Damini Awoyiga

Damini Awoyiga is a 16-year-old high school student. She is an activist,
spoken word poet and Halifax’s Youth Poet Laureate. Damini is the founder of
Damini Creatives and the Afro-Indigenous Book Club, a book club created to
encourage young people to read books written by Black and Indigenous
authors and to share the realities and experiences of Black and Indigenous
Canadians. Damini was the Junior Artist in Residence for Wellness Within, a
community organization working for reproductive justice, prison abolition and
health equity; CBC’s artist-in-residence for the Michaelle Jean Foundation’s
Canadian Black Summit held in July 2022, where she hosted an interactive
community poetry booth. She is a also a youth freelance journalist for CBC
Mainstreet. She has enjoyed being a board member of the Nova Scotia
Girls Institute for Resource and Learning (NS GIRL) and she is a member of the HRM Youth Advisory Committee. Damini has received multiple awards including the Queen
Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal. As a spoken word poet for over five
years, Damini loves to write, sing, and perform poems that bring attention to
social justice issues.