Dessa
Dessa is a singer, rapper, and writer who has made a career of bucking genres and defying expectations. Her work has been published in the New York Times, National Geographic Traveler, and in literary journals around the country. Her albums include rap bangers; a cappella arrangements; and big, catchy pop hooks. She’s contributed a track to Lin-Manuel Miranda’s gold record The Hamilton Mixtape and delivered a TED talk titled “Can We Choose to Fall out Love?” that’s notched more than 4 million views. On the stage and on the page, Dessa’s work embodies ferocity, wit, tenderness, and candor.
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What’s Your Win?
Collaborations and partnerships can be crucial to fulfilling big, ambitious goals. Dessa shares insights, best practices, and funny stories on how to find unlikely allies, build mutually beneficial relationships, and pitch new partners—especially when capital is scarce. (Case studies of include a dentist, a subway bucket drummer, and a whiskey distillery.)
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Mind Your Metrics
If I love this work so much, how come it feels like an arcade game for social media likes and positive growth reports? Metrics not only measure our performance, but change the way we perform—what we count counts. As a touring musician, Dessa tracks the standard metrics of success: album sales, concert attendance, merchandise profit margins…but also keeps an eye on the number of stage dives per tour, the number of security guards who sneak a peek at the live show. Dessa shares actionable strategies to chart a career path that keep vision and values at the fore, even in turbulent conditions.
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Creativity at Work
Musician and writer Dessa delivers a funny, insightful presentation on building a career that spans genres and disciplines. How do you transform a common experience—like a breakup—into a set of lyrics that fans might get tattooed? How does a rap song get reimagined to be performed in a fancy hall with a full orchestra? How do you self-promote online with sounding like a total dork or ego-monster? Dessa easily tailors her presentation to the experience-level of her listeners, with entertaining stories and an engaging Q&A.
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Pen Sharpening
How do writers really move their readers, towards big feelings or measurable action? With funny stories and actionable ideas, Dessa demonstrates how the written word can inform, inspire, and engage across formats—particularly by harnessing figurative language and mastering the “Show Don’t Tell” maxim. Presentation can be configured to include a reading, Q&A, and workshop component for fiction, non-fiction, lyrics, public presentation, and/or social media.
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SENSELESS LOVE: TORCH SONGS AND BRAIN SCIENCE
Dessa makes her living as a touring musician. She’s earned a reputation as a songwriter who can produce and perform killer torch songs—tracks that run on pining, tragic love. What’s been good for the art, however, wasn’t always good for the artist. Dessa struggled for many years to fall out of love with the same man, and even though she knew it was futile to hope for reconciliation, she just couldn’t seem to put those feelings down.
When traditional interventions had failed—time, distance, whiskey—she tried something drastic. Dessa assembled a team of neuroscientists to try to excise the love from her brain. (Her collaborators include researchers from the University of Minnesota’s Center for Magnetic Resonance Research, lead by Dr. Cheryl Olman, and neurofeedback clinician Penijean Gracefire.) The story of her experience is funny, fascinating, suspenseful, and reveals poignant perspectives on our brains, our bodies, and the ties that bind.
See Dessa in action.
A true force of nature both on the stage and on the page
Dessa’s touring history includes gritty underground rock clubs; velvet-lined theaters; top-tier festivals like Glastonbury, Lollapalooza, and Riot Fest; and tours across North America, Europe, Australia, China, and South Africa. Her recorded work has a similar wingspan: her album Sound the Bells was recorded live in 2019 with the GRAMMY-winning Minnesota Orchestra; a version of her song Jumprope included the celebrated Chinese pipa player Gao Hong; and her rap tracks blast through headphones around the country as the perfect psych-up for the last mile of a run, or the first day of finals. Dessa also takes special pleasure in designing themed events for intimate rooms, such as her sold-out residency series at WYNC’s The Greene Space, in which she paired lyricists with scientific researchers to investigate free will, romantic attachment, and intoxication.
In 2018 Dessa published a memoir, My Own Devices (Dutton Books, Penguin Random House), that tells the story of her life, career, and an ambitious plan to fall out of love. She’s also released three short literary collections, most recently Tits on the Moon, a collection of stage poems. Her short fiction has been published in The Iowa Review and her first audio play was produced by 45North in London.
Dessa grew up in the 80s in South Minneapolis as a strong-willed, brainy kid. Both parents were musical—her father played classical guitar and medieval stringed instruments and her mom grew up in the Bronx, in an apartment where someone was always singing. After earning a philosophy degree, Dessa began competing on the slam poetry circuit. There she met members of the Minneapolis rap scene and was soon invited to join Doomtree, the hip-hop collective known for bold production, charismatic lyricists, and explosive live shows. Dessa’s songs are the product of her unusual trajectory: she’s part academic and part hip hop artist, a lute player’s daughter who spent her formative professional years touring the world in a grimy van and learning how to run a business from her backpack.
Dessa has delivered presentations on art, science, and entrepreneurship for Fortune 500 companies, keynote speeches at the Nobel Peace Prize Forum and the Mayo Clinic, and guest lectures at universities and colleges across the country including Georgetown, Princeton, NYU, and Iowa State. She also hosts a podcast, produced by the BBC and American Public Media, called Deeply Human.
Whether she’s composing rap lyrics or writing creative non-fiction essays, Dessa’s style and dedication to wordcraft is unmistakable. The LA Times says she “sounds like no one else,” The Chicago Tribune simply calls her “enchanting,” and NPR’s All Songs Considered deems her “a national treasure.”
Our speakers get attention.
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How Rapper Dessa Brings a New Level of Passion to Her Album ‘Bury the Lede’In an era where the term “multihyphenate” is bandied about with increasing frequency, Dessa stands out as a genuine exemplar of the word’s fullest, most vibrant meaning.
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Rapper Dessa Explores a Literary Pop Wonderland"I don't buy into the idea that pop music can't also feature smart lyrics."
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Indie Rapper Dessa Talks Journey Toward New Album ‘Bury the Lede’: ‘There Were No Steps Skipped’ (Exclusive)Dessa believes that pop music shouldn’t have to be so simplified.
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Dessa, on her music, her writing and her unique performance artTom's guest today is an artist who defies categorization and whose creative outlets span an array of genres. Dessa is a Minneapolis-born rapper, composer, poet, writer, and the host of…
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Dessa Gets Psychological on Deeply Human PodcastAfter a successful first season, the Twin Cities musician continues her podcast about what drives human behavior.
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iHeartMedia : Season Two of “Deeply Human” Hosted by Writer and Musician Dessa Launches Today, February 18thSeason Two of "Deeply Human" Hosted by Writer and Musician Dessa Launches Today, February 18th WHAT: Writer and musician Dessa continues her exploration of human behavior, instincts, and culture in…
"Dessa was amazing! And she and Margaret Wappler had fantastic chemistry. Thanks for sending her our way!"
