Tasjha Dixon

Tasjha Dixon is a bridge between worlds—where word meets breath, and healing meets revolution. A Taurus grounded in soul-soil, she is a Buddhist practitioner, trauma-informed yoga therapeutics teacher, intuitive healer, meditation guide and channeler. Her life is a devotion to liberation through language and embodied practice.

A single mother, disabled Army veteran, and truth-teller rooted in Kansas City, she transforms struggle into sacred story, weaving threads of resilience, justice, and ancestral knowing into every offering. Tasjha is the founder of Empowering KC, a sanctuary for community-based healing that centers BIPOC voices, somatic restoration, and creative expression.

Poet. Space-maker. Social worker. Entrepreneur.  Tasjha's spoken word reverberates with earth-wisdom and street-truth, echoing 20+ years of grassroots activism and heart-led service. Her voice is a vessel for the everyday sacred—a reminder that language can liberate.

Tasjha will receive her MFA in Creative Writing from Naropa University (August 2025), Tasjha brings a contemplative edge to creative practice. As a TLAN board member, she holds space for transformation—where storytelling becomes resistance, and every syllable a step toward collective healing.

Kiesa Kay

Kiesa Kay, poet and playwright, created the video series Transforming Trauma through Creative Expression for Survivor Space, a division of Zero Abuse Project, interviewing extraordinary heroes like Maeen Aldahbali, Robin Landsong, Suzy Ryan, Hilary Dirlam, and River Dandelion.  She's helped a dozen writers take their books from conception to completion and teaches workshops on the Healing Art of Writing. Her own works include three plays that have been presented in seven states so far. Love Makes a Home became a convocation for Berea College and traveled to Cumberland Gap National Historical Park, the Orchard at Altapass, and many more venues. Thunder is the Mountain's Voice received first presentation at Rocky Mountain National Park and was chosen for a sesquicentennial celebration. She edited the ground-breaking anthology Uniquely Gifted: Identifying and Meeting the Needs of the Twice Exceptional Student. As a Storyteller for Collective Healing, she co-wrote Creating Our Resilience, presented at La Mama Experimental Theater in New York City. Kiesa grew up in Gardner, Kansas, and in 2025 was named to the GEHS Alumni Hall of Fame. She owned a writing retreat in Montgaillard, France, for a decade, and wrote her memoir, Tornado Alley, there. Kiesa has penned more than a thousand articles and poems and one novel, The Cicada Year.  Her website is Kiesa Kay | Writing Workshops

Andrea Leeb 

Andrea Leeb is a writer and survivor advocate from Venice Beach, California. She has an MFA from Bennington Writing Seminars, and her work has been published in numerous literary journals including Litro Magazine, the Potomac Review, Text, Power and Telling Magazine, and HerStry. Previously, Andrea worked as an attorney and as a registered nurse. Her memoir, Such a Pretty Picture will be published by She Writes Press/distributed by Simon & Schuster on Oct. 14, 2025. https://andrealeebauthor.com

Greg Smith

BA English, Secondary Education Teaching Certification

As someone whose life has been deeply touched by numerous encounters with the Transformative Language Arts, he is honored to help further the mission of the TLA Network, having participated in Power of Words conferences, Brave Voice retreats, and writing classes offered by Turning Point. While he has always cherished and supported those whose creativity in various mediums such as the spoken, written, or sung word, and how they greatly enrich all our lives; he has recently begun to do so himself. First, by completing a memoir as part of his legacy to his family, and now, beginning to put together a memoir on his wife Diane's and their family's experience of their encounter with Diane's vascular dementia. Diane's initial involvement with all these TLA activities has opened the door for his participation here as well, for which he will remain forever grateful!