Tonya Ingram

Life

Education Ingram was a graduate of New York University and Otis College of Art and Design.

Performance and poetry

Ingram's writing was often about Black feminism and living with lupus and kidney failure.

Ingram performed at the Nuyorican Poets Café, The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, and Lexus Verses and Flow's variety show.

Her work was featured in the 2021 Madewell "What Are You Made Of? Creatives of Color" campaign, Hallmark's Mahogany Writing Community and card brand, MIGA Swimwear, The New York Times, To Write Love on Her Arms, and Hello Giggles.

Ingram was the curator of Poetry in Color Live! at Los Angeles County Museum of Art. In 2021, she testified as a patient on the kidney transplant waitlist on a House of Representatives hearing regarding the organ transplant system.

Surfing In 2020, Ingram learned to surf through Color the Water and AdventureCrew, BIPOC surfing communities, and attended a surf retreat in Nicaragua.

Aftermath Ingram told the House Oversight Subcommittee on Economic and Consumer Policy that she would die without the federal government's urgent action. A year and a half later, on December 30, 2022, Ingram died of complications from kidney failure.

Ingram's friend and fellow journalist, Kendall Ciesemier, commented on future potential for intervention in the organ procurement system by the American government:

Death Ingram was found unresponsive during a wellness check at her apartment around noon on December 30, 2022. Her death was announced in an Instagram post on New Year's Day. With the money, they honored Ingram's wish to have a green burial underneath a tree.

An article from the Los Angeles Times states, "Ingram was on the kidney donor wait list for three years. In an interview, [Matthew "Cuban"] Hernandez said he believed her death was preventable."

Works Books Growl and Snare, Penmanship Books, 2013 Another Black Girl Miracle, Not a Cult, 2018 How to Survive Today, Wild Awake Publishing, 2020

Performed poems "On Praying to God While Taking the SAT Exam", Brave New Voices, 2011 "Thirteen", Intermedia Arts, 2013 "Unsolicited Advice (after Jeanann Verlee)", CUPSI New York City, 2013 "Isms", NPS Boston, 2013 "Khaleesi", NPS Boston, 2013 "I Am Twenty-Two", NPS Oakland, 2014 "Raise Up", The Kennedy Center, 2014 "We Are Full", NPS Oakland, 2015 "Live", NPS Oakland, 2015 "Suicide", Da Poetry Lounge Slam, 2015 "An Open Letter to My Depression", BuzzFeed, 2015 "Seven Commandments", Sofar NYC, 2016 "I Am 24", Brooklyn Slam, 2016 "Dear Discouraged", To Write Love On Her Arms, 2016 "Until the Stars Collapse", Art Share, 2018 "Here is What Loneliness / Love Tells You", Los Angeles Theatre Center, 2018 "For the Next Lover", Los Angeles Theatre Center, 2018 "On Days You Miss Your Ex", Los Angeles Theatre Center, 2018 “how to be strong”, To Write Love On Her Arms, 2019

Awards and titles Slam Champion, New York Knicks Poetry, 2011 Recipient of $10,000, New York Knicks Leader of Tomorrow Scholarship, 2011 Team Member at Urban Word, Second Place Team at Brave New Voices, 2011 Team Co-founder, SLAM! NYU, 2012 Team Member at Da Poetry Lounge, Slam Team, 2015

Interviews "Lupus: Poet Tonya Ingram on Navigating the Organ Donor System", So Life Wants You Dead Podcast "Dating, Self-Care, and Chronic Illness", Just Break Up Podcast "Another Black Girl Miracle", We Have Jobs We Swear Podcast "The Journey and Intersections of Mental Health and Faith", Yas and Amen Podcast "007", Keep Creating Podcast "Tonya Ingram", Sexually Satisfied Woman Series