Omékongo Dibinga is a Les Brown Platinum motivational speaker, trilingual poet, CNN
contributor, and positive rapper. His Urban Music Award winning work has best been
described by Nikki Giovanni as “outstanding, exciting, and new while being very old.”
His book, From the Limbs of My Poetree was described by Essence Magazine as “a
remarkable and insightful collection of exquisite poetry that touches sacred places
within your spirit.”
Omékongo has shared the stage with Les Brown, Willie Jolley, Sonia Sanchez, Amiri
Baraka, Dennis Brutus, Black Thought, The Last Poets, Awilo, Felix Wazekwa, OutKast,
Wyclef Jean, Reverend Run, Free, and Jeff Johnson. Internationally, he has performed
in South Africa, England, Congo-Kinshasa, Tanzania, France, Cuba, and Canada. His
work has appeared on TV and radio on CNN, BET, BBC, NPR, Music Choice, Voice of
America and Telesud in millions of homes in over 150 countries.
Omékongo has studied at Harvard, MIT, Princeton, Georgetown, Morehouse, and The
Fletcher School, where he received his M.A. in Law & Diplomacy. He is currently a Ph.D.
student in International Education Policy at The University of Maryland. He provides
educational empowerment as a motivational speaker for organizations, associations
and institutions and his work has been globally adapted for curricula in primary,
secondary, and university institutions. He has featured/lectured nationwide in
universities and poetry venues from Harvard to Russell Simmons’ Hip-Hop Summit. His two
rap mixtapes CD, “Bootleg” & “Bootleg II” promote positive hip-hop with remixes of
songs by Tupac, Notorious BIG, Hay-Z, Nas, Lauryn Hill, 50 Cent, and others.
Omékongo currently co-stars as “Yenga” in the international television series “Ya
Ma’Afrika,” a fictional drama series about the lives of four African women living
together in New York City. “Ya Ma’ Afrika” is the first TV series of its kind to show Africans
living in the western world confronting real issues such as relationships, immigration,
racism and HIV. “Ya Ma’Afrika” tells stories of cultural experiences, contradictions and
challenges of Africans living in the West. The television series broadcasts on 3A TELESUD
on 4 Continents: in Europe, Africa, the Middle-East and North America both on Cable,
Satellite and IPTV.
His publishing company, Free Your Mind Publishing has produced five fusion music and
spoken word CDs, three books, and one independent DVD. A first generation
Congolese-American, his parents were Congolese refugees who were exiled for their
role in aiding in the liberation of the Congo. They came to America and later earned
nine collegiate degrees between the two of them, including two PhDs from Harvard. It
is no surprise that his parent’s stressed education, and provided encyclopedias for
birthdays, as gifts instead of toys, bikes and leisurely reads such as comic books.
Omékongo, one of nine children, was determined to see the world and express his
experience through the spoken and written word. Omékongo states simply that “The
stage is my pulpit, the pen is my temple, the paper is my sanctuary, and these poems
are my confessionals, my heart and my faith.” -- www.theCHANGEiSEEK.com
