Adiba Nelson is the author of Oshún & Me, Hazel's Best Day, and Ain't That A Mother, the memoir that Essence, Bustle, and Shondaland all hailed as a "must read," and subject of the Emmy winning documentary, The Full Nelson. She is also a retired performer, disability rights advocate/activist, freelance journalist and very tired mom! In 2013 she wrote and self-published her first children's book, Meet ClaraBelle Blue, after not being able to find a children's book that adequately and appropriately represented her daughter (disabled, Black). Since then Adiba has led numerous workshops and given keynote addresses around the country for parents, educators and education professionals and paraprofessionals, focusing on DEIA from a disability perspective. In 2017, Adiba delivered her first TEDx talk (Skating Downhill: The Art of Claiming Your Life) to a sold-out crowd, and has since joined the NPR affiliate Arizona Public Media as a regular contributor on Arizona Spotlight, spoken at the Smithsonian Institute National Museum of African American History and Culture, and led a memoir master class in sunny San Juan, Puerto Rico, at the request of the poet dubbed the "Maya Angelou of the Millennial Generation," Azure Antoinette.
