My mother taught me since I was born that what we feed our conscious mind shapes our subconscious mind and thus determines our present and future realities. As a result, my mother, a transcendental meditation practitioner, was hyper-vigilant in protecting my conscious mind, always carefully curating the words and images that I was exposed to. I eventually adopted this practice; however, I had to learn how to keep my mind flexible and open so that the limitations and biases buried within were constantly chipped away.

The chipping away of limitations is done by the images, visual art, music, books, and thought leadership I feed myself. These elements are mostly derived from or inspired by Afrofuturism. As a participant since Afrofuturism was coined in the 1990s, I have been distilling afrofuture thought into practice so that what we imagine could be manifested.

As our world increasingly recognizes the beauty in diverse cultures, we must address the biases that are disrupting our future visions. I’ve found the best way to address biases embedded within is by nurturing our consciousness through culture. Culture is an evolution of what has been before. It is legacy-building that is often intuitive. By diving deep into our community cultures, we are more easily able to identify nuanced elements that drive change while being able to highlight challenges faced by that specific culture. This is the importance of creating culturally informed futures, and it provides grounding for self-awareness while making the engagement with the future more pleasurable.

As a curator for over twenty years, I understand the transformative power of arts and culture. And as a former mayoral candidate of Detroit, I understand how the arts can galvanize action toward a future vision. It is why Afrofuturism remains the basket I pull from when I work with individuals and organizations from a spectrum of cultural backgrounds. Over the years of working in different cities like Doha and Berlin, I learned how Afrofuturism inspires participants to view the future through their cultural prism, which is deeply exciting. Through culture, we see ourselves in the future and thus can more easily imagine an empowered, sustainable solution to what lies on the horizon.

Biography

Ingrid LaFleur is an afrofuturist, curator, and pleasure activist focused on creating decolonized futures using art, culture, and emerging technology. As a former candidate for the mayor of Detroit, LaFleur has made it her mission to ensure equal distribution of the future. Ingrid works with communities to imagine alternative futures and digital solutions to address their socioeconomic issues. She also co-creates strategies to help preferred futures emerge. Ingrid believes the best tech developed is culturally informed and community-driven.

As a thought leader, social justice technologist, public speaker, teacher, and cultural advisor, LaFleur has led conversations and workshops at Centre Pompidou (Paris), TEDxBrooklyn, TEDxDetroit, Ideas City, New Museum (New York), Harvard University, Oxford University, Museum of Modern Art (New York) and Salesforce, among others. Her work has been featured in the New York Times, NPR’s This American Life, and Hyperallergic, to name a few. LaFleur is currently in graduate school at the University of Houston for an M.S. in Foresight. She is a member of the Association of Professional Futurists.