We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Frankie Red Wordz. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Frankie below.

Alright, Frankie thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Can you walk us through some of the key steps that allowed you move beyond an idea and actually launch?

At just 20 years young after graduating from college with my Associates in Radio and Tv Journalism and Certificate in Leadership Development Studies, I immediately got my first “big girl job” as a District Executive Secretary to a State Representative for the Florida House of Representatives 101 District. I had always been a writer of poems but often kept them stored away in notebooks and never performed them. So though writing was a personal passion of mine, the start of my actual career, had little to nothing to do with creativity; artistry; or media.

At first, it was a dream job. One that allowed me to network with folks in very high places and decisions makers who were in charge of shaping our future communities. I thoroughly enjoyed serving my community and serving as the media point person for any and all District needs, events, or policies on behalf of the State Representative. It was through my time in serving in The Legislature and serving as the Representative’s assistant in a myriad of ways, that I began to learn a great deal about my local community and became exposed to many different types of events and social justice movements, where poetry was a mecca and focal piece of the event.

After a few years of working hard at building an incredible reputation and rapport with diverse Political figures and Local Community leaders, day in and day out my daily routine started to feel mundane and lacking excitement. I felt as if though I was not fulfilling my purpose beyond my work in the office, helping serve over 100,000 constituents. I got to see and learn a great deal from that experience, but I wasn’t able to be my true self and had to dim my light and creativity, for the sake of my career. I began to attend local open mics as a means of escape as well as slowly post content on socials of my poems and social justice pieces, and was shocked to experience being silenced and controlled by my employer who was requesting I take my posts down and focus my leisure time more on public policy rather than my creative aspirations. I began to receive a lot of backlashes from The Speaker of the House due to some of the controversial poetic content I was uploading and had no choice but to abide by their policies, if I wanted to keep my job.

But after being silenced and having served for 4 years with no change to this sentiment, I knew it was time for me to spread my wings and fly and use my words to not only entertain, but to also advocate for change. I had always been a street dancer and would attend dance sessions every Tuesday night, where we had a concept called “open floor.” Which was like an open mic, but for all arts and only featured 3-4 performances a night. Poets in the dance community began reading and performing their poems here and I remember feeling so moved by their performances yet scared to read aloud my own. After about 2-3 months of encouragement from friends, I signed up to perform my first performance piece I had ever written. That’s when “Red Wordz” The Freestyle Poet was truly born.

Like many things, being a poet snowballed into other opportunities, and I began to regularly attend local events to begin to build my name. I will never forget the night I performed for my first big poetry event where I had the honor of opening for 2 Local Featured Poets, and after the show one of the Features came up to me and told me that I truly had a gift. She asked me if this was just a hobby or something I wanted to pursue professionally, to which I answered a hobby.

But after reflecting on such a powerful performance, that exchange sat with me for days, because I still couldn’t believe I had received such a beautiful affirmation of my purpose and this was just my first time performing outside of college. And then that’s when it clicked– I am going to be a Poet! I took a leap of faith from hiding behind my voice and opinions, and quit my day job to become a full-time Artist and Creative within the next 6 months. I didn’t know exactly the plan, but I just knew I needed a change and wanted to be my own person and free from censorship and control of my free spiritedness.

About 3-4 months into my humble beginnings as a novice professional poet, I was discovered by a local open mic curator who was starting a podcast on an online radio station. After attending one of my live poetry shows and being moved by my words, he offered me a slot as his On-Air Co-Host and I immediately jumped on the opportunity. From there, I guess you can say the rest is history. One thing just led to the next and I have never stopped or looked back ever since.

Frankie, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

My name is Frankie Red Wordz and I am an Afro-Latina Multi-Dimensional Creative Entrepreneur and Published Poet-Author. My mediums are Multimedia; Event Hosting; and Spoken Word. I am a Freelance Media Creative who writes and reports on pop culture, entertainment news, and human interests’ stories; Professional Speaker and Author who performs spoken word and teaches creative writing workshops; and also Event Host and Mc who crowd controls shows for a living.

What I specialize in is creating unforgettable moments and experiences for my clients in need of Poetry, Hosting; MC; or Media Services for their events and functions. Because my services range on the creative spectrum including Creative Directing and Event Curation, it is one of my greatest honors to be able to serve in a wide range of ways and allow all of my talents to outpour from within into what I do. Doing what I love has truly created a fulfilling life for me and my purpose.

For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?

The most rewarding part of being a creative is seeing the final vision of a project or idea come to life after its all said and done. Whether its a poem; a concept for an event; a creative direction; a fashion moment; a DIY craft project– I am one of those people who thoroughly enjoys the creative process and the evolution of a creative thought. So I love to see when one of my projects fully comes to life and turns out even bigger and better than I imagined it.

A close runner up to that though is also collaborating. As a creative, one of the most rewarding things for me is to connect and work with other creatives. I love bouncing ideas off each other and adding more layers with another creative eye. I truly love to admire other people’s work and really value other people’s perspectives and outlooks on the world. So networking and creating with others really are one of the perks that stand out. You meet so many diversly creative people, that it literally makes being a creative entrepreneur so much more fun when you can connect with others just like you.

What do you think helped you build your reputation within your market?

I think my consistency and drive is what really stand out to most people when they first meet me. Since I began hitting open mics in 2016, I have not stopped attending or supporting creative events within the community. Just like credit unions, loaners, and banks– people want to work with someone who demonstrates a great deal of consistency. They want to feel like they can trust that person with anything and that they’ve proven themselves to have consistent reputation, which ultimately leads to them being more trustworthy. And that’s just it– people trust me because I always come through and have a plethora of experiences under my belt. My consistency has built a great reputation for my work and allows my client to trust me more.

Since I began attending Spoken Word and Poetry events back in 2016, I have never stopped attending them. My favorite part is when everything comes around full circle. All of those open mics I attended when I first began performing, were my training grounds for me as a performer that later turned into bookings. I have been able to Feature, Spotlight, & even Curate productions and shows from smaller open mics and private events to public speaking engagements in major performing arts stages, colleges, and universities around the world. They say consistency is key and that is for a reason.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.Redvolution.Red
• Instagram: @FrankieRedWordz
• Facebook: Red Wordz
• Youtube: Red Wordz
• Soundcloud: Red Wordz
• Other: All Digitial Music Streaming platforms: “Red Wordz”

Image Credits

David Muir
Patrick Wilcox
Kiddish Keith