Topeka native, Chris Omni, is an eco-spiritualist, two-timeTEDx speaker, three-time First Place 3-MT (3-Minute Thesis) Winner, Black women’s health researcher, published author, documentary filmmaker, international presenter, community mobilizer, and former health motivation columnist for the Topeka Capital Journal. Chris holds a bachelor’s degree in Human Services and a master’s degree in Liberal Arts from Washburn University. 

As a lifelong learner, Chris decided to return to higher education, 15-years later, to pursue a master’s degree in Public Health at Kansas State University. In June 2020, Chris left Topeka to obtain a doctorate in Art Education at Florida State University where she is researching Black Joy in Green Spaces through the methodologies of visual narrative inquiry, photo-elicitation, and auto-ethnography. Most recently, Chris’s TEDx FSU Talk, “Granny’s Garden: How to Grow Black Joy,” featured the first, public, poetic theorizing of Black Joy! (https://youtu.be/PScP5BcKsxU)

Chris deeply values the unapologetic use of her voice and agency to speak life, love, and Light to all people with a particular emphasis on Black people. She views her body as a vessel that has not only delivered life but receives life in the form of lessons and abilities from the ancestors. As others have stated, “Chris Omni is a whole vibe!”