Ricky Day with Marija Abney on founding The Soapbox Presents, hosting the wildly successful “Stoop concerts” in Harlem, being a Dora Miljae in Black Panther and working with Chadwick Boseman

My guest on the podcast this week is Marija Abney. Marija is a South Carolina native who moved to NY to pursue an arts education at The AIley School at Fordham University and went on to earn her MA in performance studies from NYU. 

Marija is an actress and dancer who has appeared as a Dora Milaje in "Black Panther" and "Wakanda Forever" as well as "Avengers Inifinity War" and "Avengers End Game," and was featured in Tubi's "A Killer Romance" and "Twisted Marriage Therapist."

In many ways though, her most impactful contribution to "the culture" is founding The Soapbox Presents and launching a wildly successful series of "stoop concerts" in Harlem that builds loving community and attracts crowds of over 3500 people per event. The series is so successful it caught the attention of legendary singer-songwriter Babyface who asked to participate and entertained the crowd with a pop up performance of "Whip Appeal."

We chat about her artistic journey, art as activism, and what it was like to work with the late Chadwick Boseman.

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