Carlene "Spirit" Roberts

Carlene “Spirit” Roberts was born in April of 1977 and raised in Queens, New York with her sister and five brothers. Her parents are from the island of Jamaica. Being the oldest sibling and first American in the family probably explains her mature, island nature. She adapted the nickname “FreeSpirit” from many after being recognized as loving, caring, spontaneous, laid back, anxious, spiritual, helpful, cheerful, warm, sensitive, crazy, rebellious, respectful, non judgmental, open minded, sharing, independent, diverse, trusting, honest, intelligent, moral, family orientated, controversial, energetic, and of course… creative!

She graduated from a specialized art school called Fashion Industries, located in Manhattan, studying Fashion Design and Merchandising. For college she attended Long Island University in Brooklyn, New York, studying Marketing & Advertisement. Always with an interest in the medical field she studied Medical Management at St. Johns University and Molly College. Then later became certified in Medical Billing. After having her first son, Xavier Leonard Roberts in 1997, she worked as a Medical Office Manager for The New York Presbyterian Healthcare System, a Medical Biller for the HIP Health Plan of New York, and a Medical Administrator for a rehabilitation center in Queens.  

In 2003, Carlene relocated to Virginia Beach, Virginia with her son and worked in Accounts Receivables for NCO Financial Services. Then she positioned herself back in the healthcare field to work for Sentara Healthcare System in 2004.  She kept up with her art through writing over the years and eventually started to venture out to open mics and poetry venues to meet new people. Being in that environment brought back her early childhood interest in performing and she started doing Spoken Word as a full time career, in addition to working with the hospital a few times a month. Her poems introduced her to like minded people that used their art in the community and started to volunteer in her spare time. Carlene became close with the people in her circle working in various movements in the community and started a group. The group came together in February 2005 working as volunteers on The Word Up Poetry Festival in Norfolk, Virginia. After the success of the festival and eager to promote art to the community, the group of volunteers started their own movement, taking their entrepreneurial leadership to the youths and the community, creating a positive outlet for the masses that seek inspiration. The group was named “The Diversity Poet Educators”.

The Diversity Poet Educators is an artistic base organization dedicated to community service. A non-profit community outreach organization dedicated to touching lives through all forms of art. They use art and literature to mentor to the youths and young adults, implementing self-expression through spoken word/poetry, visual, and performing arts. Their focus is on volunteerism to aid other programs and organization in their efforts. The Diversity Poet Educators hosts events, festivals, and workshops to utilize their programs. Teaching various art forms and operating open mic venues to promote performing arts and freedom of speech. The efforts of the group were success. Their programs became widely recognized and they started to be called upon to travel to areas and states outside of Virginia with their movement. They worked and collaborated with people, projects, organizations, schools, and programs on all levels.

Carlene "Spirit" Roberts was named the Business Director & Project Coordinator for the Diversity Poet Educators. Who eventually served the community full time as an Event Host, Spoken Word Artist, and Community Advocate. Her passion for being a positive role model in society led her to be the News Editor for Diversity Poet Educators arts and culture magazine, The Prototype. This focused on bringing awareness through media. She moved on to be the Event Coordinator for Soul Café self expression Community out reach program in Richmond, Virginia. Her accomplishments led her to be the on air radio host for WGPL 1350. She hosted a radio program called “The Passion Party”. Other hosting events includes concerts and colleges, the Who's House Production's Jazz n Poetry series, The Hope House Foundation annual poetry events, the Afram Festival, the City Of Norfolk Teen Culture Fest, St. Mary’s HIV Prevention Retreat, the Junteenth Festival, 95.7’s 2nd Annual Comedy For The Cure, the Annual Food Drive with Virginia Council Woman Karen Scott, and other school/church events. Being active in the community, she was a member of various organizations. Some were The National Council of Negro Women, on the panel of The Community Advocacy Network, which went to congress to speak out against the budget cuts to social programs. She was also the former Advisory Committee Leader for The City of Norfolk Culture Teen Fest, on the entertainment committee for the Virginia Juneteenth Festival and served the Hampton Roads area of Virginia as the local organizer for the Million More Movement.

Her popularity led her to self publish her first poetry chap book, "Its Not Personal, It's Spiritual". Later on, her group collaborated and recorded their first Spoken Word CD, “We Just Want To Be Heard”. She has worked with Talaam Acey, Black Ice, Shadokat, 13 of Nazareth, Queen Sheba, some of the east coast slam teams. Along with her group members, Carlene "Spirit" Roberts has opened for Susan Taylor of Essence Magazine, The Last Poets, Melba Moore, Ursula Rucker and more. Also has worked with Bernadette Stanis ("Thelma" Good Times), Jeany Bryson (Dizzy Gillespie's daughter), Cuba Gooding Jr. and many others. Including Black Ice and many HBO Def Poets, and has performed at colleges, theaters, festivals, and concerts across the east coast. Carlene’s poems have been featured in several published anthologies. In 2006 her poem, "Breathing Peace" was featured in the Suffolk, VA Museum as a literary art display called The Art Of T 2006. A multimedia exhibit, featuring visual artists interpreting the letter T and writers interpretations of those visual work. Other displays includes her "Concrete Streets" poem; Display and performance for “Evidence: An Art Show About Police Brutality” in North Carolina (2006). Her first theatrical appearance was in Walking With A Panther, written and directed by Sheri Bailey, in the 2007 East coast premier. The original play debuted in California in 1996, staring Clifton Powell.
Carlene as well as her organization has been featured in the media including The Virginia Pilot and various television/radio interviews.

One of Carlene’s more personal accomplishments was creating the Universal Spirit Foundation. It is a program that serves as a tool in society to empower those seeking education and advancement. The Universal Spirit Foundation provides essential resources to encourage those when the obstacles of achieving get difficult or confusing. Also offering referral, counseling and grants to extend their reach. The program focuses on various forms of community service through volunteerism and sponsorships while promoting entrepreneurship for self-starters, mostly in adults. Networking with other community base programs, organizations, outreach centers, businesses and etc. to help those establish a solid foundation to become our future leaders. Some of her work shops includes:

• Monthly Youth Poetry Workshop; Ages 12-18 * Hampton Roads
• Soul Café Self Expression Workshop * The Richmond Public Library
• Why I Write For Peace Workshop * Hopewell Elementary School
• Personal Child Safety Workshop * Nubian Village Academy
• 12 Weeks Creative Writing/Self Expression * Lake Taylor Middle School
• Utilizing Our Resources Workshop * Sentara Health corporate office
• ** Many More Available **

Carlene has been receiving award since elementary school for her activism starting with The City of New York District Of Kiwanis International, Inc. International Relations Peace on Earth Award. In 2006 and 2007, she was nominated for The Community Orientated Underground Poet by the National Underground Spoken Word Poetry Awards (NUSPA). The Diversity Poet Educators won, in 2007, the "More Like Family" award from NUSPA. Other various awards include:

·      Tri-Community Junior High School - New York School Service Squad Outstanding Achievement – June 1991

·      Fashion Industries High School - NYC Adapt A Student Award - April 1992

·      NCO Top Performer Award - October 2003

·      NCO Commitment to Excellence Award - October 2003

·      Norfolk Teen Culture Fest – Outstanding Support Award - December 2003

·      City Of Norfolk Division of Youth Development Outstanding Performance & Contribution Award - May 2006

·      Sentara Health Care Lasting Service Award - May 2007

·      The Student Life Dept of VSDBM-H Multi-Cultural Celebration Performance Appreciation Award - March 2007

·      Tidewater Community College 6th Annual Literary Fest - Special Performance Award - April 2007

·      ITT Technical Institute Honors Award for Academic Achievement - June 2008

·      ITT Technical Institute Perfect Attendance Award - August 2008

Expecting her second son, Michael-Reign Josiah Roberts, change her life. After her last major project working with the Barack Obama campaign in 2007 and 2008, Carlene decided to take a hiatus from her activism to focus on her family. Nesting at home, she produced her second book, “The Pose and Psalms of Spirit”, a picture book with poems. She returned back to school at ITT Technical Institute to study Graphic/Web Arts. Then she started to do freelance work in Graphic and Web Design for non profits and community organizations. Eager to continue to work in a community setting, she became a Substitute Teacher for the City of Norfolk in 2007. After her son was born in 2008, she joined the City of Virginia Beach as a Homebound and Guest Teacher, along with her per diem service at Sentara Healthcare Systems. Working with children inspired her to peruse a license in Teaching so she transferred to Cappella University, majoring in Information Technology to eventually teach IT or Business Career Skills in the education system.

By the age of 35, Carlene “Spirit” Roberts has had many accomplishments. She always says she could not have done it with out God. Currently, Carlene is still living in Virginia Beach, traveling and spending precious time her family. As she continues to write poems, she is putting together her third book, “From Prostitution to Redemption".