Dessa is a rapper, singer, essayist, and speaker who has built her career bucking traditional genre designations: she’s performed at rap festivals, sung with a 100-voice choir, and co-written classical works for orchestra. She tours internationally as a solo musician and as a member of Doomtree, the innovative Minneapolis hip-hop collective. Her most recent album, Parts of Speech, debuted at #76 on the Billboard charts; in 2016 she contributed a track to The Hamilton Mixtape, which reached #1. She’s been a featured speaker for Fortune 500 companies, educational institutions, and charitable organizations–including a keynote presentation for the Nobel Peace Prize. As a writer, Dessa has contributed to newspapers (most recently, the New York Times Magazine), radio programs, and published two short collections of her own: Spiral Bound and A Pound of Steam. Dessa splits her time between Minneapolis, New York and a 15-passenger tour van.