Wed, Jun 17
|Kimball Arts Center
THE FREQUENCY by DJ Lady D
THE FREQUENCY is a bold new monthly live speaker series supporting new energies, emerging thought leaders, and connections.
Time & Location
Jun 17, 2026, 5:30 PM – 9:00 PM
Kimball Arts Center, 1757 N Kimball Ave, Chicago, IL 60647, USA
Event Info
THE FREQUENCY is a bold new monthly live speaker series supporting new energies, emerging thought leaders, and connections. Internationally renowned DJ/producer, TEDx speaker, Recording Academy Chicago Governor, and Collaboraction Executive Director DJ Lady D is introducing THE FREQUENCY to amplify voices, cultivate dialogue, and inspire collective action around today’s most pressing cultural issues. Lady D will bring together artists, activists, civic leaders, and changemakers for immersive experiences that blend music, storytelling, and conversation.
THE FREQUENCY launches in June with special guest speaker Dr. Nicole Rawls, a Black anthropologist, astrologer and artist (drnicolerawls.com). Rawls will present “The Body as an Altar,” followed by conversation, collective movement and dancing with DJ Lady D.
The FREQUENCY by DJ Lady D: JUNE 17, 2026 AGENDA
5:30 PM – Doors & Music
6:30 PM – Breaking The Veil: Healing Hz and Invocation
Special Guest Speaker: Dr. Nicole Rawls, PH. D, @drnicolerawls
Black Anthropologist, Astrologer, and Artist. Embodied Strategic Dreaming
Presenting: The Body as an Altar, followed by conversation with Lady D
Co-Listen – Reflect – Community Conversations – Dream Incubation
Embodiment Praxis – Collective Movement & Dancing with DJ Lady D
9 PM – Close The Portal
ABOUT DR. NICOLE RAWLS, Ph.D.
Dr. Nicole Rawls (formerly Truesdell) is an Organizational Death Doula, Cultural Strategist, and
StoryWeaver who guides individuals, organizations, and movements through the transitions, endings,
and reinventions that are required to make new futures possible by learning to strategize with their
dreams.
Dr. Rawls holds a PhD in Anthropology from Michigan State University, specializing in race, racism,
citizenship, and the nation-state. Her work focuses on exploring the question: What does it mean to
be human outside the colonial project? She spent over fifteen years teaching and leading in higher
education at Michigan State University, the University of Bristol (UK), Beloit College, and Brown
University before leaving academia in 2021. She is the founder of the Embodied Futures Lab and
the creator of Embodied Strategic Dreaming — a praxis-based methodology that integrates
structural analysis, cultural-spiritual connection, and embodied intelligence to support collaborative
visioning and transformative change. She has advised boards and executive teams, directed multi-
million-dollar program portfolios, facilitated strategic retreats for organizations, and guided
organizations through full program life cycles with a focus on creating structures, policies, and
practices that are genuinely human-centered.
Her work moves beyond institutional boardrooms and strategy sessions as Dr. Rawls is also a
poet, performer, and public intellectual whose practice spans peer-reviewed scholarship, long-form
essays, podcasts, a Patreon community, and live convenings. She is currently completing her first
book, “Reclaiming My Wild: A Modern-Day Marronage Folktale” and working on a documentary as
part of a larger project, “Queering Chaos”.
As a speaker and facilitator, Dr. Rawls brings her experiences and practice as an anthropologist,
astrologer, artist and death worker into every room. She is available for keynotes, organizational
facilitation, strategic retreats, and panel conversations on topics including strategic dreaming,
centering in the human in times of AI, narrative strategy, organizational transition, Black and Queer
futurity, and embodied leadership.