Black Excellence: Kaliis Smith

https://www.nepm.org/people/kaliis-smith

Kaliis Smith is a radio host and producer for NEPM’s The Fabulous 413. She was most recently host and producer at The River 93.9/WRSI where she appeared on Mornings with Monte for the Nerdwatch segment and hosted weekday evenings.

A guitarist, she’s in several local bands including Ex-Temper, The Brass, and Soul Magnets, and is the author of “Finger and Thumb.” “Sir Morien,” a children’s book co-written with New York Times bestselling author Holly Black, is due out in 2023. Kaliis is originally from Roxbury, and now lives in Springfield.

Black Excellence: Sam French

https://www.gillccwoodworks.com/about

We are rooted deep in the tradition of craftsmanship. Over the years, owner and woodworker Sam French has developed his own voice in this tradition through reshaping nature’s raw displays of beauty into new yet familiar forms. Sam creates unique pieces of custom made wood furniture and custom live edge furniture from materials he sustainably harvests and mills right at the shop. This offers an opportunity to be part of an organic, full-circle process honoring the natural beauty of the tree itself, from tree to tables.

Black Excellence: Carlos Simon

https://www.carlossimonmusic.com/biography

Carlos Simon is a native of Atlanta, Georgia, whose music ranges from concert music for large and small ensembles to film scores with influences of jazz, gospel, and neo-romanticism. Simon is the Composer-in-Residence for the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, the inaugural Boston Symphony Orchestra Composer Chair, and was nominated for a 2023 GRAMMY award for his album Requiem for the Enslaved.