Watershed Reading Series

media release: Join us on Saturday, May 17, 2025 at 7:00 PM for our May Watershed Reading: Lifting the Veil on Incarceration. This special event was curated by Team 1 of ALL's LAB4 Community Curators. Readers and panelists include Keena Atkinson, KV Severallevels, and Justin Festge Russell. This two-hour event will be hosted by LAB4 Curator and local poet Deshawn McKinney.

Keena Atkinson, the visionary founder and CEO of R'oujie Wellness, is a versatile wellness professional specializing as a nutritionist, wellness coach, dance fitness instructor, and a 500hr trauma Informed social justice yoga instructor with an Ayurveda perspective. With a Bachelor's Degree in Psychology from UW Madison, Keena has journeyed from homelessness to homeowner. She was a 15 year old teen mom, who gave birth while in the foster care system. As a domestic violence survivor Keena raises her two sons intentionally.

Keena is the creator and host of the R'oujie Wellness RetreatTM, she also created and hosts a the Monthly R'oujie Wellness Book Club, Action Academy for EntreprenoirsTM, Money Meet MondayTM which is a wealth building mentorship community for Black single mothers in business and also leads a powerful life transformation program for women who have experienced domestic violence. As a multifamily property owner, Keena provides safe and quality housing to over a dozen people here in Dane county. Keena partners with numerous organizations and businesses to bring lasting generational improvements to the wellbeing of people in the community so that they can enjoy a high quality liberated life, free of or reducing participants chances of preventable illness and diagnosis.

A writer, YWCA 2024 Woman of distinction, movement instructor, advocate, nutritionist and poet, Keena hosts podcasts including "R'oujie Ruminations and Revelations" and "Good Bad Breakthru," found on all streaming platforms. Her YouTube channel @keenasfa offers a playlist of over 80 free on-demand yoga classes that she has taught and more. Keena's holistic approach passionately emphasizes parenting, emotional well-being, personal development, women’s menstrual and hormonal health and nutrition. Keena’s passions for positive psychology, social, emotional and brain health, development, literacy and liberation from the inside, out. Please find her on all social media at keenasfa or on her website.

KV Severallevels is not only Milwaukee’s sharpest lyricist but also a poet whose words carry the weight of experience and transformation. Born in Chicago and raised in Milwaukee from the age of 8, he began writing poetry in 2007 while incarcerated, drawing early inspiration from the works of Asha Bandele and Rudy Bankston. His poetry became both a creative outlet and a means of survival, eventually leading to publication in a respected prison anthology.

Today, KV Severallevels continues to share his poetry at open mic nights across the city, bridging the worlds of spoken word and hip-hop. His upcoming poetry collection, Mandatory Release, reflects the complexities of freedom, struggle, and personal growth. Many of these poetic works also appear on his forthcoming rap album, Work Release, blending Midwest flow with East Coast and Southern influences. As a member of the Freedom Gang rap collective and frequent host of the 414 Video Spotlight Show, KV Severallevels stands as a powerful voice in both the poetry and hip-hop communities, recognized as arguably the best rapper in Milwaukee.

Justin Festge Russell (stage name Jexizis) is a local artist, specializing in hip-hop, poetry, and creative production. A student and Hip-Hop & Urban Arts Scholar at UW–Madison, he is a member of First Wave. He is pursuing a degree in education and education administration, so he can better position himself to impact the lives of our youth—whom he believes hold the key to a better society.