about aisha
Photography by Amanda Thomsen
Aisha Fukushima is an award-winning public speaker, poet, singer-songwriter, and cultural strategist. Shaped by her mixed African American and Japanese heritage and a life lived across cultures, her award-winning work brings together poetry, music, storytelling, and facilitation to illuminate the bonds we share and what becomes possible when we come together.
A four-time TEDx speaker, Aisha has shared her work in workplaces, classrooms, and concert halls across multiple continents. Her cultural diplomacy work with the U.S. Department of State has included headlining a concert for more than 20,000 people in Nepal. She is also the founder of RAPtivism, a global project merging rap and activism that laid the foundation for her broader creative practice.
Aisha’s current work includes her debut poetry collection, Mostly Water, which explores memory, Mixed heritage, and Black–Japanese histories. The collection reached #1 in American Poetry on Amazon Japan. Her latest album, There's A Sky Above Your Roof, invites listeners toward hope, possibility, and collective care.
Selected Highlights
Four-time TEDx speaker
Featured in Oprah Magazine South Africa and on NPR’s World Cafe
Mostly Water reached #1 in American Poetry on Amazon Japan and #1 in Asian American New Releases on Amazon US.
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 S O L O A L B U M
THERE'S A SKY ABOVE YOUR ROOF
SPEAKING
From TEDx stages to intimate workshops, Aisha weaves poetry, music, and cultural strategy into experiences that move people — and stay with them long after.
“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