Home - Andraéa Lavant

Writer, speaker, cultural changemaking CEO.

Andraéa LaVant, a pecan-brown Black woman, smiles gently. Her ombré-orange glasses, gold jewelry, and jeweled nails shine against mermaid braids, a chartreuse blazer, and a soft lavender backdrop. Her power wheelchair peeks through.

In print & in the press

Cover of Wake Up America: Black Women on the Future of Democracy, edited by Keisha N. Blain, co-editor of Four Hundred Souls. Beige background with bold red and black text in large and typewriter-style fonts.

Book feature

Within its pages:

“On Disability and the American Dream”  
— An essay by Andraéa LaVant

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Media coverage

Authoring the work that disrupts

Writing

Andraéa translates lived experience into powerful essays and cultural commentaries that reclaim the narratives of those pushed to the margins—Black, disabled, queer—and rethink wholeness and worth.

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Speaking

Whether it’s fireside chats, panel discussions, or keynotes, Andraéa speaks to online and in-person audiences about disability inclusion, intersectionality, authentic representation in media, and more.

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Consulting

From corporate development to content marketing, Andraéa helps brands like Google, Verizon, the Oscars, The Obama Foundation, and Netflix through her disability-centered consulting firm.

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I believe…

“

For disabled Americans—and especially disabled Americans of color, women, and those who are queer—the American dream is elusive.

Much work remains to be done to build an inclusive democracy that attends to the needs of all Americans, including those who are most marginalized in society.

A truly inclusive democracy would realize, for all Americans, true liberation from all forms of oppression, including systemic, institutional, interpersonal, and even internalized oppressive constructs.

While describing a picture of this ideal world would be delightful, today’s societal climate suggests it would seem an “impossible dream.”

We may never reach all our goals, but this does not mean that we cannot work toward this aspiration.

”

Andraéa LaVant, “On Disability and the American Dream,” in Wake Up America: Black Women on the Future of Democracy, ed. Keisha N. Blain (New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 2024)

Andraéa LaVant, a pecan-brown Black woman, smirks in pink lipstick and studded aviator glasses, side-eyeing from her fuchsia and white power chair. A neon zebra trench, jeweled nails, and rhinestone slippers stand out against a soft, textured backdrop.

Andraéa LaVant, a pecan-brown Black woman in a neon zebra trench and studded aviators, sits in her power chair beside a round table with colorful books, paper flowers, and a framed photo of her dog, Goji. Behind her, arched inlets in a white stone wall hold books and a plant, including a visible Toni Morrison journal.

Whole Notes

I’m writing my first book, and these monthly notes are where the story begins.