Dynamic Variation:
Shayna Haynes Heard
Author
Shayna Haynes Heard

Shayna Haynes Heard, founder of Reaching Beyond Bias and the "Reachin'" Podcast, is a creative with a love of poetry, music, and performance art. Shayna is currently pursuing a career in DEI and is passionate about justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion. Her passion for poetry and performance art underlies her work with Pass the Mic GR, which hosts monthly artist showcases and open mics. She is also working with Grand Stand Pictures to create a documentary film based on the book "A City Within A City: the Black Freedom Struggle in Grand Rapids, Michigan" by Todd E. Robinson. In partnership with Grand Rapids Media Initiative and Film Incubator, Shayna hopes to empower BIPOC residents in the city to tell their own stories and to increase access to training and resources.

Check Out These Black-Owned Restaurants in Grand Rapids

Celebrating Grand Rapids means celebrating the people, traditions, cultures, and of course, food! This story was first published in 2018 to commemorate Black History Month, and Experience Grand Rapids has updated it every year since. This year, I'm happy be the one to help to make current the list…

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The 49507 Project Mural Tour

The 49507 Project is a liberated public arts project unlike anything that I’ve seen in West Michigan. The Diatribe, a Grand Rapids based nonprofit, partnered with local businesses and artists to raise awareness about redlining and disinvestment in the Southside neighborhoods, and they did so in a…

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The 49507 Project: Public Art in the Southside Neighborhood

Over the early fall of 2021, seven murals created by seven local BIPOC artists came to life in Grand Rapids’ Southside neighborhood. The driving force behind them? The Diatribe Inc., a local non-profit organization whose leadership is intentionally BIPOC and LGBTQ+ and whose mission is to use…

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