John Broadway
Public Allies Los Angeles 2020-2021 / 2021-2022
I am a Black American of mostly Nigerian, Cameroonian, and Guinea-Bissau descent living in South Central. I am a formerly incarcerated, first generation college graduate now working as a writer, filmmaker, entrepreneur, and community organizer. All of these titles are represented in the work that I do as Founder and CEO of Artivists United, (a partner organization with PA-Los Angeles) which is a film/video, events, and merchandise production company with the mission to advance community health, diverse representation and dismantling oppressive systems while offering Artivists the empowerment, inspiration, and opportunity to use their art as activism to achieve these ends.
Tell us about your leadership?
Interestingly, my leadership journey was kicked off by my college fraternity: Tau Kappa Epsilon. Their organizational values inspired my self development journey because I realized leadership was the most impactful way to create change and in order to be a leader once must continually work to become the best version of themself. Since college I’ve been fascinated by leadership and continually engaged with it through leadership academies (Tau Kappa Epsilon and CSU-Long Beach) Public Allies, founding and serving as president of the CSULB chapter of the National Association of Black Journalists, founding and serving as CEO of Artivists United.
Which Public Allies core value resonates with you the most and why?
This is a super tough question but if I had to choose JUST one I would say Continuous Learning. One of my idols has a famous mantra called the Mamba Mentality. And it is about a constant quest to be one’s best self. And the purveyor of this mantra named that the foundation of this mentality is curiosity: constantly seeking to learn and grow. Even before I realized my idol thought this way, I’ve always been someone who has viewed life in this way: a constant quest of obtaining knowledge and using it to better ourself and positively impact those around us.
Anything else you'd like to share?
I joined Public Allies when I was deep into my profesional filmmaking journey but felt like I was removed from the community social justice work my soul has always felt called to. I wanted to merge these two aspirations and Public Allies served perfectly to fill in that social justice knowledge, connections, experience, and community that I was lacking. Because of them I felt ready to create the social justice production company that I first thought of in 2019. All of this is to say, I am deeply appreciative of Public Allies and truly believe in its transformational power. I hope to continue to stay connected to this community and I seek to give back to it as much as possible.