Derrick N. Ashong
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the most viewed videos of 2008 on YouTube), in his music (as leader of the emerging band Soulfège), in his lyrics (he won Billboard Magazine's 2007 World Song Writing Competition) or in his acting ability, the Harvard educated talent has found myriad ways to inspire, engage and activate young people with positive messages for social change.
DNA is the host of “The Derrick Ashong Experience”, on SIRIUS XM's Oprah Radio. The show airs Saturdays from 12:00-3:00 pm ET on Oprah Radio, XM Channel 156 and SIRIUS Channel 195 and is streamed live on www.OprahRadio.com .
"The Derrick Ashong Experience" is a mash-up of politics, pop-culture, social media, music and the arts, informed by Derrick's experiences and travels across the globe. DNA offers inspiration, wisdom and an open mic to listeners of all ages and welcomes a wide variety of guests from the worlds of politics, new media, entertainment and beyond. He takes calls from across the country and responds to emails and social media messages from around the world.
Dubbed a “YouTube phenom” by the New York Times, the Ghana, West Africa native has dedicated his life to building bridges between the fields of business, media, technology, youth culture, pop culture and politics.A true Renaissance man, DNA has lived in such locations as Brooklyn, New York, Voorhees, New Jersey and Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, and currently resides in Los Angeles. Trained in classical piano, he is also a self-taught guitarist, a natural performer and a songwriter who was involved in theater throughout primary and secondary school while learning to communicate his thoughts through poetry. After he enrolled at Harvard, Ashong met his current band members while performing in the Kuumba Singers, a university choir. Then, just before completing his studies, he was cast in Stephen Spielberg’s 1997 film, Amistad. He returned to Cambridge to finish his degree requirements before pursuing a Ph.D. in African-American Studies and Ethnomusicology, later leaving the doctoral program to pursue his artistry and advocacy full-time.
Ashong has lectured on five continents on the use of media as a tool for human development, including recent talks at the London School of Economics, King's College (Cambridge), the Reconciliation Forum in Washington, D.C., 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 Next Generation Leadership Forum and a participant in the Arts & Entertainment task force of the U.S.-Islamic World Forum. He is also the founder of Take Back the Mic, a youth-centered cultural movement that encourages young people to take leadership in four key areas of life: art, society, business and politics. DNA is also on the Board of Directors 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.