DCMS TEAM 2020
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Dior Ashley Brown, DCMS Founder and Organizer
Dior Ashley Brown is the founder of The DC Music Summit. A Beacon of the D.M.V. music community, she is as quoted by The Washington Post a “Hip-Hop Polymath.” A Multifaceted Creative, Consultant, Activist, Activator, and Connector, she is a proud Washington, DC Native and Army Brat, graduate of both Duke Ellington School of the Performing Arts and University of Maryland, College Park, Theatre Arts Programs. Dior is a driven humanitarian, who has spent her career combining her talent and passion for music and arts with her want for political and social change, fighting for immediate action in her many communities. She founded the DC Music Summit in 2016, with supporting Co- Founders/Advisors Aercia Shimizu-Banks of Accelerate with Google and Johnna Humphries of Moog Music. Dior continues the mission to empower independent creatives and beyond. In hopes to build and secure legacies while amplifying the great contributions art makes to our world, and why it is necessary to sustain it. |
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Megan "Meggalooch" Dunn, DCMS Team Lead
Megan’s mission is to transform the norm and inspire positive change through music, media, and creative connection. A New Jersey native, she’s proudly called DC home for 13 years after moving here to earn her degree in Public Communication from American University. She's a mezzo soprano vocalist, creative strategist, writer, photographer, activist, and a lefty. Using provocative, quirky, and engaging voice, whether sung, spoken, or written, she intends to make truthful connections to advance healthy and inclusive progress among the many. She enjoys power walks, tai chi, second-hand style, hydrating, and playing cowbell! |
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Adeela Abbasi, DCMS Team Lead
Adeela has spent the last 15 years of her life doing what she loves, making sure the world knows that decent shelter is a right not a privilege. But well before she dedicated her career to affordable housing, she found joy in the administrative side of music. She produced shows, managed bands, and offered up her marketing and communications savvy to any artist in need. Now she maintains that interest by helping artists and small nonprofits with strategic planning. She also loves doing her funky tribal face painting for parties all over the city! |
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Graham Smith-White, DCMS Team Lead
Graham is a creative placemaker and organizer working to create resilient communities with music, art and positive change. With his creative consulting practice, The Infinite Goodness-The Agency of Creation, Graham works at the intersection of Artistry, Entrepreneurship and Community to bring creative placemaking and design-focused solutions to community issues, industry needs and opportunities for artists. As a practicing artist, he brings 20 years of professional music and sound engineering to his project The Sunrise Review, a sustainability-focused Ecomusic practice centered around solar-powered recording equipment and nature as creative inspiration and studio space. As an extension, he helps lead the Sun Sing Collective, an artist collective supporting environmental movements. He also serves as a Trustee with the Washington D.C. Awesome Foundation, Creative Mentor with the Creative Economy Career Access Program, and Co-Founder of DC Music Co-op. When not making delicious Curry&Grits for his dinner concert series, Graham can likely be found at another concert, in a hammock, on a bicycle or a rock face in the Potomac Gorge. Fun Facts: Graham shares a birthday and favorite DC pizza restaurant with former President Barack Obama. |
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Christine Rahima Rose, DCMS Team Lead
Christine is a musician, activist and user experience designer who blends her love of empathy and technology to strengthen communities throughout the many facets of her work. She is a DMV native who has come to love DC and the incredible people that make up its social fabric. She has joined the organizing team for the DC Music Summit because she wants to support artists to learn how to support themselves in the industry. The three things that make up her secret sauce are being kind, being helpful, and being curious. |
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Velu is a woman of many trades. She is a singer-songwriter, entrepreneur, environmentalist, solution finder and natural communicator. She is the main vocalist of the Colombian-American band, DeSaguahsington and Latin Fusion band, Matizwave. She is also part of the women's musical power collective La Marvela. She has been part of the Dia de Los Muertos Benefit Fest organizing committee for three years. The festival raises funds and awareness for a specific cause that is directly affecting the overall DMV community. Velu' acts as the Music Producer and Volunteer Manager (in case we don't find anybody) for the DC Music Summit.
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