Our Founder

Our Founder

Trelani Michelle is an award-winning writer, oral historian, and teaching artist based in Savannah, Georgia and New Orleans, Louisiana.

“I started Krak Teet to make history interesting by telling it the way I talk instead of how textbooks share it so that people could see themselves in it and seeing how connected we are to each other. I’m Geechee, Creole, and plain ole’ country. Grew up on two kinds of gumbo: from Louisiana and the Low Country. And you can taste all of that in my content.”

Trelani graduated from the OG of HBCUs in Georgia, Savannah State University, with a Bachelor’s in Political Science. Changed her mind from practicing law to telling stories then graduated from Savannah College of Art and Design with an MFA in Writing. The storyteller also became a solid storygatherer after an internship at the Library of Congress’s American Folklife Center. Crowned Savannah’s Best Local Author in 2021, Trelani published a catalog of Black Savannah’s biographies called Krak Teet. She also co-authored the New York Times bestselling cookbook, Gullah Geechee Home Cooking. She refers to her work as “Zora Neale Hurstoning” and teaches the history that textbooks overlook using words that your English teacher would’ve drawn red lines through.

Also in 2021, Trelani was named Editor for Black Art in America, a multifaceted arts company based in Atlanta with a mission to document, preserve and promote the contributions of the African-American arts community. This allows her to combine storytelling with visual art to make history and culture more engaging and accessible. Trelani has presented her work as a speaker or panelist at UNC’s Black Communities Conference, SCAD, Savannah State, Georgia Council for the Arts, The Highlander Research and Education Center, and more. She’s also served as a Teaching Artist for the Deep Center, Frederica Academy, Susie King Taylor Community School, Baltimore’s A Revolutionary Summer, Loop it Up, etc.