NaKeesa Frazier-Jennings, is an entrepreneur who is a longtime resident of Western Washington who was born and raised in the Washington, D.C. area.  NaKeesa is an advocate for racial and social justice often using the written word and by contributing to various projects to shed light on the many issues impacting Black people and people from other marginalized groups.  

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Her boutique consulting firm, Nakeesa Marie Enterprises, is located in Tacoma, Washington, where she is creating a company culture and foundation that provides authentic, inclusive, partnership through gentle coaching, consultation, proofreading and writing services, as well as various other types of support to entrepreneurs, small business owners, and job seekers. 

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NaKeesa’s current work was born out of her experiences in the community and professional parts of her personal journey and is very much a result of her over two decades working with and in the Greater Seattle visual, creative, and literary art spaces.  She has engaged with visual artists and creatives in a variety of ways such as providing them with coaching, crafting artist bios and artist statements, serving as an artist manager, having also planned, negotiated, and executed group and solo exhibitions.  Most recently, in December 2023, she created and co-delivered a workshop that detailed her family’s art journey that included practical tips, strategies and resources that can help artists monetize their individual art practice.  Currently, NaKeesa provides exclusive artist representation to visual artist (and her husband), George Jennings, serving as the creative director for George’s upcoming Black family art legacy showcase and exhibit titled The Women, The Paper, and The Light.

 

NaKeesa is also a published author whose work has been featured in media publications, books, and creative and literary projects.   She first engaged in the literary world in the early 2010s by submitting a poem to an online magazine which later led her to submit work in 2017 that was published in the South Seattle Emerald where she has had several of her pieces published between 2017 and 2023.  One of her pieces from the Emerald was republished in The Real Change newspaper while another Emerald piece was included in the book Fly to the Assemblies!: Seattle and the Rise of the Resistance - a collection of pieces by journalists, writers and activists.  Her written work was also included in the multi-dimensional art project Black Imagination providing written meditations for collectors of Black Joy ritual objects.  She is a contributing writer in Black Powerful, a collection of pieces by over 100 Black voices from across the globe. 

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NaKeesa also reads her written work for the public having been a featured reader/writer in the Nonfiction for No Reason series in October 2023 and in November 2023, as the featured reader/writer for the Writers Read series hosted by the African-American Writers’ Alliance.  As of December 2023, she attended her first official meeting as a new member of the African-American Writers’ Alliance!   

 

Though NaKeesa engages in many different projects through her business and in community, it is important to note that as a Black woman she feels that she must first and foremost, prioritize and engage in an intentional and non-negotiable self-care practice which she does at the beginning, end, and throughout each day.  She enjoys going on long walks or (easy) hikes, visiting art galleries and museums, watching documentaries, coloring, playing VR games, putting together jigsaw puzzles, and spending joyful and intentional time with friends and loved ones who are made up of people from her biological family and those who are part of her chosen family.