Page 11 - Florida Sentinel 1-14-22

Local
Poet’s Passion For Writing And Empowerment Has Led To Expanded Projects
LEAH HUNTER
... aka Ropunzell The Poet
BY MONIQUE STAMPS Sentinel Staff Writer
Leah Hunter, aka Rop- unzell the Poet, is a local gem looking to continue to grow as a writer, poet, pro- ducer, and advocate for so- cial justice and female empowerment.
Ropunzell has been writ- ing for over twenty years. She has been performing and sharing her gift with the Tampa Bay area for the past fifteen years.
After moving to Tampa at age eleven, Ropunzell has lived in Tampa for twenty- five of her 36 years. She at- tended Howard W. Blake Performing Arts High School.
After having her first child at 19, she ventured into the working world. For the last six years, she has owned a residential cleaning busi- ness, Happy Home Cleaning, which allows her to provide for her family, as well as be a voice in the community as a poet and performer.
She performs in Tampa and St. Petersburg. She plans
Poetry Queens Cypher ...Ropunzell the Poet, Star Sanders, Antoinette Catalano, and CaSandra Baer.
to produce her own shows in the future. She performed at Black on Black Rhyme previ- ously, and has been a special guest poet.
Ropunzell’s writing fo- cuses on social justice issues, and recently she has ven- tured into self-empower- ment poetry with the Poetry Queens Cypher, a collective of young female poets of African descent.
Maya Angelou’s Phe- nomenal Woman inspired their work. Ropunzell built on the poem and modernized it for today’s world. Each poet depicts a different woman and her attributes.
The Poetry Queens Cypher’s latest project can be found on YouTube #Poet- ryQueensCypher. Ropun- zell the Poet is the producer.
Ropunzell also has a podcast. You can see the podcast and other perform- ances on her YouTube chan- nel, @ropunzellthepoet.
In 2022, look for Ropun- zell’s next big project - a yet untitled audiobook coming out in 2022.
FRIDAY, JANUARY 14, 2022 FLORIDA SENTINEL BULLETIN PUBLISHED EVERY FRIDAY PAGE 11-A