Stevona Elem-Rogers is a writer, educator, and cultural worker who tells the truth about Black women's lives, with a love that wants us seen. Felt. Known. Named.

Her unique voice has been described as a “Toni Morrison–Gangsta Boo hybrid,” blending literary depth with the raw genius and humor of Southern storytelling. Through writing, dialogue, and cultural projects, she centers Black women’s brilliance, complexity, and the everyday acts that shape survival and joy.

She is the creator of project Black Women Are For Grown-Ups (BWAFGU), a nationally celebrated t-shirt campaign that has evolved into a living archive, amplifying the stories and histories of Black women. Among its signature projects is the first Little Free Library in the U.S. dedicated entirely to books by Black women, with early support from icons Nikki Giovanni and Sonia Sanchez.

Her work has appeared in The New York Times with Cleo Wade, in i-D Magazine profiling Solange Knowles for the cover, and in Essence, where her love letter, "Dear New Orleans," became the Festival’s 30th anniversary cover story. Her vision has been recognized by cultural institutions including Saint Heron, the Amistad Research Center, and the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, and she is often called on to guide dialogue with leaders such as Janelle Monáe and Nikole Hannah-Jones.

She holds a B.A. in English and African American Studies and an M.A.T. in Culturally Responsive Teaching. A former high school English teacher in post-Katrina New Orleans, she responded to the mass firing of teachers, most of them Black women, by helping to found Black Education for New Orleans (BE NOLA). She also created its Harvard-recognized Black Is Brilliant platform, lifting up Black education as culture in its own right.

And if you don't know her from all that, you might remember the viral July 4th rant that put Anna Murray Douglass in America's memory, reminding the world: Black women are the blueprint. Period.