artist, speaker & cultural worker

MISSION

repairing the past. dreaming the future.
i use story, sound and screen to organize for Black wholeness and challenge the narratives that harm us.

CONTACT

collette@blackriver.life
@collettebwatson
image by matt martian

director of media 2070: media reparations project at free press • co-creator of media 2070: media reparations • convenor of zojo Black wellness project • creating safe cultural spaces for power building and radical change.
award-winning soul/r&b artist behind the EP “coco by request” and the independent album “juneteenth revolution.” past opener for lauryn hill, dwele, amel larrieux, boyz ii men and more. music featured on BET series ‘breakup x makeup.’ Listen to Collette’s duet with Eric Roberson, ‘Touch.’
director of award-winning short documentary ‘Black in the Newsroom’ for media 2070 project. this film follows the experiences of a Black woman journalist navigating life in a major Arizona newsroom. Winner of “Best Documentary Short” at Peachtree International and Detroit Black Film Festivals.
sought-after public speaker on topics including storytelling for community power, narrative justice, media inequality, Juneteenth, Gullah Geechee heritage, arts empowerment, reparations, and Black history. watch my interview with Indie Film Fest.
Collette 'Coco' Watson is an award-winning musician, filmmaker and cultural organizing leader with a passion for telling Black stories in pursuit of juicy, abundant futures. Born and raised in South Carolina and a graduate of Howard University, Collette is now planted on the unceded lands of the Tohono O’odham people, otherwise known as Phoenix, Arizona, where she is co-founder of Black River Life media and arts organizing collective. She is also a co-creator of the Media 2070 project at Free Press, where she previously worked as Vice President for Cultural Strategy. Collette’s writings have been featured by TIME Magazine, The Black Wall Street Times and YES Magazine among others. Her music has been featured by Sirius XM Heart and Soul, EBONY and SoulBounce.com, and her installation art has been exhibited at Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture (NYC) as well as Phoenix Art Museum and Arizona State University Art Museum.
View Collette’s full CV here.