Jacquelyn Ogorchukwu, poet and storyteller 

“Justice, in all its honesty, in all its vulnerability, in all its determination, has always been about love.”​
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Jacquelyn Ogorchukwu is an American poet and storyteller of Nigerian descent committed to the well-being and activism of Black people. ​ 

A multidisciplinary artist, through her poetry and writing, meditation, and online courses, she seeks to create content that speaks to the communities often overlooked in society. ​
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Jacquelyn describes her 2018 book of poems ’The Geometry of Black People’, as an “ode to Black people”. 

“I hope that my words are a first step for our community to heal inequality,” she says.​

Social media has made it possible to share her poetry and ideas on a scale previously unimaginable. Visitors to her Instagram @ogorchukwuu will find powerful poems and statements about race and identity, but also exhortations on the benefit of rest, and video meditations, along with ’tender reminders’ – her post-it notes of encouragement to learn, grow and expand.  

In 2021, as a Martell Standout Swift, Jacquelyn Ogorchukwu is using her multi-faceted collaboration to share her teachings on race and identity, while bringing together, and to life, her poetry and ideas in new ways. ​ 

In a live work entitled The Face of Poems, Jacquelyn reads her poetry aloud while African-American artists illustrate her ideas in real time. ​ 

​As she says in her own words, “I wish my poems were felt, not just read. It is with their eyes that my words will come to life.”​

“Justice, in all its honesty, in all its vulnerability, in all its determination, has always been about love.”
– Jacquelyn Ogorchukwu