Ashley Arkhurst is a 17-year-old African-American female born in Syracuse, New York. She was born on June 9, 1994 and is the older of two siblings, Ato and Nigel. As a child of a proud black American woman and a West-African man, she always was cognizant of heritage as an African-American and was drawn to poetry. As a young child she had the opportunity to attend a small private Catholic, predominately black elementary school, Cathedral School, located in Downtown Syracuse. Today, she continues to remain passionate about writing, poetry and social justice. She seeks to better understand what it means to be a member of a minority in America and influence how America’s perceptive minorities for the better. She graduated from Manlius Pebble Hill on May 25, 2011. She plans to attend Wesleyan University and to achieve a double major in African-American studies and government, and also tell America truths through lyrical expression.