Aja Monet started actively reading and reciting poetry in the New York City youth poetry/slam community in high school with an organization called Urban Word NYC. Her poems are lyrical, wise and courageous. She received her BA in liberal arts from Sarah Lawrence College in 2009 and her MFA in creative writing from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in 2011. While at Sarah Lawrence College, Monet was awarded the legendary Nuyorican Poet's Café Grand Slam title in 2007. She has been internationally recognized for combining her spellbound voice and vivid poetic imagery on stage. While in college, she used music and poetry to help organize urgent responses to natural disasters in New Orleans and later on in Haiti as well as local community issues. In 2015, she was invited by the Dream Defenders to be a part of a movement delegation to Palestine, and she has continued to work in collaboration with cultural workers and organizers to demonstrate radical solidarity. 

In 2018, Monet’s first full collection of poetry, my mother was a freedom fighter, was nominated for an NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Literary Work. She read the title poem of her collection at the national Women’s March on Washington DC in 2017 to commemorate women of the Diaspora. In 2012, she collaborated with poet/musician Saul Williams on the book Chorus, an anthem of a new generation of poets.

Monet currently lives in Little Haiti, Miami, where she is cofounder of Smoke Signals Studio, a collective dedicated to music, art, culture and organizing. In collaboration with Community Justice Project and inspired by poet June Jordan's revolutionary blueprint, Monet facilitates "Voices: Poetry for the People," a grassroots workshop for organizers and community leaders. In 2018, the workshop created the first annual Maroon Poetry Festival in Liberty City, Miami, to honor artists and cultural workers for their commitment to radical truth-telling. A lover of art, music, and poetry, Monet has continued to collaborate with artists across all genres including musicians Vijay Iyer, Samora Pinderhughes, Gerald Clayton and visual artists Carrie Mae Weems, Mike Schreiber and countless more. She volunteers at Dade Correctional Facility teaching "Poetry for the People" with an organization called Exchange for Change.

phillip agnew cofounded the Dream Defenders in 2012 after the murder of Trayvon Martin and has been dubbed "one of this generation’s leading voices" and recognized by both EBONY magazine and The Root as one of the 100 most influential African Americans in the nation. He emerged as a national activist when he helped to organize students from FAMU, Florida State University and Tallahassee Community College in the creation of the Student Coalition for Justice, which was formed in response to the Martin Lee Anderson case. 

agnew is the cofounder of Miami's Smoke Signals Studio -- a community based radical artistic space -- with his partner, poet Aja Monet. Smoke Signals Studio is a space where those invested in using art, sound and music as a meeting place for transformation and liberation can come to create together.

In 2018, agnew transitioned from his role as codirector of the Dream Defenders and now travels the country teaching and organizing outside of the movement bubble. He has spoken at colleges and conferences around the country and was a featured speaker at TEDWomen 2018 and SXSW in 2019. agnew is member of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc. and a Board Member for Planned Parenthood Action Fund.