Dominique R. Minor is a New Orleans’ native and a graduate of John F. Kennedy Senior High. She is a mother of three, an Advocate for Social Justice, Community Organizer, a Fellow of Family Independence Initiative, Visual Artist and the Owner of Affirmative Artistry, LLC. Dominique was also a student of the Talented Visual Arts Gifted Program throughout her attendance in the Orleans Parish School system. At this time Dominique began to share her artistic scope on life from a personal lens, identifying as a child with two absent parents and raised by a committed great-grandmother, who also supported other absent-parented, immediate family members who were incarcerated at young ages. Even though both of Dominique’s parents were absent, she had continuous support from her incarcerated stepfather and his family throughout her life, starting from the age of two. This became Dominique’s first introduction into the work of criminal justice reform as a young child. Instead of becoming angry with the same system that played a role in the aftermath of broken families, additions to generational trauma and the normalization of adultifying black and brown children; as a child survivor of trauma, then as an adult survivor of trauma, she was chosen for many roles that set the tone for positive community change, while becoming educated with tools to help herself and others. This revelation of creating change for our youth stemmed from identifying the school to prison pipeline as a 4th grade elementary student. Now becoming a life’s partnership with Art & Advocacy, Dominique’s work has grown into ways that actively challenges the injustices within her native city, while addressing the traumas within her generation to create a safer city for not only her children, but future generations to come. As a Fine Arts major at Delgado City Park campus, that same passion conceived Affirmative Artistry, LLC, an Art-based company that supports trauma-stricken members of the community to find an artistic release, a new avenue of communication, shares art skills as coping mechanisms while in a safe space for creativity with no judgement. Understanding that trauma has no age, or scheduled appointment to show up in a person’s life; her motivation is to bridge the gap of our learning young people and our wise elders, by uplifting young people, giving them hope to want better, while exorcising the theory that even though we are all different, we can still share common interests. “I share my gift as an Artist throughout the community to assist others in releasing some of the negative energies we encounter throughout our journey. You never know what people are dealing with, until your energies cross. I have been that person, so I help others through. Art produces positive results, regardless of any situation. By sharing the artistry, one becomes introduced to their creativity, which allows their self-growth to create a refreshed visual perspective for their lives.”