Tajh Sutton: Black Feminist Writer and Educator

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Tajh is a published Author, Model, Playwright, and Award-Winning Step & Dance Choreographer with a specialty in creative direction, content curation, and communications. She has dedicated over 20 years to creating programming and curriculum that centers the stories, cultures, policy demands, and lived experiences of young people of color, queer & disabled youth, system-impacted families, school districts, and neighborhoods that have historically been stigmatized, over-policed, and under-resourced.

A 2019 NeOn Arts Grant recipient and Caribbean Cultural Center: Innovative Cultural Arts Fellow, Tajh co-founded Students Break The Silence with Black youth across the five boroughs and produced the Black Joy Back 2 School Block Party—an experiment in freedom dreaming that posed the question: What could multicultural, student-led #PoliceFreeSchools look like? These intergenerational arts initiatives, event production, and anti racism training efforts would blossom into the organization now known as The Circle Keepers.

Tajh has collaborated with numerous organizations as an activity specialist teaching step and dance. Utilizing the arts and community building rooted in accountability and authenticity, she shifts classroom, school-wide, and organizational cultures to empower youth and families while encouraging administrators to transform punitive approaches toward youth and their advocates—whether parents, educators, or fellow young people—rather than expecting individuals to leave their true selves at the door when entering school, work, organizing spaces, or even their homes.

At the intersection of art and authorship, Tajh has extensively explored themes such as Black feminism, white supremacy, art and culture, the commodification of Black women’s aesthetics, how we raise free Black children, and what true solidarity entails. This work contributes to holistic, family-friendly curriculum design, workshop facilitation, and culture-shifting across various arenas. Her writings have been featured in Bust Magazine, For Harriet, Huffington Post Black Voices, BBC News, and 21 Ninety. Additionally, her educational expertise and organizing efforts have garnered attention from The Nation, Brooklyn News 12, Hell Gate, Gothamist, North Brooklyn News, Chalkbeat, AM New York, Greenpointers, Brooklyn Paper, Daily News, PIX 11, and more.

As a steering committee member at both Black Lives Matter at School NY and Parents For Responsive Equitable Safe Schools (PRESS NYC), as well as the Program Director at Teens Take Charge, Communications Director at Students Break the Silence, Healing Centered Schools task force member, and Community Education Council President in District 14, Tajh has brought her expertise in grassroots family-centered advocacy, youth-led transformative policy work, and abolitionist community organizing directly to elected leaders and Department of Education employees from 2019-2024. Their persistent use of the language of equity, social justice, and 'progressivism' without producing results for Black, Latino, underrepresented Asian, low-income, undocumented, hood, queer, and non-English speaking communities has been something she found unacceptable, often placing her at odds with current power brokers. Nevertheless, she remained undeterred.

Her understanding that conversations about racism must specifically address anti-Blackness and colorism while seeking to dismantle respectability politics, the model minority myth, fatphobia, and meritocracy has left a lasting impact on the School Board space in New York City, even if she never received recognition for it.

Ultimately, her contributions led to her illegal removal from the School Board after five years of service due to her pro-Palestine advocacy and support for free speech and student protests. As the only New York City school board President to issue a statement supporting a Ceasefire and to use terms like genocide and apartheid regarding the Gaza situation, the campaign to end her tenure as an effective and unapologetic board member in a rapidly right-leaning public education landscape was swift, relentless, and traumatic. Yet, she regrets nothing.

After a well-deserved hiatus, Tajh returned to arts education as a Teaching Artist and later as Program Director.

Currently, Tajh is engaged in creative projects that center her expertise, allow her to tell her story, and enable her to create freely while being compensated handsomely for her gifts.

If you're interested in consultation, collaboration, a workshop, photo shoot, dance class, or keynote, please see the Services Page.