"The Most Known Unknown" (iCon)

Drawl | Southern Spoken Word Poetry

By definition, an “icon” is usually a symbol or an image that stands for or represents something other than itself. As an artist, SHA'CONDRIA "iCON" SIBLEY stands for and represents for those who are oftentimes marginalized and whose voices are silenced in today’s society. iCon is a nationally-acclaimed championship poet/spoken word artist/actress/teaching artist. As a founding member of Team SNO (Slam New Orleans), she has helped the team win multiple regional and national titles, solidifying them as a “dynasty” in the world of slam poetry.

A lover of the stage, iCon has also been featured in several stage productions such as the musical, ‘Badu-izms’, a production of Eve Ensler’s ‘A Memory, a Monologue, a Rant, and a Prayer’, ‘Housewarming’, and ‘Waiting to Be Invited’. She made her national television debut as a featured poet on the 3rd season of TV One's NAACP award-nominated hit TV show, ‘Verses and Flow’. Over the years, iCon has shared stages with the likes of Sunni Patterson, Taalam Acey, Abiodun Oyewole (The Last Poets), jessica care moore, Amanda Diva, The Tony Rich Project, Dead Prez, Andra Day, and Kendrick Lamar. She even earned the honor of being a part of the first poetry act to grace the main stage at Essence Festival 2016.

Her work has been featured on many national and international outlets such as Upworthy, Huffington Post, For Harriet, Fusion, Marie Claire, Teen Vogue, and BET.com, especially after her poem “To All the Little Black Girls With Big Names” went viral on social media. As a result, she also founded The Little Girls Big Names Project, which aims to encourage women and girls with unique names as well as combat name discrimination and stigma surrounding unorthodox names.

iCon’s involvement in the community goes beyond the page and the stage. In efforts to reunite and revitalize the post-Katrina New Orleans poetry community, iCon, along with fellow New Orleans poet, Asia Rainey, co-founded the Write! NOLA Festival (2011-12). In 2014, iCon partnered with the Alexandria Museum of Art in her hometown to become the host and organizer of the ‘Rhythm & Rhymes Spoken Word Performing Arts Series’, a quarterly showcase at the museum which has gained both local and statewide popularity. She also works teaching poetry to inmates at a federal correctional facility.

She can be found all over the country performing on numerous stages and teaching workshops from colleges and universities to corner cyphers and living rooms. Focused on not falling for anything, iCon stands for something, and that something is much bigger than the woman or the poem.