“I am rebelling against being handed a career, like, “You’re the next this; you’re the next that.” I am not the next anything; I am the first me.” 

MEET THE CREATIVE INFORMATION SCIENTIST

Dr. kYmberly Mieshia Dionn Keeton is a Texas-based writer, art librarian, Black scholar and theorist, cultural historian, and archivist. She is the founder of The Friends of ART | library deco, a digital African American research art library and repository, and principal consultant at The K Agency, where she integrates scholarship, innovation, and community engagement. She is the founder and instructor of the independent course African American Community Archives Theory (AACAT-1870) and is currently leading its second cohort (Spring 2026).

Her interdisciplinary research examines African American community archives in Texas, cultural philanthropy, and the evolving role of Black Galleries, Libraries, Archives, and Museums (BGLAM). In 2025, her article, “From Archive to Action: Building a Black-Centered Information Ecology Through BGLAM,” was published in The Political Librarian. Her work is anchored by the Texas African American Community Archives Project (TAACAP), through which she advances theory, pedagogy, and digital practice in community-based archival scholarship.

Dr. Keeton graduated in January 2026 from the Bank of America Institute at Cornell University’s Women’s Entrepreneurial Leadership Certificate Program and is a 2025–2026 Fellow of the National Genealogical Society’s James Worris Moore Leadership Academy. She is also co-host of the monthly collaborative podcast It’s Beautiful and Chaotic with Dr. Justice Briscoe. A Ph.D. graduate of the University of North Texas, she serves on numerous cultural boards and continues to advance scholarship and practice in community archives.