About LaShanna

Since the age of 8, LaShanna has been writing the poetry found in her handmade birthday cards. At age 14, she truly acknowledged her gift when her poem, I Could’ve Given the Best of Me, was published in the New Rochelle High School newspaper. Inspired by her own poem, where she laments not giving 100% of herself, she graduated from New Rochelle High School in New York as a member of the National Honor Society, and President of the Tri-M Music Honor Society bearing a 3.5 GPA.

On a choral scholarship, LaShanna attended Bethune-Cookman College, where she studied English and Voice. As a senior, she held the position of Editor-in-Chief of the Literary Magazine before going on to acquire a second B.A. in Theatre and a minor in Mass Communications from Samford University.

A Spoken Word Artist, Writer, Lyricist, Director, and Actress, LaShanna has appeared onstage in regional theatres across the North- and Southeast in plays such as Make It Happen Theatre Company's The Watson's Go to Birmingham - 1963, Encore Birmingham's For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide/When the Rainbow is Enuf, Down the Yellow Brick Road with UAB/ArtPlay, Umdabu Dance Company’s Jikela Umboso (A Royal Betrayal), and the Alabama Shakespeare Festival’s Crowns, to name a few. 

A former LaShanna Theatre Director with Jefferson County Schools, LaShanna has taught acting workshops and directed stage productions with the Make It Happen Theatre Company, UAB/ArtPlay, and Birmingham Children's Theatre. LaShanna has also been a consultant and teaching artist for various artists and organizations, including Constantine the Emcee, Grace Jordan Entertainment, Yogi Dada, Ravizee Nation, DISCO, The Nick Bell Foundation, and Khairi and Little Angels Memorial, offering media writing services and content support to both non-profit and for-profit entities.  

Offstage, LaShanna has held roles in Directing, Production Management, and Stage Management. One of LaShanna’s greatest achievements was being the Publicity Director for The Music Caterers, a Birmingham-based entertainment management company founded by Alvin J. Garrett, which Garrett operated with 2003 American Idol-winner, Ruben Studdard. The Music Caterers is internationally known for the management of its hit franchise band, Just A Few Cats. With the opportunity to oversee the casting of Studdard’s 1st music video, Flying Without Wings, which was filmed in the city of Birmingham and premiered worldwide on MTV’s Making the Video on July 1, 2003, LaShanna still presses forward to achieve her goals as both a performer and literary artist.

A published writer, LaShanna’s autobiographical excerpt, "What If God Said ‘No? ’" appears in Tavis Smiley’s award-winning book, Keeping The Faith: Stories of Love, Courage, Healing, and Hope from Black America, which garnered the 2003 NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Literary Work in Non-fiction. She also published the article, "Finding my voice in the Black Lives Matter movement," on AL.com's Reckon Women column.

LaShanna is a freelance theatre artist, writer, and book reviewer. Originally from New Rochelle, NY, she currently resides in Birmingham, AL, with her husband and three rockstar children.