Rheonna Thornton

Rheonna Nicole is a natural born poet, artist, spoken word competitor and entrepreneur. A native Louisvillian, she graduated from Valley High School and studied commercial arts at Murray State University.  

Her art is a direct reflection of who she is; loud, bold and unapologetic about it's existence. She began to recite her poetry at churches, funerals, weddings and youth events. Soon she became admired and enjoyed by many people around the city. Her aggressive and rhythmic style of poetry has made her stand out in the crowd. Rheonna has been a featured speaker at The National Council of Negro Women's Martin Luther King Jr. brunch, Girls IdeaFest, World Festival, Kentucky Women's Writers Conference, Louisville Literary Arts reading series and Indiana University Poetry Festival. Featured articles in Today's Woman Magazine, Leo Weekly, Insider Louisville, Courier Journal, Spalding University Art & Literary Hotel and the featured performer for other poetry events.  

Not to mention winning multiple poetry slams while competing in Lexington, Ky, Indianapolis, IN, Cincinnati, OH and Brooklyn, NY. In 2016 she competed in the Women of the World Poetry Slam ranking Rheonna sixth place amongst 96 other female spoken word artists in the nation.  

Now a published poet, Community Arts Manager at the Kentucky Center for Performing Arts and CEO and founder of Lipstick Wars Poetry Slam which is an all female competition where she offers a platform for poets to speak out against the injustices and celebrations of womanhood through the art of poetry slamming.