Caress Russell, spoken word artist

Nationally acclaimed performance artist Lady Caress Russell has devoted her life to the art of communication as a poet and public speaker for more than 10 years. She has created and led public speaking and performance seminars around the nation, holding a Master of Fine Arts in Performance from ASU.

Russell uses powerful live performances and videos to spread her message of social justice, empowerment, and cultural understanding. She has been featured on PBS and NPR.  

Her distinctive blend of beatboxing, humor, music, and theatrics has led to commissions for the YMCA, The Blaque Resource Network, The National Multicultural Women’s Conference, and several other national youth programming groups. With her solo act, she has performed at more than 150 colleges and universities.

Russell is a dynamic performer, as seen here, and in Season 4 of “Verses and Flow” on TvOne, and on BET at the 365 Black Awards.

In 2017, she won the Campus Activities Spoken Word Artist of the Year award.