A native of Jersey City raised by a single mother in extreme poverty, Powell exemplifies Moving Forward from a difficult past into a greater future. After graduating Rutgers University in New Brunswick, thanks to New Jersey’s Educational Opportunity Fund, Kevin has made positively affecting the lives of others part of his mission.

On behalf of the U.S. State Department, he toured Japan lecturing on the importance and relevance of Dr. King and his famous “I Have a Dream” speech in the 21st century. Kevin Powell aims to make Dr. King’s message applicable to students in the 21st century and discusses the Civil Rights movement of today.

As a pop culture curator, Kevin produced the first exhibit on the history of hip-hop in America at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland, Ohio, which toured America and overseas. As a humanitarian, Kevin’s work includes local, national and international initiatives to end violence against women and girls (including a very well-regarded appearance on The Oprah Winfrey Show highlighting domestic violence); and he has done extensive philanthropic and relief work, ranging from Hurricane Katrina to earthquakes in Haiti and Japan, to Superstorm Sandy in New York, to his annual holiday party and clothing drive for the homeless every December since 9/11.

As an acknowledgement of Kevin’s life of public service and his dedication to contributing to literature and the arts, Cornell University became the owner of The Kevin Powell Collection. The collection documents nearly 30 years of his work in the form of prints, photos, videos, books, handwritten notes, speeches and other memorabilia.

His work has been featured on CNN.com, Esquire, Ebony, The Huffington Post, The Washington Post, Rolling Stone, The Guardian, ESPN.com and Vibe Magazine, where he worked for many years as a senior writer, interviewing such diverse public figures as Tupac Shakur and General Colin Powell. Kevin routinely appears in interviews on television, radio, in print and on the Internet to discuss major issues of our time.