Fred Edwards Jr., Ed.D. · Afrofuturist · Speaker · Poet

Know
Better.

Do better. Become better.

An Afrofuturist voice for rooms ready to imagine what’s next. I take people into the gap between what we say we believe and what we actually do — and I don’t let anyone leave the same. Keynotes, hosting, spoken word, and workshops for people ready to sit in the tension.

Book Fred to speak Watch the TEDx

Hover the headline — that’s alignment.

TEDx × 22024 Bush FellowPBS Digital Innovator All-StarNDSU AthleticsBank of North DakotaUMB BankND Council on the ArtsTwin Cities Innovation AllianceCity of Fargo MLK

Start here

Pull up a chair.

Four doors into the same house. Pick the one that sounds like you.

01 · Event planners

I need a voice for my stage

Keynotes, MC & hosting, spoken word openers and closers, moderated panels.

See speaking → 02 · Orgs & programs

I need it built and run

Workshops, youth residencies, project management, and a fractional program lead.

See workshops → 03 · Entrepreneurs

I need my people

The Shared T.A.B.L.E. — a vetted Midwest network that keeps money and referrals local.

Join the Table → 04 · Everyone else

I just want the words

Spoken word, film, and podcast conversations. Start with the TEDx.

Listen & watch →

Fred seated on a stool, smiling, tattoos on both forearms

1.9 → Ed.D.

High school GPA to doctorate

Why dissonance

A 1.9 GPA and a doctorate live in the same body.

“We don’t have to be ashamed of who we used to be. We have to be responsible for who we become after we know better.”

The youngest of ten children from North Minneapolis — born against a .0001% chance — Fred blends research, storytelling, spoken word, and lived experience to help people recognize their agency and author their own futures. He calls it narrative justice: everyone deserves the power, resources, and room to tell their own story. As an Afrofuturist, he does it looking forward — imagining Black futures out loud, then building toward them.

Bring this story to your room

The method

Where
reflection
becomes
alignment.

Dissonance

Reveals the gap between what you believe and how you behave.

Reflection

Sit in it long enough to understand it, without shame.

Alignment

Change because of what you saw — not in spite of it.

Action

Prove the change with something you build.

Illustration of one figure with two heads — one crying in a denim jacket, one laughing in red, yellow, and green

Both of them are telling the truth.

A packed hall listening to a panel on stage

Table 01 · MC & Public Speaking

More than a mic.

Storytelling, poetry, humor, and lived experience in one voice — moving a room past inspiration and into reflection. Speak. Challenge. Connect.

Check availability

Keynotes on connection

Dissonance, belonging, burnout, and what it costs a community when people go unheard. 20–60 minutes, tuned to your audience.

Conferences
Schools · Chambers

Event hosting & MC

Run of show, transitions, energy — and a room that stays with you through the awkward parts.

Half day · Full day
Multi-day

Spoken word

Commissioned or repertory pieces — an opener that sets the temperature, or a closer that sends people out changed.

Festivals · Galas
Openings

Moderated panels

Prep with your panelists, questions that go somewhere, and a moderator who keeps the room in the conversation.

Single panel
Track host

Speaker coaching

Cohorts for youth and adults: find the story, shape the talk, and get paid for it afterward.

6-week cohort
1:1 intensives

Book from the roster

Emcees, poets, and speakers — including youth from our cohorts. They don’t get exposure. They get booked, at market rate. Want in? →

Placement
Multi-speaker

Where this voice has already landed

See every engagement →

TEDx ×2

Spoken word at TEDxNDSU and TEDxFargo — on who gets to tell the story.

1 of 24

2024 Bush Fellow, chosen across MN, ND, SD, and 23 Native nations.

1 of 20

PBS Digital Innovator All-Star educators nationwide, 2022.

NDSU

Opened for Inky Johnson and Anthony Robles with NDSU Athletics.

The roster · Peers wanted

Your voice.
Our stage.

Emcees, poets, speakers, facilitators — and young people ready to find their story. When a room needs a voice that isn’t Fred’s, we book from this bench. Not for exposure. For market rate.

Apply to the roster → See what we book

Apply

Five minutes. Tell us your craft and your story.

Sit down

A real conversation with Fred — not an audition.

Sharpen

Join the coaching cohort if you want the reps.

Get booked

Matched to rooms. Paid at market rate.

Table 02 · Projects & Workshops

Ideas become experiences.

“People write, read aloud, and leave known.” Experience creates reflection. Reflection creates change.

3–12 months

Event & initiative PM

Budget to permits to programming to a debrief your board can actually read. The repeatable Juneteenth model.

Series · Cohort

Writing workshops

Leadership-style writing sessions for staff, students, and community cohorts.

Multi-session

Youth arts residencies

Teaching-artist work in schools, detention settings, and youth programs — ending in a public showcase.

Train-the-trainer

Facilitation training

Train your own people to run the room: agendas, conflict, participation, follow-up.

Project

Program design & evaluation

Logic models, measures, and evaluations written for funders and practitioners.

Monthly retainer

Fractional program lead

The capacity of a program director without the line item.

Past work: ND Youth Correctional Center residency (2023–26) · Bush Leadership workshop · Umoja Writing Workshops · Fargo MLK youth leadership · Emerging Prairie · STEAM Collective with TCIA · Juneteenth 2020–24 in Fargo, Bismarck, Jamestown & Moorhead

Listen & Watch

Hear it before you book it.

Featured · TEDxNDSU spoken word

TEDxNDSU

Spoken word

Poem 02

The Story of Umoja

Student voice, leadership & school transformation

Film 03

5 Plain Questions (2026)

Belonging, honestly

Podcast 04

Chainz 2 Changed (2026)

From the chains to the change

Podcast 05

Rocky’s Downtown Hour · Ep. 016

Reclaiming joy & belonging in downtown Fargo

Radio 06

Changemaker Rehab

Narrative justice & leadership

Podcast 07

Connecting to Your Purpose

Project Success · Episode 16

Podcast 08

Prairie Public · Main Street (2024)

Three poems from Studio 47

Radio

YouTube Instagram LinkedIn

In the press

Star TribuneBush Fellowship, 2024Read → Fargo INC!A new chapterRead → ND Council on the ArtsHealing, hope & a microphoneRead → PBSDigital Innovator All-Star, 2022Read → ND MonitorJuneteenth across the state, 2025Read → InforumYoung poets power Fargo’s MLK celebrationRead →

Table 03 · The Shared T.A.B.L.E.

Keep it at the table.

The only way to fight loneliness is through connection.

A vetted membership network for Midwest entrepreneurs who want relationships that produce real results — referrals, contracts, capital, and partnerships that stay in the community. Any member can host a Table.

Relationships

stop leaking

Capital

stays local

Knowledge

gets shared

Contracts

go to members

Community Member

$250 /yr

A seat at recurring small-group Tables and the member network.

Business Member

$500 /yr

Everything in Community, with your business in front of members for referrals and contracts.

Power Partner

$1,000 /yr

For anchors who host, invest in, and grow the Table across the region.

Apply for a seat Questions first? Ask here Membership is vetted. We track verified member-to-member spend, referrals, and capital accessed.

Book Fred · Join the Table · Say hello

Bring the tension.

Tell us the room, the date, and what you’re hoping changes. You’ll hear back within two business days with availability and a proposal.

Start your inquiry →Email Fred

Know
Better.