Toni Shorter Smith has championed African-American culture in Ohio in profound ways. Among other work, she mobilized and trained a team of 30 volunteers to research and document African-American settlements in Central Ohio for Columbus Landmarks. She was instrumental in creating the Aminah Robinson Legacy Project with the Columbus Museum of Art, which honors the late artist’s legacy by offering a fellowship and residency at her incredible, art-filled home. And she produced a video series highlighting African-American composers for Opera Project Columbus – plus took some of its musicians to Paris to perform excepts of Vanqui, an emotional opera about two Africans enslaved in America. Now, she splits her time between Columbus and Oxford, where she is teaching at Miami University as a visiting assistant professor. Here, the mother and grandmother shares passions, frustrations, defining moments and more.

What lights you up?  

I love collaborating with others to undertake a creative project.

What frustrates you?  

People’s limited vision of what we can do together. I am, by nature, a very optimistic person. When brainstorming with others, we can come up with great ideas. Sometimes we can be intimidated by the size of the project: “Oh, that will cost too much” or “I don’t know if I can do that.” These are all normal thoughts. But often the bigness of the idea is what is exciting about it. I get frustrated by those who won’t see the possibilities or agree to work on big ideas with me and others. I remember once approaching a friend who was in a position of authority and asking for her help with a project. She laughed and said, “Toni, you’ve always got to ask for something hard.” I thought, If it was easy, I wouldn’t need to ask for your help.

What professional mission are you on?  

I am on a mission to put very smart and/or talented people in front of people who can learn and are willing to be inspired, be entertained, be provoked to think, be healed.

What personal mission are you on?  

To do all I said in the previous response while keeping the lines off my face. I also have a mission to contribute culturally to the expansion of our collective understanding of what it is to be human.

Why is human connection so important?  

Human connection is important, because without it, there is no compassion, little understanding or empathy, minimal change.

“Love is more powerful than hate, and individual participation by all is what will save us.”

Toni Shorter Smith

What is a memorable moment from your childhood?

I grew up with three brothers in a household that discussed issues of the day at the dinner table. Even though I was the only girl, my two cents were always considered just as important as that of my brothers. As I got older – still elementary school age but beyond the inclusive environs of my home – I still contributed my two cents to conversations that my brothers and their male friends were having, just as I did at the dinner table. After one such discussion, I heard one of the boys who lived down the street saying to another boy, “Toni talks too much!” I was shocked. Nobody in my household ever made me feel like I talked too much. In fact, my family seemed to enjoy and encourage my thinking and participation in our family discussions. That one remark was my introduction to what I later came to know as sexism. As a result, I began to pay attention to how my girlfriends’ and my contributions to intellectual discussions were received. I became keenly aware of how some men responded to women who are thinkers. And that made me consider how much further along in our society we could be in various areas of development if women’s contributions were considered as valuable as those of men. It shaped my embrace of equity and equality more broadly than just for African Americans but also for women, differently abled people, gay people, etc.

Who made a powerful mark on your life, and how?  

My mother probably made the most powerful mark on my life, because she was very forward-thinking. My brothers were required to cook and clean just like me. She practiced yoga, exercised all her life and studied astrology as well as her own religion of Christianity. She was always developing herself. She studied herbs and vitamins in an effort to improve her health and that of my father. She went door to door to create our community association that still exists today. She volunteered for the only Black nursing home in town. And she did all this while remaining stylish and fashion-forward.

Who do you love to learn from? 

I love learning from scholars who have devoted years to mining a particular subject. For example, I love hearing Ohio State Professor Emeritus Ted McDaniel talk about jazz, or Ohio State Professor Hasan Jeffries talk about the Civil Rights era, or Miami University Professor Tammy Kernodle talk about American music.

Why do you love Ohio?  

I love Ohio because it imbued me with a love of the four seasons and what I was told are “good Midwestern values.”

What one person do you wish every Ohioan knew?

Artist Aminah Robinson, who represents the best of what Ohio has to contribute. I also would highlight Steven Anderson, who for years wrote and produced plays for children at Phoenix Theater for Children, which later merged with CATCO and is now The Contemporary Theatre of Ohio. His plays helped introduce children to those “good Midwestern values” that will stay with them for life.

What are you certain is true?  

Love is more powerful than hate, and individual participation by all is what will save us.

If there is a single mission you could mobilize people around, what would it be?  

To become an informed citizenry that participates in the development of our society.

If people defined you with one word, what do you hope it is?  

Zeal.