“We are a community of artists and activists working towards equity, justice, and liberation for all people. We envision a world where cultural abundance is celebrated; and performance, education, and honest dialogue lead to healing and systemic progress.”
Meet Deejay. This perfect little package of a man has created big change in his community with fiery passion and intense ambition. While many of my entrepreneur friends turned their interests into a career later in life, Deejay has been doing his own thing (and doing it well) since he was a baby just out of Radford University. In his 20s, he opened his own booming theater company, TheaterLAB in downtown RVA.
As an activist in the LGBQT community for years, Deejay related to and was inspired by the BLM movement. He understood that community and education can create change. With that TheaterLAB transformed to the The Conciliation Lab.
In the height of lockdown, they hosted online lectures and forums to educate and give people a voice to vent, question, express and learn. It allowed a community to thrive and become stronger even when we couldn’t safely be together in person.
Fast forward to 2021, The Conciliation Lab hosts performances, events and forums that illuminate the distortions of America’s racial history and gives a voice to those who previously were without one. The Conciliation Lab is a platform for many who didn’t have a place to speak their truth or didn’t know how to articulate what they have experienced.
Everything Deejay does oozes with creativity and positive social change. He has touched so many lives and is a friend to so many. Seriously, I’ve never gone out to dinner with the man without at least three people running into Deejay. He’s a popular person and for good reason. When everything you do is to better the people in your community, they naturally gravitate towards the shining light. He is a leader, he is a listener he is a change agent.