About Me
Raychelle Heath has an MFA in Creative Writing from the University of South Carolina. She is also a certified Kripalu Yoga, Yoga Nidra, and Mind Body Meditation instructor.
Her chapbook Between Tea Leaves and Tree Leaves was published in 2003 by Thrift Press. She has done numerous poetry readings, including working on Turner South’s My South Speaks campaign. She has also served as an artist in residence for the Historic Columbia Foundation and the USC Photovoice project. She has taught creative writing workshops for Yellow Arrow Publishing, Community Building Art Works, the University of South Carolina, and the College of the Marshall Islands. She has had work published with pacificReview, Beyond the Veil, Yellow Arrow Publishing, and Black Freighter Press, to name a few. She served as guest editor for the fall 2022 edition of Yellow Arrow Journal, entitled Peregrine. She is an alumni of the Voices of Our Nation Arts Foundation workshop.
In 2007, she moved to the Marshall Islands. There she became a part of Jambo Arts, a non-profit arts organization. Through Jambo Arts she helped organize arts outreach programming and art exhibitions. At one point she also served as the organization's president. Her artwork is best described as mixed media -- meshing the worlds of handcrafts and visual art. She also teaches mandala and God’s Eye workshops as a way to guide people to meditation through crafting.
She received her certification as a Kripalu Yoga teacher in 2013 and added a Yoga Nidra certification in 2020. She has studied seated and walking meditation at Wat Phrathat Doi Suthep in Chiang Mai, Thailand; Kadampa Meditation in San Cristobal de las Casas, Mexico; and Zen Meditation in Penang, Malaysia. She earned her certification as a Mind Body Meditation instructor in 2020. She served as the meditation guide for the We Move Forward Women’s Day conference in Isla Mujeres for three years. She has taught yoga and meditation in the Marshall Islands, Mexico, and Costa Rica.
In 2020, she started her podcast, Black Women in Wellness, where she interviews black women who do the work of wellness in their communities.
She is currently the co-director for the Unicorn Authors Club, focusing in the areas of curriculum and coaching. She also serves as the workshop programming and curriculum manager for Yellow Arrow Publishing.