24 Years and Counting?!How Bank of America Accidentally Kickstarted My Legacyby Queen Sheba
💰 Help Me Celebrate! 🎉
If this journey has ever moved you—
If my words have ever helped you unclench your jaw, dry your eyes, or remember you’re not alone…
Join me in celebrating 24 years of full-time artistry, advocacy, and audacity.
You can send:
🖤 $24 (a dollar for every year)
🖤 $240 (because you know the value of this work)
🖤 $2,400 (bless the ministry, amen)
🖤 $2.40 (because every drop adds to the ocean)
CashApp: $poetryvshiphop2015
Zelle: poetryvshiphop@gmail.com
I was a Supervisor in the Recovery credit card department in Norfolk, Virginia. I had a cute little red Acura coupe, a two-bedroom apartment, daycare costs, and a poetry obsession that—at the time—absolutely was not paying the bills. Not even a little bit.
They thought they were laying off another number in a system.
What they really did was give birth to Queen Sheba.
I have not worked a traditional job since. I mean, I’m a professor but I feel like that’s creative - LOL
No clock to punch. No corporate ladder. No vacation request forms.
Just a mic, a prayer, and a poem I rewrote on the plane.
This weekend (July 10th - which is also my brother’s birthday) makes 24 years that I’ve been living, breathing, sweating, funding, raising a son, recovering from heartbreak, and saving my own damn life—through Spoken Word.
And whew... I really should’ve chosen a different line of work, huh?
Sometimes I think:
Maybe I should’ve gone into IT.
Or become a nurse.
Maybe something with a pension, a proper HR department, and direct deposit that hits every two weeks without me sending a follow-up email.
But then I remember—AI would've taken that job, too.
And there is no algorithm on Earth that can replicate this journey.
No machine can conjure the fire I spit in a 3-minute poem.
No software can replace what I do in a room full of Black women trying to remember they are more than their trauma.
And no robot can survive 24 years in this industry, while still holding space for other artists to eat, heal, and thrive too.
I’m still here.
24 years of sweat equity.
24 years of shows, tours, publishing, pushing, teaching, crying, curating, and rebuilding myself every time life knocked the poetry out of me.
Through breakups, blown tires, standing ovations, overdraft notices, losses that shook my bones, and love that taught me how to write again—I’m still here.
I’ve written poems in the back of Lyft rides.
I’ve edited sets in greenrooms while waiting for my intro song.
I’ve taught workshops with tears still on my cheeks.
I’ve watched students go from notebook scribblers to published authors.
I’ve turned pain into performance—and turned that performance into purpose.
I’ve made a living off my words.
I’ve built an ecosystem from my imagination.
I’ve taken Spoken Word from the back of cafes to the front page of the Grammys.
Not once.
Twice.
Back-to-back - working on a 3rd! strong hint-ing all summer! See the flyer above!
(AUGUST 11th release date*)
So when people ask: “You still doing that poetry thing?”
I just smile.
And say, “Yeah. That poetry thing is paying someone’s rent tonight.”
To every single person who believed, donated, cheered, reposted, booked, attended, showed up, or remembered me when I was still figuring it out—thank you.
DROPPING AUGUST 11th ALSO!!
And to Bank of America…
Thank you for firing me.
I owe you nothing, but I learned everything.
💰 Help Me Celebrate! 🎉
If this journey has ever moved you—
If my words have ever helped you unclench your jaw, dry your eyes, or remember you’re not alone…
Join me in celebrating 24 years of full-time artistry, advocacy, and audacity.
You can send:
🖤 $24 (a dollar for every year)
🖤 $240 (because you know the value of this work)
🖤 $2,400 (bless the ministry, amen)
🖤 $2.40 (because every drop adds to the ocean)
CashApp: $poetryvshiphop2015
Zelle: poetryvshiphop@gmail.com
I’m not done.
This next season will be bigger, more intentional, and more grounded than ever.
Thank you for rocking with me.
Thank you for honoring the art.
And thank you—for helping me stay in this game.
#TheQueenSheba
2025 Grammy-Nominated Spoken Word-Poet
Founder, Poetry vs. Hip-Hop®
Curator of community, culture, and creative disruption for 24 years and counting.
The beginning.