‘RED MEDUSA’, is a UK-born published poet, artist, mentor and PhD candidate researching Black women’s health through utilising ‘Poetic Inquiry’ - the use of poetry in research as method, data and analysis, alongside traditional qualitative research methods to investigate and platform Black women’s mental health experiences during the first wave of the CoVid-19 pandemic in the UK. RED has been writing and performing poetry for over thirty years. Her debut mainstream appearance was for ‘Manorloz’ which was featured in Sky TVs’ Vox Africa channel for Black History Month 2010. Following the birth of her first child in 2012, she went on to share the stage with renowned poets and academics such as Akala, Tolu Agbelusi, Anthony Anaxagorou, Kat François, Joyce Treasure, Professor Eugene Richardson to name a few.

Following five successful years of under- and postgraduate studies in public and global health, the birth of her second child, and the arrival of the CoVid-19 pandemic in the UK, RED continued to perform poetry at international online events. Her ‘womeninlockdown’ haiku was chosen to feature for Liv Torks ‘Haiflu’ series, funded by the British Arts Council. RED went on to become internationally recognised following the release of ‘Here to Stay’, a ground-breaking spoken word piece which spotlights the inherent coloniality embedded in the fashion industry. Created in collaboration with award-winning fashion designer Osman Yousefzada, ‘Here to Stay’ has featured in Vogue, Forbes and Grazia magazines and featured part of the ‘Taking Care of Business’ exhibition at the Migration Museum in London. The ground-breaking piece has since been published by the Wild Apothecary in their stunning, debut book ‘Wild Apothecary: Reclaiming Plant Medicine for All’. ‘

Summer of 2021 saw RED featuring at the Southbank Centres ‘Summer Reunion’ where she joined the Noisettes’ former bass player and curator Shingai on her ‘South London Safari’ which celebrated super-talented alternative artists from South London. Following her epic performance, RED was commissioned by Harm Reduction International to curate ‘Bright Stars, Dark Skies’, an online poetry event focused on social justice, freedom and pleasure. REDs passion for health and justice continued to be centred in her work as demonstrated by her partnership with the African and Caribbean Leukaemia Trust (ACLT), SickleKan, Unsickle My Cells and NHS Blood & Transplant. The commissioned piece ‘Bonded by Blood’ was part of a national and online campaign encouraging 40,000 people from Black and Brown communities to donate blood in the forthcoming blood drive titled ‘Bonded by Blood; A Mothers Story’. RED has gone on to headline the famous feminist ‘She Grrrowls’ festival, ‘Wordplay and Flow’, the US monthly ‘Hummingword’ poetry event, the ‘Million Women Rise’ march and many other platforms centred on social justice.

Her passion for social justice can also be witnessed in her work as a researcher. Her research for her MSc dissertation on epistemic violence in drug policy had led to her delivery of keynote presentations at the 2022 HIT Hot Topics 10th Anniversary Conference in Liverpool, and at the 2023 BAROD annual conference in Swansea, Wales. Her journey through academia and poetry has inspired many; in recognition of her achievements she has been commissioned to showcase her story in April 2024 to the ‘Wax Lyrical’ cohort at the Roundhouse Theatre in Camden, London, alongside World Poetry Slam Champion, author and curator, Kat François.

Away from the stage and academia, RED MEDUSA regularly delivers poetry workshops presents at conferences, secondary schools and universities across London and the UK. REDs in-person poetry workshops are specifically aimed at girls studying at Key Stages 3 and 4 (ages 15 and 16), and so far she has delivered workshops to over 1,000 students attending secondary schools in the south of England. Her workshops utilise non-traditional ways of creating poetry, such as freewriting, to encourage students typically pigeon-holed as ‘difficult’ to engage with poetry writing and performance as a medium with which to express their emotions, experiences and identities, and to foster community and improved relationships between teachers and their students. RED is currently working on a collection of poetry due for release in summer 2025, following the successful release of her recently self-published chapbook ‘Breathing Water’ in 2022.