About The Founder
Tracy ( T-Spirit) Stanton is formerly incarcerated award winning multidisciplinary international spoken word artist, cultural organizer, peacemaker, trainer, and certified well-being coach who primarily uses spoken word poetry to foster connections, spark hope, disrupt systems of oppression, ignite transformation and recall ancestral memory.. She is the founder of Some Things Must Be Heard : Spitting & Politicking which is an art centered movement building initiative, a founding member of Freedom Community Center which is a Black- Led restorative justice abolitionist organization, and the owner of Spirit- LED Coaching & Consulting. Her he(art) was gifted to her by the ancestors, elders and predecessors so it shall remain grounded in transparency, vulnerability, resilience, righteousness, resistance, joy, and truth. Her poetry is a catalyst for personal and social transformation and it speaks to and for those that are battling oppressive systems: internally and externally.
Tracy ( T-Spirit) Stanton has led and organized several direct actions, facilitated hundreds community organizing meetings( black only spaces), and hosted a plethora of all inclusive workshops inside and outside of the country addressing topics such as : systemic violence, movement building, transformative justice, racial capitalism, abolition,emotional suppression, anxiety, inner criticism, self defeating thoughts, emotional regulation, and much more.
She has presented and performed at several conferences including : On the Rise : Legal Defense Fund, Socialism, Rising Majority, Facing Race, Just Narratives, Roots & Remedies, SLU’s Scale Conference, and the Rite of Joy. She was summoned to offer poetry at Mike Browns Jr’s 10 years angelversary at Ground Zero, Fred Hampton’s 77th Birthday Weekend led by Chairman Fred Hampton Jr, Arch City Defenders Gala, Forward Through Ferguson Gala, and Dream.org Cohort Graduation. T-Spirit was a 2025 semifinalist for St. Louis Poet Laureate. Her other memorable moments included performing at the 2025 KSDK Black History Keynote event in collaboration with the Missouri History Museum, directing her first poetic visual entitled : When We Speak which is an ode to Black Womxn who have made a huge impact in poetry and social justice. In addition to these milestones, she is also a 2025 & 2024 Artist Inc Facilitator and 2023 Artist Leadership Fellow with the Mid America Arts Alliance , Performing for 4,000 plus people at the 2024 Facing Race Conference, being selected as a 2023 Regional Arts Commission Grant Recipient for her Some Things Must Be Heard: Open/ Closed Mic ( Spitting & Politicking Series (a project, where she have featured close to 60 spoken words artists and community organizers), serving as the 2023 Poet in Residence with the National Blues Museum where she had the honor to present the Poetry Collective ( 10 local Spoken words Artists who were compensated to share their arts with over 200 attendees) at the Blues on the Block Summer Series between June and August. She also served as a teaching Artist with Freedom Arts and Education Center in the summer of 2025 and 2023 where she enjoyed facilitating poetry workshops with youth ranging from grades K -12th and when I tell you they wrote, healed and performed: that is exactly what they did. In addition to these accomplishments, she was a guest panelist at the 2023 Socialism Conference where she presented poetry, discussed abolition organizing, alternatives to police and shared the demands from the STL Defund. Reenvision and Transform Campaign that she is involved in. She was also sought out to facilitate her Poetry Workshop :The He(ART) in ART at the 2024 & 2023 Roots & Remedies Conference.
T-Spirit the poet has appeared in the St. Louis American, Riverfront Times, STLMAG, St. Louis Post Dispatch, and on KSDK. She has also been acknowledged in the Washington Post, New York Times, Abc.news, Riverfront Times, St. Louis American, KSDK, Now This is News, St. Louis Public Radio, and St. Louis Post-Dispatch for her advocacy, activism, and community service. She is a 2022 Missouri Mental Health Champion Nominee, 2022 Delux Magazine Power 100 Honoree, 2022 Streets to Success Award Recipient, 2021 Mid America Emmy Nominee for a short story highlighting her transition, 2022 Center for Women In Transition Community Partner Award Recipient, 2019 Staying Power Award and 2019 Beautiful Transformation Award Recipient.
Poetry allows her to live in the hearts and souls of everyone she encounters.
