Meet Leroy Bean of Dayton, Ohio

Today we’d like to introduce you to Leroy Bean

Hi Leroy, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today?
In January 2014, I started writing poetry as a way to process my emotions and manage my depression. I didn’t consider it to be poetry until about half way through the year. I wrote at least a poem a day everyday for 9-months straight that year, just because that’s what my spirit needed to get through that time. I didn’t even know spoken word was still a “thing” until around that Fall I saw the “King of Dayton” poetry slam happening and something in my spirit nudged me to sign up. This was the first time I was able to feel what it was like for my story and perspective to be heard and valued. After my turn in the first round of the slam, from the stage, the host shouted, “Yo, that was dope, son! Stick around!” So, I did. After getting exposed to the poetry community in Ohio I fell in love with it and showed up for every opportunity I could.

The slam was hosted by a poetry collective that produced spoken word shows on a monthly basis. So, not only did I get invited to be a part of a new collective, but I also got the experience and mentorship with the professional side of poetry. After a few years into the experience, I co-founded a collective of poets with 3 other friends called Underdog Academy and moved to Columbus, Ohio shortly after. We considered ourselves the “underdogs” because we shared a hunger for hitting the stage and expanding our reach as spoken word poets. After traveling to many events and getting booked by multiple universities, we still realized there was a lot missing from the culture of live entertainment production and programming. This led us to create a platform of our own called Broken English:101 and we would go on to produce this show until we took our recent hiatus this year in 2024. But not long after starting Broken English:101 I moved back to Dayton with the promise to myself that I would have something valuable to bring back to the community.

Upon arriving back in my hometown, I started an open mic called Expressions that got its popularity outside, gathered around the fountains at Riverscape downtown. During this time I was also working on my first book, a verse novella, called “The Love and Theory of Womanology”. Those two things evolved quickly. Expressions transitioned to a local coffee shop called Third Perk and grew into a new version called The EP Open Mic in collaboration with a friend of mine named Ebony Stroud. It went on to be a home for local artists for the next 2-3 years. Within that time I finished and self-published my book and poetry album to go with it. I hosted a book release that included performances and a panel of women that held space for a community conversation about women’s, especially Black women’s, experience in our community.

I started to exercise my knowledge of producing live entertainment shows and event planning as often as possible to create platforms for local Black artists to showcase their talents and improve in their craft. My work with Underdog Academy and the projects I’ve done on my own had put me in so many great positions of community activism, cultural strategy, and being an educator. 2019 was the year I discovered James Baldwin and I solidified my shift into community and cultural activism. I started using my creativity to structure these spaces, instead of creating events solely about creative performance. One of my biggest projects of that time was Baldwin Cafe, a safe third space dedicated to the personal growth, well-being, and full expression of Black people. It evolved from community spaces to a full bookstore focused on African American literature. Unfortunately, we opened just 2 weeks before quarantine started in 2020 and suffered at the hands of the pandemic. Loosing all the momentum I had during that time sent me into a dark place. I started questioning my leadership, my ideas, my anxiety worsened, and went into a deep depression and that made it hard to create anything that was going to get presented to the outside world.

I went through a lot during the pandemic, but I mostly focused on my mental and spiritual health while seeing how my craft could play a role in that. It led to self-publishing a chapbook called “Gift of Isolation” that I wrote while I was sick from COVID. It helped provide clarity about being isolated and removed from the constant distractions of everyday life that overshadowed the deeper meanings of my human experiences and personal growth. I learned to redefine what productivity meant to me, which was more about taking care of myself that how many profitable hours I put in, Much like most of society, I began using social media as a way to engage with my audience and I started posting dance videos called “Milly Rock Aerobics” as a way to get unstuck and move the emotions out of my body and into a more joyful space. As I became more comfortable creating “content”, I also decided to share my story behind “Gift of Isolation”. A friend of mine was watching, inspired by my story she introduced me to Youth Peer Support. Certified peer supporters are trained and certified in using their lived experience to help others impacted by mental illness or substance use disorders. This took me back to my origin story. I used art to move through my experience with mental illness and now I had an opportunity to give back with a certified skill AND my lived experience. Around this same time in 2021, I got a job working at a local art school as an adjunct teaching poetry and performance to 7th – 12th grade. This was an era of giving back to the youth in ways that I needed when I was younger.

All of these experiences brought me to where I am today and have fueled my thoughts, beliefs, and skills. Most recently, in 2023, I got a chance to go to Paris for a James Baldwin Writer’s Conference and stayed for a month. It was a life changing experience that gave me time to process and catch up to myself after all I had done. I came back to the states with such a renewed perspective that it gave me the clarity I needed to be confident in my craft and the vision I have for myself. My time in Paris directly influenced my newest project Baritone Hue, my first hour-length theatrical performance.

Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
It definitely has not been a smooth road, more like full of potholes and detours and traffic for no apparent reason! After finding out my purpose, I felt I had to hit the hard reset. My resume was full of factory jobs, fast food, and any job that was decent pay and easy to do. I wanted to start working jobs that were moving me in the direction that I saw my art taking me. So I gave up my life in Columbus, quit my job, moved back home with my grandmother in Dayton to start a new and intentional life. This initiated my walk down the road of the “starving artist”, which has always caused financial struggles especially being self-taught with no college degree in any other subject. It also hasn’t helped that inflation has continued to keep stability just out of reach no matter how much I’ve increased my value. With that, as local artists we constantly found ourselves priced out of local venues leaving us a small window of opportunity to reach success in our own communities. Also, mental illness has continued to play a part in my journey. Expressing myself through art has been a tool for my mental health, but in some ways turning my personal expression into a career has increased my anxiety, imposter syndrome, episodes of depression, and stress.

Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
I am a spoken word poet first. I perform poetry and write poetry books or stories in a poetic format. I am also an educator that teaches poetry and performance in my own workshops, for programs, grade schools, and universities. However, I think I am known for many things to different people. I am a host/MC, producer, curator of community spaces, and consultant. I am known for my poetry, performance, and community leadership. To some, I am known for a bookstore called Baldwin Cafe that focused on African American literature and curated 3rd spaces like community dialogues, meditation workshops, and social events like our Lit. Exchange. I am most proud of my recent project Baritone Hue. It is a new take on spoken word performance that I call a “Spoken Word Special”. I started to wonder why a place hadn’t been created for spoken word poetry in mainstream media like there is for comedy, another “spoken word” artform. So, I wrote an hour-length poetic storytelling performance that revisits my journey to Paris, where I spent a month following in the footsteps of James Baldwin and attending a James Baldwin Writer’s Conference.

Before we let you go, we’ve got to ask if you have any advice for those who are just starting out?
For those poets just starting out, find your community! It’s easy for us as writers to isolate ourselves as the observers of society and culture or for the purposes of processing our experiences to be able to articulate them through creative writing. However, to be a part of a community that understands your experience and can support your efforts of growth and development is priceless! One thing I wish I knew was how to put myself out there in a professional and entrepreneurial way, to treat my artistry as a profitable business, because getting booked as a poet means contracts, w9s, invoices, copyrights, etc. and those aren’t things we think about when we start out just for our expression. Also, create for joy and just expression sometimes without the expectation of creating for money or a deadline.

Pricing:

• Performance: $500-$800 for 15 – 30 min
• 2hr Workshop: $800

Contact Info:

• Website: https://linktr.ee/leroydbean
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/leroydbean/?next=%2F
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/leroy.d.bean/?_rdr
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@24leroybean
• Other: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xn10Vd61orQ

Image Credits
GM Creative
Annie Noelker
KNACK Photographer
SEANKOREY Photographer
AP2 Photography
Fia Fotos
THKLUVLTR Photographer