Zenique Gardner Perry

Zenique Gardner Perry is a writer, educator and community organizer committed to helping organizations cultivate diverse and equitable spaces that mitigate the further marginalization of people of color, immigrants and those impacted by incarceration. Zenique’s creative and relational approach to anti-racism and anti-oppression work incorporates media and literary works and encourages introspection through journal-writing prompts and thoughtful dialogue. Zenique is also a proponent of affinity groups and caucuses where white people are welcome to acknowledge and address their own racism without shame and where black folks and people of color may gather in an effort to process hurt and practice healing, absent of the white gaze.

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Zenique is an East St. Louis native who began her advocacy for Diversity and Inclusion while she lived in Philadelphia, PA, where she worked as an organizer for The Urban League of Philadelphia. Since returning to St. Louis in 2015, Zenique has partnered with Rockwood School District to provide DEI training for teachers and administrators and, as an NCCJ Facilitrainer for Anytown and Gateway2Change, has engaged St. Louis youth in anti-oppression workshops. Zenique is also the former Prevention Education Manager for Safe Connections. Currently, she supports the City of St. Louis' Youth Safe Spaces Initiative as the Project Director for the Violence Prevention Commission. 

 

Zenique has an MFA from Washington University in St. Louis and a BA in English from Eastern University in Pennsylvania. Her husband, Jermar Perry, is the Co-Founder of The Village PATH. They live in South St. Louis with a niece, nephew and their animals.