About
Leo Shelton is an author, poet, writer, educator, scholar, and a
self-proclaimed life long learner and student of life. He credits his mom (Carolyn - "Tug") as the most influential
connection and influence on his creative foundation. Growing up in Nashville, Tennessee, he began to journal, write
short stories and poetry at the very early age of 10 years old. It was there, surrounding his emotional development,
through the exposure to such substantive and creative arts of Fisk University, his mother and god-mother's alma mater,
and Tennessee State University, his father's alma mater, that his first interests in the arts took anchor, through such
influences as the Jubilee Singers and local playwrights and visual arts.
He entered a couple of local and national poetry writing contests, and actually won a couple
of awards. This solidified the quest to one day write and publish. Often labeled as a renaissance, he cautiously credits
influences of such legends as Maya Angelou, James Baldwin, Nikki Giovanni, Langston Hughes and Marlon Riggs as having a major
impact on his desire and creative expression, because "as powerful as those influences are, music, politics, love, life
and so much of my culture, development and exposure, I think, also influences from where the words flow." He additionally
credits such influences as Robert Hayden, Richard Wright, Walt Whitman, and Paul Laurence Dunbar as big ones as well.
Asked what or who he is reading or following these days, he comments, "Common, and Mos Def and Floetry are all doing
their thing in a way that is bringing poetry to the forefronts, through music and song that is so impressive." He's
also a huge fan of Terrance Hayes and his work. "And one of my personal favorites is the unbelievably talented,
Tim'm West - he and his work are incredibly intoxicating." With such a respect for the legends and a connection
to the new - it's no wonder this up and coming artist is already being labeled a renaissance force.
And if that is not enough, he is an adjunct faculty member at University
of Phoenix, Keller Graduate School, Strayer University, Southeastern University, and Capitol College, teaching undergraduate
and graduate courses in business, finance, organizational behavior, management, and economics, and a freelance consultant
and course developer. He holds a Bachelors Degree in Business Management (Magna Cum Laude), an MBA in International
Management, an MPA in Government Programs Management (Cum Laude) and an MBA in Financial Management, and he recently completed
a Masters of Arts in Organizational Management. He's completed two years of law school and is currently working
on a PhD program. He resides right outside of the Washington, DC area.
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