Shantell Hinton Hill

Shantell Hinton Hill is a self-described Blerd (Black girl nerd) turned renaissance woman. A former engineer, she is an ordained minister in the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ). Hinton Hill works for the Winthrop Rockefeller Foundation as a narrative change and communications strategist in her southern-fried home state of Arkansas. She has an MDiv from Vanderbilt University and is pursuing a PhD in sacred rhetoric at Clemson University. She also curates digital content that centers the wholeness and thriving of Black women. Her work and writing are situated at the intersections of social justice, storytelling, and Black feminism/womanist theology. Hinton Hill is unapologetically Black and woman. Believing that words create worlds, she grounds her work in curating worlds that belong to Black women. Her body of written work includes freelance think pieces, theological essays, poetry, and short stories/memoirs. Her debut poetry collection Black Girl Magic & Other Elixirs was published by Yellow Arrow Publishing in 2023. The collection focuses on the embodied experiences ranging from Black girlhood to womanhood, particularly in the context of the American South, and brings to bear the often unspoken truths about the survival, wit, and skill that Black girls and women develop in a world dominated by myriad interlocking oppressions.