About

Let’s get into it…

Shanese Indoowaaboo Steele is an Afro-Indigenous 31 year old, Femme living and learning on the traditional territory of the Mississauga, Ansihshinaabek, Haudenosaunee and Wendat people which falls under Treaty 13 and the Dish With One Spoon Wampum, known as Toronto as well as the Traditional territory of the Potawatomi and Illinois people in what is known as Decatur, Illinois. Born in Milton, Ontario during a time when diversity meant there was a Chinese food restaurant, Shanese endured racism and violence at the hands of children who didn’t know what to do with a Brown little girl with hair bigger than her body. In 2001, along with her mother and her brother Shanese moved to Toronto where she was finally able to connect to Black and Indigenous people outside of her tight-knit family.

With a Black father from Trinidad, with roots in Carriacou, Grenada and a Mixed mother of French and Native ancestry with ties to Anishinaabek community and the Métis Nation, Shanese navigates the world as an Afro-Métis Kwe. Being Black, Native, Queer and Fat in a world that says all of these things should not exist Shanese uses writing as an outlet to express her fears, joy and dreams.