Shasparay

Shasparay (she/they) is a multi-hyphenate performing artist born and raised in Austin, Texas, who appeared and placed at Amateur Night at the Apollo in 2025. She is the Founder and Artistic Director of the Black Arts Matter Festival and was the 2024 Austin Poetry Slam Grand Slam Champion. She was also the 2022, 4th-Ranked Woman Slam Poet in the World (W.OW.P.S). Shasparay completed a Master's in Arts Administration at the Wisconsin School of Business Bolz Center and holds a B.S. in Theatre from UW-Madison. She was a recipient of the First Wave Hip Hop and Urban Arts Full Tuition Scholarship, a speaker at the 2016 TEDxYouth Austin conference, and is a National NAACP ACT-SO Gold Medalist. Shasparay has been a finalist in national and regional slam competitions such as Women of the World Poetry Slam, Stone Wall International Poetry Slam, Southern Fried Poetry Slam, Texas Grand Slam, and is a two-time Lipstick Wars Poetry Slam Champion. They have been featured on platforms such as the New York Times, Button Poetry, Huffington Post, Youth Speaks, and Buzzfeed. She is an AudioVerse award-winning cast member of the highly acclaimed horror anthology podcast Old Gods of Appalachia. Lastly, her one-person theater show, BODY POLITICS, directed by Mark H., has been praised by audiences throughout the U.S and internationally.

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