Ty GrayEL, CSMT

Minister of Poetry

BIOGRAPHY

Ty GrayEL, CSMT is an internationally renowned spoken word poet, storyteller, published author, and the first and Emeritus Poet Laureate in the 210-year history of the African Methodist Episcopal Church. He is a two-time Spoken Word Billboard Award winner, a Certified Stress Management Therapist credentialed through the National Association of Drug and Alcohol Interventionists, and the founder of POEMS Spoken Word Ministries, a 501c3 nonprofit organization dedicated to uplifting communities through the healing power of the spoken word.

His voice has been selected by the Smithsonian Institution to portray formerly enslaved Africans at the National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington, D.C. He is also the host of the Breath Of My Ancestors Podcast and CEO of TyGrayEL LLC.

Ty earned a B.S. in Streetology from the District of Columbia, a Master’s Degree in Survival from the first government-sanctioned ghetto in North America, and a Ph.D. in Psychology from the University of Adversity and Hard Knocks.

While some scoff at Ty’s academic achievements — having once been labeled ineducable — he is as proud of his accomplishments as any holding degrees from Howard, Harvard, or Yale.

Dr. Nikki Giovanni said, “Ty has written a 400-year Black History lesson in one five-minute poem.” Please welcome the first and Emeritus Poet Laureate in the 210-year history of the African Methodist Episcopal Church, a two-time Spoken Word Billboard Award winner, and the voice of our ancestors at the Smithsonian Institution