- I hate cameras, just to put that out there.

(laughs softly) I am not a fan of cameras.

See, it makes so much sense why I do most of the behind the scenes stuff.

My name is Sandra Gbeintor Oyinloye and I am the Co-executive of DanSan Creatives.

There are a lot of dope artists in this city.

Do we need that top light on him?

I do find comfort in the producing directing side of things.

Shouldn't it be red?

- [Man] Oh yeah, it should be red, they all should be red.

- Yeah, I want them all red.

And I've never been one to like really be in the limelight.

You're a little too close, and you're too in the frame.

There's a lot of details that go into that directing role.

I created an hour buffer between Daniel and Jordan so that hour buffer was a great idea.

I'm thinking about each individual artist, I'm thinking about what they're saying to the world in their music.

I'm thinking about their individual platform.

All right babe, let's go.

For so long as people of color, we have not been given the platform to tell our own stories.

How do we create space for ourselves to thrive?

As artists, as folk who are drawn to this work.

When I come across youth that look like me, that don't get to see, don't get to hear narratives from folks that look like them, it's problematic.

The Mixtape Project is this really cool project.

We get to go into these spaces with youth, work with them through music.

We talk about everything, struggle, healing in music, all of those things and we truly use it as a platform to heal and to tell your own personal narrative.

It's just so powerful.

Like when you have a 13-year-old on just sharing the things that they've witnessed and the life that they've had through music and the innocence and the hope.

I've always used my art to tell my story.

And the more that I lived in this community, the more that the need for those perspectives and those stories to be told was just, I mean it had to happen.

It's truly liberating to be able to tell your own story.

Can I write music?

Yes.

Do I rap?

No (laughs softly) What I'd do if I were to label myself it would be a poet, a spoken word artist.

Today I can't breathe, my lungs are weak and the air feels harsh, almost thorn like as it glides down my throat my diaphragm tightening like the work of a course rope.

I have probably written over a hundred pieces.

How many of those pieces I've actually performed?

Probably a good 10 of them.

I started writing when I was probably in elementary school and I would write these pieces to kind of get these my feelings and my emotions on a paper or to just help me process certain things.

And I've just I've never stopped writing.

Today I can't breathe, where is the oxygen?

Why has it been replaced?

I can't breathe, no moment to be.

I can't breathe, no room for fresh air.

I can't breathe.

Most of my themes have to do with being a black woman it has to do with social justice.

I recently had a son (laughs softly) who is 15 months now.

Yeah, since having Jahleel, I've been wanting to just share more of my work with the world.

An activist to me is someone who is willing to speak up, stand up for communities for what's right.

And in that light, definitely, I feel like what I do on a daily with DanSan Creatives and the community is definitely activism.

(upbeat music) - [Man] Funding For Intersections is brought to you by The Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund and the citizens of Minnesota.