Speaker Profile

Kiesha B. Free

Emcee | Speaker | Performing Artist | Founder, Hey, Black Seattle

Kiesha B. Free

With a 20+ year career spanning technology, media and stage performance, Kiesha B. Free (née Kiesha Garrison) connects people to the insight, resources and experiences they need to thrive in their fullest self-expression. A master conversationalist, Kiesha has curated and hosted countless panels and delivered insightful mainstage interviews with well-known subjects such as Will Smith, Lenny Kravitz and Megan Rapinoe. She also produces & hosts YOU Better!, a podcast about discovering the possibilities for our own lives through the stories of others. She is the founder and CEO of Hey Black Seattle, the digital hub for Black life in the Puget Sound region. In this work, she aims to increase well-being and reduce the mental and emotional strain of disconnection and isolation among the region’s Black residents.

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Scheduled Appearances

Podcast

Cascade PBS Presents NORTHWEST REPORTS: HEY, BLACK SEATTLE!

Sat May 31, 2025 | 3:40pm
In-person
Northwest Reports Stage - 5th Floor

Kiesha B. Free is a speaker, comedian, former business and culture leader at Microsoft and the founder of Hey, Black Seattle!, an online resource and movement to help connect and nurture the Black community in the Seattle area. The effort grew, in part, out of a frustration with the (very wrong) notion that “there are no Black people in Seattle,” and aims to combat the very real strain of isolation. 

Kiesha B. Free
Sara Bernard
Maleeha Syed
Featuring: Kiesha B. Free, Sara Bernard, Maleeha Syed
Session sponsored by Inatai Foundation

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About the Festival

The Cascade PBS Ideas Festival is a full-day event in downtown Seattle, featuring live podcast recordings and studio television tapings from The Atlantic, NPR, CNN, Vox, PBS, Crooked Media, The Gist, Open to Debate, and more. Watch live as journalists, newsmakers, and thought leaders from around the world take on hot topics making news and the biggest issues of our time. Plus, community meetups, speaker meet-and-greets, micro-sessions, food trucks, DJs, and artists.

Don't just listen — be part of it. Join us on May 31 (the weekend after Memorial Day) at the Amazon Meeting Center in downtown Seattle.

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