International Women's Day Festival 2022: The Tea: SPIKED with Afi Soul

In this special presentation of The Tea, Afi Soul will perform original work via livestream and Chocolate City’s Best bartenders Kapri Johnson and Denaya Jones will demonstrate a signature, tea-themed cocktail to accompany the performance. Over this special cup of spiked tea, Afi Soul will also discuss her creative process with Melani N. Douglass, director of public programs. 5:30 p.m. on March 8th, International Women's Day. Livestreaming on NMWA’s Facebook page and at nmwa.org/livestream. For more information, please click here.

Afi Soul is a critically acclaimed R&B/soul singer whose 2007 self-distributed album Lovely landed on the Soultracks Top 10 Albums list, putting her in a class with Erykah Badu, Angela Johnson, Algebra and Raheem DeVaughn. The music video stayed in rotation on BETJ and VH1 Soul for months and was also featured on VH1Soul.com. Her latest album, Rising, was released in 2014 and is independently distributed in stores and online.

Kapri Robinson is Washington, D.C.’s 2017 Cocktail Queen and has been a part of the beverage community in the city for almost a decade. While spending her time as a bartender, educator and event organizer, she is also the president and founder of Chocolate City’s Best. In 2020, Robinson organized Back to Black, an organization bringing together Black food and beverage creators to rally continued support of Black activism. Robinson is also the co-founder of Empowering The Diner, a Black women-led food and beverage experience. In 2021, Robinson was chosen as one of Eater’s New Guard.

Over the course of D.C. native Denaya Jones’s ten-year career, an administrative position with the Black-owned catering and event company Charlene’s Kitchen evolved into a true passion for hospitality, cocktails, and spirits. She established Deestilled, a mobile, boutique-style company specializing in bespoke bar and spirits experiences. Jones is also director of operations for craft spirits retailer Seelbach’s, content curator for Chocolate City’s Best and a member of Fred Minnick’s American Spirits Counsel of Tasters. Jones has competed in and won multiple cocktail competitions, including Chocolate City’s Best (2018) and the Grey Goose Express Your Cocktail Challenge.