About Jessica Holter
AKA Ghetto Girl Blue
Jessica Holter is a public speaker, a writer, a mother, a poet, an activist for HIV/AIDS awareness and sexual abuse recovery and is Founder of The Punany Poets. She is an accomplished theatrical producer and a published author writing under Zane's Strebor imprint (Atria Books/Simon & Schuster). In 1995, Holter, then a hip hop journalist covering music in The Bay Area, responded to the untimely death of NWA rapper Eric "Eazy E" Wright of AIDS with a controversial coffee table anthology complete with erotic images and AIDS awareness PSA's. Long time friend Dwayne Wiggins (Tony Toni Tone') contributed music to accompany the book and some of the strongest Bay Area talents joined forces to make history with a one-of-a kind project Holter named THE "PUNANY" PROJECT. Holter chose the word PUNANY, she says because the Afro-Caribbean euphemism "sounds pretty". But she admits, that it is also a toast to her paternal heritage, though she never even met her Jamaican father, who reportedly has at least 22 other children that she hopes to find one day.
Holter's passion for AIDS awareness is not new. She wrote this article for her high school newspaper in 1986.
About Jessica Holter, Founder of The Punany Poets... Jessica Holter, Also Known as Ghetto Girl Blue is a writer, an Activist for AIDS awareness and sexual abuse recovery. She Started The Punany Poets in 1995 after the untimely death of Eric Eazy E Wright of AIDS, Her theater group, The Punany Poets has appeared on HBO's Real Sex, BET and Playboy TV London's Channel 5 and Cinemax. Her sexy stories on in Rotation on Playboy Radio (XM) and she has published 6 books, including Verbal Penetration (Simon and Schuster/ Atria). She
is currently worrking on a new novel entitled The Punany Experience and developing a Youth Oratory Program for The DC Metropolitan area called C.O.V.E.
COLLECTIVE
ORATORY
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EXCELLENCE
When the Book Punany: The Hip Hop Psalms was complete and 7 songs had been produced for a CD, Holter along with her artistic friends, DJ Blackmon, Branden Pernell, Eebony Brown, Haneefah & Shyeedah, Gary McCoy, Naffisa Tayebi, Yolanda Stevenson, Traci Bartlow, Mis Little and Myron (among others) produced a performance series in Oakland to raise interest in the book.
Monique Martin caught the show and sent the book to HBO Real Sex Producer Patti Kaplan who used the book as inspiration for HBO Real Sex segments 24 & 26. The internationally televised program launched a theatrical tour for Holter and The Punany Poets under the production of Yulonda Washington, For'Play Productions, created a new genre of erotic open mic around the world and drew attention to the pandemic of AIDS as it was just beginning to spread throughout the heterosexual African American community.
THE MAKING OF A SPEAKER: Jessica Holter (also known as Ghetto Girl Blue) is a gifted orator who won her first trophy for public speaking at age the age of 8. After winning the Martin Luther King Oratory Competition throughout her elementary school years at Highland (Oakland, CA) she began training under Ms. Artis Love Lady Hopkins through an urban Toastmaster's program at Elmhurst Junior High School where she honed her skills for speech writing and delivery. She was also groomed for the Southern Baptist pulpit by the Reverend Newton Carey, Jr. during these formidable years, but her plan to preach the gospel of Christ was derailed when she began to suffer from severe depression after a series of ill-fated events including the death of her biological mother, molestation by a foster parent and loosing her virginity in acquaintance rape. She turned to journalism as a form of therapy and find solace among the readers she touched with controversial and mature subject matter such as "Date Rape" "AIDS" and "Crack Cocaine". Her bold topics drew attention and criticism by from some adults but gave voice to issues that were not spoken of publicly. Even the Oakland Tribune wrote and article on the 16 year old journalistic missionary who served as news editor of Fremont High School's award winning Green & Gold newspaper under the tutelage of Steven O'Donahue.
She left Oakland, CA at the height of the crack epidemic when a friend was severely beaten. With his blood still fresh on her dress, she called a US Army recruiter and left for Ft. Dix. After training for the Army Reserve, she attended Howard University and took a job at The Washington Post where Columnist Courtland Milly took her under his wing. with her confidence returning to her, and her faith in humanity restoring, she joined the Martin Luther King Jr. Forensic Society at Howard University, where Professor Debayii Sababu Thomas fine tuned her oratory skills and made her ready for stage.
Holter now resides in Washington, DC , continues to perform and write books and is working a C.O.V.E. Collective Oratory Voices for Excellence, a youth Oratory program slated to begin in PG County next summer. Contact Jessica Holter at ghettogirlblue@yahoo.com
BOOK CD DVD
The Punany Poets' Verbal Penetration Trilogy
