Derrick N. Ashong

Derrick N. Ashong—or DNA as he is sometimes known—is literally the voice of a new generation.

An experienced broadcaster, musician, and digital media influencer, the Harvard-educated talent has carved out a unique niche as an expert in bridging the gap between old and new media, and has leveraged this skill set to create cutting-edge programming in both digital and broadcast media.

Described by VanityFair.com as "a spirit of promise and hope and harmony," DNA's band, Derrick N. Ashong and Soulfège, is a critically acclaimed, refreshingly original, and exciting group of musicians who produce an eclectic blend of hip-hop, reggae, funk, world beat, and West African Highlife music that has been featured in such major media outlets as MTV Africa, NPR, The Boston Globe, The Boston Herald, MNet Africa, ABC Chronicle, and BBC Worldservice, reaching 146 million listeners worldwide. Leveraging the power of social media and proven techniques of grassroots political organizing, they have launched the Million Download Campaign, with a mission to give away one million downloads of songs and remixes from their new album AFropolitan by Christmas 2012. The goal of the campaign is to connect people around the world through the electrifying, consciousness-raising songs of AFropolitan, to "break a band" without a corporate label and, in so doing, to change the music industry.

An established media personality, DNA is the television host of The Stream on Al Jazeera English. The Stream premiered in May 2011 and is a program that integrates new and traditional media, tapping into the extraordinary potential of social media to disseminate news. This show aggregates online sources and discussion while seeking out unheard voices for new perspectives from people on the ground. Derrick also served as host of "The Derrick Ashong Experience" on SIRIUS XM's Oprah Radio.

A true Renaissance man, Ashong has lived in such locations as Brooklyn, New York; Voorhees, New Jersey; and Riyadh, Saudi Arabia; he currently resides in Washington, DC. As a college student he was cast in Steven Spielberg's 1997 film Amistad. He returned to Cambridge to finish his degree requirements before pursuing a Ph.D. focusing on how trends in open source software can inform a theory of “open source content.” He later left the doctoral program to pursue his artistry and advocacy full time.

Derrick N. Ashong has appeared on The Oprah Winfrey Show and The Mo'Nique Show, and has lectured on five continents on the use of media as a tool for human development, including recent talks for the UN Foundation; the London School of Economics; King's College (Cambridge, England); the Reconciliation Forum in Washington, DC; the United Nations Alliance of Civilizations; and before UK Parliament on the subject of "The Obama Generation." He is a member of the internationally recognized Americas Business Council Fellowship and has been a TED Global Fellow and a participant in the arts and entertainment task force of the US-Islamic World Forum, and is currently the CITI Performing Arts Center's first Spectrum Boston Fellow. He is also the founder of Take Back the Mic, a youth-centered cultural movement that leverages the power of artistry and technology to empower young people. Ashong is on the board of advisors for Children Mending Hearts, an organization dedicated to the global arts exchange between at-risk children in the United States and children living in conflict zones around the world.