Shea Rose '11- Moderator

Shea Rose has possessed numerous titles throughout her career: singer, songwriter, style icon, and music curator are just a few. Her music, influenced by soul, hip-hop, rock, and folk, speaks to identity, self-acceptance, and transformation. She has received numerous honors for her musical talents, including multiple Boston Music Awards and a SESAC National Performance Activity Award, and she is the recipient of the Abe Olman Scholarship from the Songwriters Hall of Fame. Rose is a featured songwriter and performer on two Grammy Award–winning jazz albums, The Mosaic Project (2011) and Money Jungle: Provocative in Blue (2012), both produced by legendary drummer Terri Lyne Carrington.

Before her current releases, Rose put out two independent albums, the Little Warrior mixtape (2011) and the Rock 'n Rose EP (2010). Rose released the D.T.M.A. (Dance This Mess Around) EP in 2017. She recorded and produced the album independently with funding from Kickstarter before being offered a contract by Virgin Records, which she turned down. The songs describe a struggle with identity and the conformity that often accompanies mainstream success. In advance of releasing D.T.M.A., Rose recorded a cover of Sinéad O’Connor’s “Black Boys on Mopeds,” a striking commentary on police brutality in black communities.

Rose has performed in Cuba, Jamaica, Italy, Greece, and Romania as well as at Boston’s Symphony Hall and South by Southwest. When she is not on stage, Rose curates music events like the RISE Music Series at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum. She is a student of yoga and meditation, and she writes a poem every day.