kei [pronouns they/them] is a Queer Black Genre-Bending, Gender-Expansive Musician, Sound Artist, Music Therapist, and Community Activator from New Orleans. An award-winning Singer-Songwriter, Multi-Instrumentalist, and Composer, kei’s early musical influences can be traced back to the gospel-shout feels of the Black Church and beyond. kei is a Vocal Psychotherapy-trained Board-Certified Music Therapist (MT-BC) building from an intersectional, community-based, and Queer Black Feminist framework. Committed to healing justice and cultural organizing, kei has over a decade of experience working with youth and LGBTQIA2S+ BIPOC. Settings have included: trauma-informed residential treatment facilities, juvenile justice centers, K-12 schools, faith communities, mental health centers, and more. kei launched S O U L F O L K Sounds out of their desire to activate and have more access to liberatory spaces for Queer + Trans BIPOC to heal, dream, and conjure ancestral incantations of freedom.
kei holds a Bachelor’s in Music Therapy, an MFA in Music Composition, and an MA in Mental Health and Wellness Counseling from New York University, and is a PhD student at Lesley University. Learn more: keislaughter.com.