Jaylene Clark Owens

Jaylene began writing poetry in 5th grade. She started slamming in 2005 when she competed for a spot on the Urban Word NYC Team. This team went on to win 1st place at the Brave New Voices International Poetry Slam. In 2012 she competed in the Apollo Theater Amateur Night competition, in which she won 1st place for her spoken word poem, "SoHa." She advanced three times, ending as a finalist in the Super Top Dog competition. While a student at Ithaca College, Jaylene founded, and served as the president, of Spit That!, a poetry organization on the campus. In 2019 she was accepted as a member of the 5th cohort for the #BARS Workshop at the Public Theater in NY, led by Rafael Casal and Daveed Diggs. Jaylene appears in "Voices of Harlem," a series by Remy Martin in partnership with the Harlem Writers Guild, that pays homage to the written words and voices of those from the Harlem Renaissance era. She can be seen performing the poem, "Mother to Son," by Langston Hughes, accompanied by original music from legendary producer, Jermaine Dupri. With over 4,000 submitting, Jaylene was selected as one of the few poets to open for NY Times best-selling author, Rupi Kaur, at the Kimmel Cultural Campus. Jaylene’s poetry is powerful, engaging, and her performance combines elements of her background as a professional actress. She aims to captivate, motivate, and educate her audience with her spoken word poetry.