Denisha “Coco ” Bland
SAYS Associate Director
Denisha Bland, also known as Coco Blossom, is a Poet, Host, and Educator. Coco is from Pittsburg, CA and raised in South Sacramento. She currently the Associate Director of SAYS (Sacramento Area Youth Speaks) where she mentors young girls and youth from the inner-city.
She graduated from UC Davis with her B.A. in African American Studies & Education and received her Associate Degree in Organizational Communication & Liberal Arts at Cosumnes River College. Her passion lies in empowering others through spoken word, writing and laughter. She believes spoken word is the most powerful element of healing the soul, and the fuse to create change in the world.
She made her first spoken word debut at Pittsburg Word in 2009. Since then, Coco has performed and hosted many open-mics and community events; including, Fillmore Black History, 2018, 2019, & 2020 Sacramento Women’s March, Microphone Monday’s at Sol Collective, Mondavi Center Open-mic and recently opened for Hilary Clinton on her tour stop at UC Davis. She also coached & mentored youth poets. In 2018, She was the coach for Sacramento’s SAYS Youth Slam Team who placed 3rd in the world at 21st Annual Brave New Voices international Poetry slam in 2018. https://youtu.be/I5LocKrncM4
For the past 10years, she has dedicated herself to uplifting youth voices, social change and empowering women. She specializes in facilitating writer-workshops that allow people to dive into their own personal experiences and use those experiences as a tool to become change agents of their own lives. Her innovative and cultural relevant writing workshop promotes healing, social change, voice and Queendom building. Over the years, she has facilitated numerous events, conferences, schools/colleges, juvenile hall, and prisons throughout the local Sacramento area and nation-wide regions; including, SAYS Summit, UC Davis Equity Summit, Teachers 4 Social Justice Conference, AERA, Teachers of Color Conference and New Folsom Prison.
She is the recipient of the SAYS Summit Tupac Scholar Award, UC Davis Outstanding services in the African American Community Award, Poetry.com Editor Choice Award, Phi Beta Sigma Big Sister Award and she was recognized by Interim Chancellor Ralph J. Hexter for my “powerful and moving" poem "Explain Please".
Her pedagogy for life is to love yourself first before you lose yourself. She dedicated to uplift and inspire people to find their purpose. Her only hopes are before she lives this earth is to help people recognize their God given gift and walk in their Queendom.
Currently, She’s recently released her poetic memoir, “The Makings of a Project Queen”. This book is a Poetic Memoir based on her life story with short inserts and poems that will leads others on her journey of how she discover her calling, became Coco Blossom, & built her queendom. To purchase your copy, visit her website.