Kyoko Heshiimu is a poet and artist who is equally adept at painting the world around her with strokes and hues, as she is with words. She received her BFA from Pratt Institute and her MSEd from The College of Staten Island. She has exhibited artwork and performed her poetry through spoken word at various venues around New York City since 2007. In 2012, her poem, “The Color of Suspicion,” was read over the air during the broadcast of Midnight Ravers on WBAI 95.5. Her poem, “Port-Au-Prince,” was published in Staten Island’s local art magazine, The Shamboree in 2011. In 2016, she self-published her first collection of poems, Sticks and Stones. In 2017, she published three more collections of poetry: To Catch a Fish, Catch and Release, and Fish Stew. She illustrated and wrote 4 children's books the same year: Ekky Pekky, Up on a Star, Mama May I, and Because My Mommy Told Me So, I Know. She has been a feature reader at Alor Cafe, Vox Pop, The Cup, and St George Day, and most recently for the Inspired Word at Hell Phone and Parkside Lounge. In 2017, she began work on her first EP titled Color Story with New York music label, Roughhouse Noise. The collaboration will not only feature her poetry but will be accompanied by her own visual illustrations. Her poetry focuses on global and local political issues associated with women's struggle and the challenges African Americans face from living in a racially divisive society.