Tama Brisbane

is Stockton’s Poet Laureate Emerita, and the Executive Director of With Our Words, Inc. She served four historic terms from 2015-2023, presenting well over 300 times, including the inauguration of the city’s first Black Mayor, Michael Tubbs. Her 2017 performance as Guest Poet at The King Center and Ebenezer Baptist Church led Martin Luther King III to say to her, “your words matter.”
Under her direction, With Our Words has become Stockton and the Central Valley’s foremost
presenter of youth development and leadership programs through literary and performing arts. WOW provides a menu of opportunities in safe spaces to connect the dots between literacy, critical thinking, arts, social action, and the power of individual and collective youth voice, including:

• WOW Youth Poetry Collective (WYPC) – a cohort of 20-25 young people who write,
perform, produce, organize, mentor and work to create and become change.
• The All-City Poetry Slam – the competition to select Stockton’s National Youth Poetry Slam
Team that attends the annual Brave New Voices International Youth Poetry Slam, the largest
gathering of youth poets in the world.
• Poetry Boot Camp – a Saturday workshop series leading up to the All-City Poetry Slam.
• We Flow Radio – a digital media and journalism project for youth and young adults.
• Dream Out Loud – honoring the life and work of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. through an
annual hip hop theater production.
• Unpolluted – environmental awareness, stewardship and justice through youth voice.
• Hip Hop, You Don’t Stop Reading – empowering the next generation of leaders to rock
literacy by engaging with authors that rock mics.
• Words Outspoken – WOW’s ultimate safe space. Where poetry and spoken word help
address mental/emotional health challenges, along with substance use issues among youth
and young adults. With Community Medical Centers and the Sierra Health Foundation.
• The Expression Lab – WOW’s literary and performing arts initiative in collaboration with
The Rebelz Collective in Zambia.

“Mama T” is a published author, a Susan B. Anthony Award Winner for Creative Arts, a Black Women Organized for Political Action Honoree, a University of the Pacific Woman of Distinction, an Action on Behalf of Children Honoree, and a founding member of the National Black Poet Laureates Group. Her tireless efforts on behalf of youth – particularly those of color and from marginalized communities – have been celebrated and recognized by both houses of the California Legislature, by the United States House of Representatives, and the United States Senate.

Tama finds inspiration in two quotes. The first is from Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.:

“The salvation of humanity lies in the hands of the creatively maladjusted.”

The second is attributed to an Eastern proverb:
“If you sit on the bank of the river long enough, you will see the body of your enemy float by.”