Poet Aja Monet began exploring musical avenues during the late 2010s, collaborating with Eryn Allen Kane and the Smoke Signals Collective before releasing her debut album, When the Poems Do What They Do, in 2023.
Penning her first poems at age eight, Monet was passionate about storytelling from a young age, involved in poetry workshops and competitions throughout her high school years. At age 19, she became the youngest-ever winner of the Nuyorican Poets Café Grand Slam, and soon consolidated her talent by studying for an MFA in Writing at the School of the Art Institute Chic...