Meres-Sia’s artistic path has deep and unconventional roots. Born into the Black Panther Party to two Black Panthers who are now celebrated artists — Emory Douglas, “Minister of Culture” and Gayle Asali Dickson, “Artist and Educator” — Meres-Sia entered the world at the height of  the “Black is beautiful''/“Black pride” movement. Surrounded by artists and thinkers of every ilk and educated in the Black Panther school, she learned to see the world as her classroom.  While the seeds of her writing career were planted in the creative soil of Black Panther activism and artistry, they would be continuously  watered in the stories her grandmother told her while pressing her hair as a child; in the care her teachers gave her in Oakland public schools; and in an emerging genre of music taking over the nation in the 70’s and 80’s known as  Hip Hop.