Cleo Wade

Wade grew up in the French Quarter of New Orleans, Louisiana, to a white mother, Lori Rockett, and black father, Bernardo Wade. At age 6, she "fell in love with writing" after taking a poetry course over the summer.{{Cite news |last=Hawgood |first=Alex |date=April 19, 2018 |title=Cleo Wade Is Everybody's BFF |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2018/04/19/style/cleo-wade-an-instagram-poet-cory-booker.html |access-date=March 23, 2019 |issn=0362-4331}} She attended St. Mary's Dominican High School.{{Cite web |last=Strachan |first=Sue |title=Cleo Wade takes the world by Instagram storm, returns to New Orleans for SweetArts Ball |url=https://www.nola.com/entertainment_life/article_4fbc43c8-4953-5d59-a651-038159b9a848.html |access-date=October 20, 2020 |website=NOLA.com |language=en}}

After graduating from high school, she decided to pursue fashion and moved to New York City to intern at Missoni. While in the city, she consulted for Alice + Olivia, modeled for Cartier and Armani, and worked as an office manager at Halston.

Looking back on this period of her life, Wade reflects: "I was making money for the first time in my life, but I realized I wasn't happy. Nobody tells you what to do when your girlhood dreams bump into your womanhood dreams." She decided to travel the world and soon fell back into painting and poetry.

Cleo has been featured in Harper's Bazaar, Elle, People magazine, New York Magazine, The New York Times, Purple.fr, Teen Vogue, Untitled-magazine, V magazine, Vogue, Vogue Italia, and W Magazine, among other publications and websites.{{Cite web |title=Cleo Wade bio |url=https://www.theotherfestival.co/cleo-wade-bio |access-date=June 18, 2019 |website=the other festival |language=en-US}}

Wade's poetry centers around inspiration, affirmations, activism, and female empowerment. After over 2,300 Instagram posts and 782,000 followers later, Wade's work and activism have been widely shared and praised.{{Cite web |title=cleo wade (@cleowade) • Instagram photos and videos |url=https://www.instagram.com/cleowade/ |access-date=March 29, 2022|website=www.instagram.com |language=en}} In January 2018, The New York Times published a poem of hers in its opinion section entitled "How Are You Showing Up This Year", urging Americans to increase their political engagement,{{Cite news |date=January 22, 2018 |title=Opinion {{!}} How You Are Showing Up This Year |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/22/opinion/how-you-are-showing-up-this-year.html |access-date=March 23, 2019 |issn=0362-4331}} while Teen Vogue published her piece entitled "If I Could Write One Million Love Poems (A Love Letter To Trans Kids)" as a response to actions from the Trump administration.{{Cite web |title=Cleo Wade's New Poem is a "Love Letter To Trans Kids" |url=https://www.teenvogue.com/story/if-i-could-write-one-million-love-poems-a-love-letter-to-transkids |access-date=March 23, 2019 |website=Teen Vogue |language=en}} Wade has been published in W Magazine on several occasions, including "Who Are We Right Now", a poem dedicated to many famous women whom she admires,{{Cite web |last=Wade |first=Cleo |title=Poet Cleo Wade's Powerful Tribute to Gloria Steinem, Coretta Scott King, and More on International Women's Day |url=https://www.wmagazine.com/story/cleo-wade-poem-international-womens-day |access-date=March 23, 2019 |website=W Magazine |language=en}} "An Open Letter to My Dearest America", a poem responding to the 2016 election,{{Cite web |last=Wade |first=Cleo |title=Cleo Wade: To America, with Love |url=https://www.wmagazine.com/story/cleo-wade-to-america-with-love |access-date=March 23, 2019 |website=W Magazine |language=en}} and "How I Became Woke to Politics", an article she wrote about her relationship to politics.{{Cite web |last=Wade |first=Cleo |title=Cleo Wade: How I Became Woke to Politics |url=https://www.wmagazine.com/story/cleo-wade-how-i-became-woke-to-politics |access-date=March 23, 2019 |website=W Magazine |language=en}}

Wade has created several large-scale public art installations across North America, all with the underlying theme that "art should be in the name of all people and should serve all people."{{Cite web |last=Wade |first=Cleo |title=Cleo Wade {{!}} Speaker {{!}} TED |url=https://www.ted.com/speakers/cleo_wade |access-date=June 18, 2019 |website=www.ted.com |language=en}} These projects include works in New Orleans: "Respect", a love poem extending 25 feet in the New Orleans French Quarter skyline and "She", a permanent installment on a 50-foot warehouse building, completed in collaboration with graffiti artist Brandon Odums, in the New Orleans Bywater neighborhood. In summer 2017, Wade created "ARE YOU OK" at the Hester Street Fair in New York City, which was "a public booth for free, peaceful, and loving conversation." In Los Angeles, she created "Show Love Spread Love" on the facade of the Beverly Center, which features 10-word mantras on 46-foot screens. Her art installations has also been in Times Square and Toronto.{{Cite web |title=Toronto Graffiti Street Art {{!}} Bareket & Cleo Wade Mural Collaboration |url=https://bretkelly.com/bareket-cleo-wade-mural-collaboration/ |access-date=June 18, 2019 |website=bretkelly.com}}

In 2017, Wade gave a TED talk entitled "Want to change the world? Start by being brave enough to care", which has garnered over 1.5 million views on TED's website.{{Citation |last=Wade |first=Cleo |title=Want to change the world? Start by being brave enough to care |url=https://www.ted.com/talks/cleo_wade_want_to_change_the_world_start_by_being_brave_enough_to_care |language=en |access-date=March 23, 2019}}

In 2018, she published her first book, Heart Talk: Poetic Wisdom for a Better Life.{{Cite web |last=Strachan |first=Sue |title=Cleo Wade takes the world by Instagram storm, returns to New Orleans for SweetArts Ball |url=https://www.theadvocate.com/new_orleans/entertainment_life/article_b176f36a-28cf-11e9-9b27-cf12e817ece4.html |access-date=March 23, 2019 |website=The Advocate |language=en}}

In 2019, she published her second book, Where to Begin: A Small Book About Your Power to Create Big Change in Our Crazy World.

In 2020, Heart Talk: The Journal, 52 weeks of self-love, self-care, and self-discovery{{Cite book |last=Wade |first=Cleo |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=irmsDwAAQBAJ |title=Heart Talk: The Journal: 52 Weeks of Self-Love, Self-Care, and Self-Discovery |date=September 29, 2020 |publisher=Simon & Schuster UK |isbn=978-1-4711-9124-4 |language=en}}

In 2021, What the Road Said{{Cite web |title=What the Road Said {{!}} Cleo Wade {{!}} Macmillan |url=https://us.macmillan.com/whattheroadsaid/cleowade/9781250269492 |access-date=May 17, 2021 |website=US Macmillan |language=en-US}}

Wade is engaged to Simon Kinberg. They have two daughters; born in 2020 and 2021.{{Cite web |last=Wade |first=Cleo |date=November 4, 2019 |title=On tour a lot of you asked if Simon and I got engaged bc of the ring I was wearing. We did. :) |url=https://www.instagram.com/p/B4bmOCPpk2B/ |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/iarchive/s/instagram/B4bmOCPpk2B |archive-date=December 26, 2021 |url-access=registration|website=Instagram |accessdate=January 10, 2020}}{{cbignore}}{{Cite web |last=Wade |first=Cleo |date=September 11, 2019 |title=Hey @simondavidkinberg - do these stripes make me look pregnant? 😜 Pretty excited to bring this special guest on tour with me next month. And by special guest I mean my bump, not Simon- tho he will be there on most stops too so say hi if ya see him! See y'all soon. 🧡🖤💛 |url=https://www.instagram.com/p/B2P-BXsJ-K9/ |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/iarchive/s/instagram/B2P-BXsJ-K9 |archive-date=December 26, 2021 |url-access=registration|website=Instagram |accessdate=January 10, 2020}}{{cbignore}}{{Cite web |last=Wade |first=Cleo |date=January 24, 2020 |title=On Monday, @simondavidkinberg and I welcomed our daughter, Memphis Love Kinberg into the world. |url=https://www.instagram.com/p/B7uq8TUpYJg/ |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/iarchive/s/instagram/B7uq8TUpYJg |archive-date=December 26, 2021 |url-access=registration|website=Instagram |accessdate=January 25, 2020}}{{cbignore}}

As of April 2018, She currently resides in Manhattan, where she serves on the boards of the Women's Prison Association,{{Cite web|title=Board of Directors|url=https://www.wpaonline.org/our-team/board-of-directors/|url-status=live|accessdate=September 15, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201022171746/https://www.wpaonline.org/our-team/board-of-directors/ |archive-date=October 22, 2020 }} Lower East Side Girls Club (LESGC), and the National Black Theatre in Harlem.{{Cite web |title=c l e o w a d e |url=https://www.cleowade.com/ |access-date=June 18, 2019 |website=c l e o w a d e |language=en-US}}

Wade serves on the creative council for EMILY's List, an organization that supports and advocates for pro-choice Democratic women running for office.{{Cite web |title=EMILY's List Creative Council |url=https://www.emilyslist.org/pages/entry/creative-council |access-date=March 23, 2019 |website=www.emilyslist.org |language=en}} She frequently uses her Instagram prestige to advocate for several social movements, political issues, and activist campaigns. Wade is a Planned Parenthood supporter and posted shots from fundraising dinners or her work as a canvasser nearly the same amount as her regular posts of poems.{{Cite web |last=Goodman |first=Lizzy |date=December 13, 2016 |title=Is Cleo Wade the Millennial Oprah? |url=https://www.thecut.com/2016/12/cleo-wade-instagram-poet.html |access-date=March 23, 2019 |website=The Cut |language=en}} She is also on the advisory board of Gucci's Chime for Change.

Wade was a finalist in Literature at the 10th annual Shorty Awards.{{Cite web |title=Cleo Wade - The Shorty Awards |url=http://shortyawards.com/10th/cleo-wade |access-date=March 23, 2019 |website=shortyawards.com}} Fast Company honored Wade on their 2017 list of Most Creative People in Business.{{Cite web |title=Cleo Wade, Most Creative People 2017 |url=https://www.fastcompany.com/person/cleo-wade |access-date=March 23, 2019 |website=Fast Company |language=en-US}} New York has named her "the Millennial Oprah."

• {{Cite book |last=Wade |first=Cleo |title=Heart Talk: Poetic Wisdom for a Better Life |date=2018 |publisher=Simon & Schuster |isbn=9781501177347}}

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Category:21st-century American poets

Category:Living people

Category:1989 births