Janae’ “Jaee” Sumter (they/them) is a migrating folk artist, curator, life coach, event organizer, hoodoo practitioner, and educator from New Orleans, LA, and based in Oaxaca, Mexico. Jaee is a descendant of deep roots Gullah, Native, and Creole roots and has migrated to Houston, Atlanta, New York, China, and California. 

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Jaee's richly diverse multidisciplinary artistry embraces intergenerational bridging, global sovereignty, environmental justice, cultural/historic preservation, community and legacy building, and whole-person learning that provides pathways towards liberation and social-emotional understanding around systemic and equitable gaps. Through their artistic approaches to liberation, Jaee is an Arts Integration Educator, Community Organizer, Archivist, Event Planner, Curator, Goal Setting Coach, Herbalist, Sacred Energy Healer, Hoodoo Practitioner, Creative Entrepreneur, and Crop Grower who uses education and the creative cultural arts to uproot racial and health systemic injustice and disparities. Jaee builds directly with underserved Black, Indigenous, and creators and organizations of color and inclusive partners in the U.S. and Internationally to replant seeds of empowerment that nurture solutions towards interdependence. 

Jaee obtained their Bachelor of Arts in Studio Art from Spelman College in Atlanta, GA, and their Master of Fine Arts in Integrated Practices from the Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, NY, focusing on Community Arts & Social Justice. Their healing arts and justice work activates ancestral demystification, sustainability through sacred practice, and ecological learning that fights for food security and works to end global poverty. 

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Their work actualizes in real-time through developing creative learning projects and programs that integrate art and culture through the lens of land preservation that builds practical solutions. Their philosophy is that building solutions together uplifts community collaboration and ancestral connection that acts as a guiding light toward initiating socio-political awareness around decolonizing colonized philosophies that create interpersonal inequities.

   Jaee has an expanding diverse six-year teaching background working with K-12 and adults in traditional and nontraditional educational environments within and beyond the U.S. Their teaching includes Visual and Community Arts, Cultural Arts, English, and Arts Integration. That includes public, charter, boarding, international, and community schools as well as shelters, service centers, and freedom forest schools, within and beyond through their community arts and wellness education program, Asé O. They believe education, skill and personal development, mindset reprogramming and cultural storytelling are significant pathways toward liberation, equitability, sustainability, and legacy sustainment.

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As the founder and human vessel of Sweet Herbal Honey Apothecary, a divine-led community creative agency, their wholistic sacred work manifests through integrating extensive creative-based healing modalities that initiate socio-political awareness and uproots colonized frameworks and systems.  Their work has been shared or exhibited in National Geographic Women's Issue, Sugarcane Magazine, Visual Aids, Lichtundire Gallery, Dimensions Art Center in Chongqing, China, and Recess Art.