Najee A. Brown can be described as nothing else than a young entrepreneur. After starting his media company, Mindlezz Thoughtz, in 2011 he has helped provide numerous resources to aspiring artists. In addition to running his own media and arts company, Najee Brown also produced his own music and has danced on every stage from the Apollo to Carnegie Hall. He co-wrote and directed the musical Glimmerings Of Hope, which premiered in New York City and toured Michigan in the spring of 2019. He also directed and choreographed the award-winning musical Henry Box Brown – A Musical Journey, in Edinburgh Scotland in the summer or 2019. During the shutdown in 2020, Brown oversaw the “Sol,” series at Seacoast Repertory Theatre in Portsmouth, NH, which focused on presenting the narratives of Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC). Concurrently, Brown premiered two new plays, Stokley and Martin and Nevaeh’s Brother, at Seacoast Repertory Theatre, as well as producing a revival of his play, The Bus Stop, which sold out six times in New York City when it premiered.

As a young Afro-Latino boy growing up in Brooklyn, NY, during the early ’90s, theater was an important tool that helped Brown imagine a better world in the midst of the increased violence due to the crack epidemic. He saw that performing arts could facilitate a safe environment, where people felt free enough to express themselves and their social justice views through storytelling on stage. In that spirit, Brown recently founded Theater For The People to provide this same outlet and opportunities for today’s youth and adults, especially in cities that either lack diversity or include communities of marginalized people.