Powell, Shawn William, Sonya Renee Taylor, and other notable poets. She has performed alongside musical acts such as Tank and the Bangas, E-40, and Kendrick Lamar. Excerpts of her choreopoem “If You Give a Black Girl a Lemon” have been performed at The Public Theatre in New York and YBCA.
As a teaching artist, she has facilitated spoken word workshops at the elementary, middle, high school and collegiate level and presented at the Academic Education Research Association conference. She has also been the editor/curator of the poetry section of the academic anthology, Root Work Journal, since its inception.
When not on stage, D’dra can be found doing a multitude of things including but not limited to working as an Education Director for a Bay Area non-profit, collecting accessories, and dreaming herself free.
