Tasha Jones

Tasha Jones, MS, MFA, is an award-winning author, poet, cultural critic, educational leader, and researcher whose work braids the personal, political, sacred, and scholarly. With a distinctive voice shaped by lived experience and academic rigor, Jones writes and leads at the intersections of language, liberation, and legacy—transforming both classrooms and communities through her commitment to historically accurate and culturally responsive education.

A Harvard-trained educator and curriculum architect, Jones has served in leadership roles, including Dean of Curriculum and Instruction and Chief Equity Influencer, designing data-driven frameworks that center on Black voices and experiences. Her educational philosophy merges pedagogical innovation with artistic expression, believing that authentic learning happens when students see themselves reflected in rigorous, culturally sustaining curricula. This approach has shaped her work developing College Board-approved Advanced Placement curricula and influencing policy at the state level—her research helped secure passage of Indiana Senate Bill 337, mandating Ethnic Studies as a high school graduation requirement.

Jones is also the founder of REFLECTIONS iNK Corporation, a creative consultancy and storytelling firm that empowers brands, educators, and communities to harness narrative as a tool for cultural innovation, youth engagement, and social impact. Through REFLECTIONS iNK, she bridges the worlds of art, education, and entrepreneurship—helping visionaries move ideas from inspiration to execution.

She is the author of Coffee Thoughts and The Liberation of L.B. Jones: You Don't Know the Half, which reclaims narrative from trauma through poems that celebrate women's multifaceted power while confronting systemic violence. Her forthcoming works include Pyramids. Plantations. Projects. Penitentiaries., a genre-blending meditation on Black girlhood and liberation featuring a foreword by the late Dan Wakefield, and her doctoral dissertation Marronage as a Language: Hip-Hop as Its Dialect—a cultural study exploring the liberatory potential of Black linguistic traditions.

As a TEDx Fellow and Grammy-considered spoken word artist, Jones has performed on TV One's Verses and Flow (NAACP Image Award nominee), with her work featured in NPR, Essence, CounterPunch, and numerous academic and cultural journals. Her journalism as Reginald L. Jones Fellow at the Indianapolis Recorder amplifies stories of culture and justice, while her leadership of the nationally recognized Hello Beautiful Movement empowers youth through writing and performance. She hosts the top-ranking podcast In the Beginning: The Spoken Word Podcast and edits Poems & Parables, a literary journal devoted to Black storytelling.

Jones holds an MFA in Creative Writing from Butler University, an MS in Community Psychology from Martin University, and has completed advanced studies at Harvard Graduate School of Education in instructional leadership and culturally responsive pedagogy. Her research interests span ancient KMT studies, fugitive pedagogy, and the intersections of Hip-Hop culture with educational liberation.

Whether designing curriculum, crafting verse, or launching creative ventures, Jones demonstrates that the most powerful innovation happens when academic excellence meets cultural authenticity—proving that legacy and liberation are not only poetic but entrepreneurial.

She lives in Indiana with her children, Shalom and Messiah, and their fur baby Duke.