Curriculum Vitae

Chinyere E. Oteh

Baltimore, MD | iammyownceo@protonmail.com

Education + Training

2002 B.A. Magna Cum Laude Social Thought and Analysis, Minor: Spanish, Washington University in St. Louis

2006 University of Iowa, Urban Teachers Writing Workshop

2006-07 Community Arts Training (CAT) Institute Regional Arts Commission, St. Louis, MO

2007-08 Photographic studies, Southern Illinois University Carbondale

2011 Urban Bush Women Summer Leadership Institute, New Orleans, LA

2016 Jamaa Birth Village Perinatal Doula Training, Ferguson, MO

2017 Reevaluation Counseling training focused on social justice topics, St. Louis, MO

2020 Library Freedom Institute

2022 M.S. Library and Information Science, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

Selected Life + Professional Experience

1998-2000 Association of Black Students, Washington University

1999-2000 Black Repertory Composers Chorus, Washington University

2004 Spanish Education Development Center + International Language Institute Washington DC, ESL Teacher

2006 America SCORES St. Louis, Program Director: soccer, poetry, and service learning program

2006-2011 Community Photography Teacher, Photography Project of Public Policy Research Center, University of Missouri St. Louis

2008 Homebirth of first child

2008 - 2015 Springboard to Learning, St. Louis, MO, Photography Teaching Artist

2010-2011 Yeyo Arts Collective, GirlsCreate, Arts and Healthy Living for Youth co-teacher

2010 Earthdance Farms, St. Louis, MO, Artist in Residence

2010 Photography Project Collection Registrar + Curation assist of “St. Louis Point-of-View: Photographs from the Public Policy Research Center Photography Project,” 5 year retrospective

2010-2016 Saint Louis Art Museum, Art With Us Education Assistant + Audience Development Assistant

2012 Homebirth of second child

2012 Art of Crime Prevention Program Administration, A collaboration of North St. Louis Arts Council, Young Artist Corps, and Yeyo Arts Collective

2014 Cowry Collective animated video collaboration with artist Sarah Paulsen

2014 Cowry Collective Summer Social

2016 The Convergence, Yeyo Arts Collective + Cowry Collective Summer Social

2016 Attended first birth as a trained doula

2017 Cowry Collective Time for Food Skillshare Series

2016-18 North St. Louis Arts Council Photography teaching artist

2018 Spring Time Salon + Emergent Strategy Session, Cowry Collective, St. Louis, MO

2019 Attended second birth as a trained doula

2019-20 Public library worker, St. Louis County Library

2021-22 Public library worker, Baltimore County Public Library

2023 Outreach and Member Coordinator, Library Freedom Project

2024 Repository Coordinator (Librarian Archivist), Community College Baltimore County, CCBC

2024 Soul of the Butterfly: Chicory Magazine and Black Baltimore’s Arts and Activism, Archival research, curation and installation, CCBC Catonsville

2024 CHIdeation LLC established, Principal + Founder

Honors + Awards

2000 Dean’s List Washington University

2000 Mellon Mays Undergraduate Fellowship

2016 Incarnate Word Foundation Grantee, Cowry Collective Time for Food Project

2020 Spectrum Scholar, American Library Association

2020 Sylvia Murphy Williams Award, Illinois Library Association

2021 American Association of University Women Career Development Grantee

Facilitation

2017 Evolving and Emerging Economies Jam, SF Bay Area, Retreat Facilitant + Participant Liaison

2018 Black Diaspora Jam, Summer 2018, Highlander Center New Market, TN, Retreat Facilitant + Participant Liaison of this inaugural retreat

2018 Evolving and Emerging Economies Jam, St. Louis, MO, Retreat Facilitant + Participant Liaison

2022 Wellness and Healing Justice Jam, Watershed Center Millerton, NY, Facilitant for Childcare

2022 Library Freedom Project Camp, led opening session, New Jersey

Leadership + Service

1998 Leadership Through Service, Washington University, pre-orientation program participant

1999 Leadership Through Service, Washington University, pre-orientation program counselor

2000 Women’s Leadership Training Institute, Washington University

2002-03 AmeriCorps St. Louis, Reading Tutor, St. Louis Public Schools

2009 Founded Cowry Collective, St. Louis, MO

2010 Yeyo Arts + Gya Community Gallery, St. Louis, MO. Founding collective member.

2015 Evolving and Emerging Economies Jam, SF Bay Area, Participant

2017-18 BLACC - Black Leaders Advancing Community Change, Inaugural Cohort + advisory board, St. Louis MO

2018 Artist of Color Council AOCC Great Rivers Greenway, St. Louis, MO

Presentations + Workshops

2004 Visibility and Voice: First Annual Women of Color Mixed H/E/R/ (Heritage, Ethnicity, Race) Conference, Albuquerque, New Mexico Mixed Race Identity: A Challenge To, or An Affirmation of Racial Categorization?”

2006 Jobs with Justice, “Visible Work, Invisible Workers” art workshop + banner creation with St. Louis Area workers

2010 At the Crossroads: Community Arts and Development Convening, Photography’s Role in Representation

2011 Missouri History Museum, St. Louis, MO, Economic Series: Class the Great Divide, The Cowry Collective

2011 7th Annual Educating for Change Curriculum Fair, The Line: A Play About Race, Power and Education in St. Louis, MO

2014 The Convergence, Yeyo Arts, St. Louis, MO. Timebanking 101 with Cowry Collective

2015 U.S. Social Forum San Jose, CA, Old Money Is the New Money: Cowry Collective + Cowrie Village

2015 Black Farmers and Urban Gardeners Conference BUGS Oakland, CA. Old Money Is the New Money: Economic Alternatives That Point Us Home

2016 North American Social Solidarity Economy Forum Detroit, MI. Old Money Is the New Money: Creatively Combatting Capitalism

2016 Living the Next Economy Convergence, Oakland, CA. Sharing Economies: Activating Community Currencies in Oakland and Beyond

2018 Commonbound: New Economy Coalition, St. Louis, MO. Self-Care, Sisterhood and Sustainability

2018 20th Annual Allied Media Conference, Detroit, MI. Sustainable Sisterhood: Two Founders Share Stories and Skills

2022 AAUW Fellows & Grantees, Chinyere E. Oteh on Emerging Librarianship

Publications + Writing

2001 The Inquiry. Vol 1, No 1. Mellon Mays Undergraduate Fellowship Journal. Co-editor + contributor, “Multiculturalism: A Threat to ‘E Pluribus Unum?’”

2002 Senior Honors Thesis: Mixed Race Identity: A Challenge to or an Affirmation of Racial Categorization?

2010 The PPRC Photography Project’s First 5 Years: 2004-2009

2011 Changing Faces, Changing Places Downtown Dutchtown

2016 Humans of Solidarity Economy Zine

2018 A Story of Collective Power: The 8 Year Yeyo Arts Collective Anthology

2020 Black Mothering In America

2022 Care Works: An Analysis of Community Based Gun Violence Prevention in Pittsburgh, PA Chinyere E. Oteh + Clara Belitz, IS 594 Community Data

2024 Can A POC Solidarity Economy Leader Steal from A Single Black Mother Founder + Futurist? You Betcha! On the Predatory Practices of Julia Ho

Interviews + In the News

2010 PPRC looks back at 5 Years of St. Louis Photos

2010 Seeing Dutchtown With New Eyes: Photo Project Seeks to Document Neighborhood’s Renewal

2011 A Cowry for a Cowry: Time Banks Equalize Talent and Services