I speak of freedom

I have spent decades learning that the body is the first archive. As a poet, educator, and Collective Trauma Facilitator, I bring that knowing into every room I enter — keynotes, healing circles, and the courageous conversations that change the shape of a room. My TEDx talk, Death by Chocolate Cyst: What if My Illness Had a Voice, has over 8k views. My Columbia Writing Program interview has reached 50k. I speak because freedom requires a witness.

 
 

Topics:

  • Decolonial approaches to health and healing

  • Racial and cultural literacy for institutions

  • Creating sanctuary — embodied leadership and community care

  • Ancestral healing and intergenerational resilience

  • Trauma-informed facilitation and healing spaces

  • Collective and historical trauma in Black communities

  • Writing the body — narrative medicine and documentary poetry

  • Endometriosis, chronic illness, and medical racism

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Past Partners

 
metropolitan-art-museum

What People Are Saying

 
“Thank you, Antoinette! Your words were so powerful and inspiring and will stay with me.”

— Participant, Women Together Series with the Eileen Fisher Foundation

“I basically put my entire rating on the last day with Antoinette Cooper. She was terrific, not disregarding the other speakers, but it appears the best was saved until last.”

— Participant, Racism & Health Literacy Symposium with Say-Ah!

“It was more than a tour, it was an experience that inspires, heals, and connects. I told someone who missed it that it was life-changing, in the way small but meaningful events can become core memories.”

— Participant, Metropolitan Museum Community Tour

“Honestly, this workshop was amazing. I wish there were a part two. I am so hungry for more.”

— Participant, Writing the Body Workshop with the Poetry Foundation

Past Speaking Engagements

 

Ceremonialist | PAINT2POWER Public Art-Making, at La Mama alongside activist Julia Haart

Teaching Artist | The Poetry Foundation, Writing the Body

Teaching Artist | The Metropolitan Museum of Art, The Art of Protest: Poetry and Fugitivity (Hear Me Now: The Black Potters of Old Edgefield, South Carolina)

Keynote | The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Met Professional Learning Community

Speaker | Say Ah! Symposium, Racism & Health Literacy

Speaker | Eileen Fisher Foundation, Women Together, Writing the Body

Speaker | Eileen Fisher Foundation, Women Together, Being Sanctuary

Actor | SHE/HER, Edinburgh Festival Fringe — presented by Brian Cox and Actor's Rising Productions

Panelist | AWP 2021, Code-Switching in Class: Writing and Teaching in Vernaculars. (W159)

Panelist | CUNY IDEA Conference 2023, We Can Only Teach What We Practice: Reparative Social Justice & Narrative Medicine

Speaker | Women of Color Advancing Peace and Security, Race, Social Justice & The Arts

Podcast Guest | Parenting Decolonized, Black Exhale and Embracing Rage

Plenary Speaker | Lives in the Balance Health Summit, At The Intersections of Illness and Inequity

Panelist | Our Word, Columbia University, Writing an Identity: Finding and Reaching Readers

Presenter | University Writing Speaker Series, Columbia University — Introduction for Kimberlé Crenshaw

Interviewer | University Writing Speaker Series, Columbia University — Interview with Dr. Rita Charon