AISHA FUKUSHIMA
Author • Musician • Speaker
about aisha
Photography by Amanda Thomsen
Aisha Fukushima is a multilingual poet, speaker, musician, and cultural strategist of African American and Japanese heritage. Drawing on personal story and global experience, she has spent more than two decades using creative expression to cultivate healing, belonging, and cross-cultural connection.
A four-time TEDx speaker and former U.S. State Department Cultural Ambassador, Aisha has shared her work in boardrooms, classrooms, and concert halls across more than a dozen countries. Through keynote speaking, poetry, music, and facilitation, she helps people navigate complexity, deepen connection, and imagine new possibilities together.
Her debut poetry collection, Mostly Water, explores mixed heritage, memory, Black–Japanese histories, and belonging. She is also the founder of RAPtivism, a global project merging rap and activism. Her solo album, There's A Sky Above Your Roof, invites listeners toward hope, possibility, and collective care.
Selected Highlights
• Four-time TEDx Speaker
• U.S. State Department Cultural Ambassador
• Featured by Oprah Magazine, NPR, Hulu & SXSW EDU
• Headlined concerts for 20,000+ people internationally
Mostly Water
D E B U T P O E T R Y C O L L E C T I O N
A poetry collection exploring Mixed Black and Japanese identity, memory, and belonging.
Shaped by life between the U.S. and Japan, Mostly Water refuses the math of halves and quarters and welcomes in abundance.
We are, after all, mostly water — fluid, uncontainable, beyond measure.
D E B U T A L B U M
THERE'S A SKY ABOVE YOUR ROOF
SPEAKING
writing
SPEAKING
MUSIC
“Aisha Fukushima is an activist because she is always present with whoever she is in front of. Presence takes work, compassion, and a deep love for self and others; Aisha has that. Her energy is captivating. Her artistry is inclusive and therefore she models for us the elements of liberation. Aisha's gift is teaching and healing, and it comes through in her voice and the voice she gives to others.”
— Dr. Lumas Helaire, Annual Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Symposium Chair, University of Michigan