"Her messages were universal and she challenged us as a community to learn, understand, and be accountable. Her presentation was organized and thoughtful. She also really listened to how I described the school and the student body, and understood my goals for the week."
—Ken Rodriguez, The Urban School of San Francisco
—Ken Rodriguez, The Urban School of San Francisco
Popular LecturesKimberly brings decades of experience (and multiple awards) as a facilitator, performer/storyteller, and teacher entertaining people with complex yet accessible messages about the human experience, about the body in culture, and about the ways we co-create our culture.
Kimberly's lectures, workshops, and performances engage with themes that include:
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By looking at the complexity in our lives, Kimberly teaches her audiences how to become the subject of their own stories, and how to co-create a better world. Tell us about your requirements, and Kimberly can tailor the right lecture, keynote presentation, workshop or stage-performance for your venue and time-frame.
Named one of the Top 6 LGBT Speakers on College Campuses by The Advocate
Named one of the Top 25 LGBT “Best of the Best” by Campus Pride
Named one of the Top 25 LGBT “Best of the Best” by Campus Pride
Popular Lectures
The Gayness: Love and Hate in America
As debates over the validity of transgender and queer lives heat up in the U.S., Kimberly Dark offers new ways to think about fear and hatred toward LGBTQII2 people, and to contextualize the relationship between these and other fears of "the other" which are currently driving policy and negatively affecting people's lives and healthcare. Through engaging, often funny storytelling and smart, accessible social analysis, Kimberly helps audiences discover the responsibility of our interconnectedness and the joys of our differences.
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Kimberly Dark is a fantastic storyteller, a skill she wields with quiet power... part educational conversation, part compelling performance art, the show tackles issues of gender, sexuality and societal expectations, with dark using her own experiences to guide the audience through a meditation on the invasive nature of sexism and homophobia... Time spent listening to Dark speak is well worth it... Even while you grapple with some heavy subject matter and big ideas.”
– The Vue, Edmonton, Alberta
"Dark presents a series of warm and touching tales — often funny, sometimes painful — about love, gender roles, language, cultural differences, and sexism. The San Diego native is a master storyteller..."
– Edmonton Review
"She is a relaxed and powerful speaker, connecting effectively with the audience and owning the stage with just a chair and a hardbound journal. Her richly intimate stories provided provocative and compelling examples of the ways that gender and sexuality interconnect and that homophobia arises out of misogyny. And her presentation was skillfully designed to reach people with a wide range of experience and comfort level with the subject matter...”
– Ephemeral Pleasures
– The Vue, Edmonton, Alberta
"Dark presents a series of warm and touching tales — often funny, sometimes painful — about love, gender roles, language, cultural differences, and sexism. The San Diego native is a master storyteller..."
– Edmonton Review
"She is a relaxed and powerful speaker, connecting effectively with the audience and owning the stage with just a chair and a hardbound journal. Her richly intimate stories provided provocative and compelling examples of the ways that gender and sexuality interconnect and that homophobia arises out of misogyny. And her presentation was skillfully designed to reach people with a wide range of experience and comfort level with the subject matter...”
– Ephemeral Pleasures
Ephemeral Pleasures Review |
idigyourgirlfriend Review |
Gender, Race and Money
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One of America’s great stories is that anyone can work hard and become wealthy. We love tales of triumph over adversity. However, many people work hard to meet basic needs and feel as though they are somehow personally to blame for their lack of prosperity. The gap between rich and poor in the United States has been widening and this is particularly pronounced in communities of color and for women.
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During this engaging and interactive lecture, Dark teaches participants about trends—both historical and current day—in the distribution of wealth in America and how those trends affect all Americans. Participants come to understand "the 1%" and how to make connections to work toward a more just economy.
“Kimberly, you are always brilliant, thoughtful and challenge us to be our best possible selves.
'Thank you' does not cover my appreciation of your intelligent, provocative wisdom.”
— Audience Member, November 2020
'Thank you' does not cover my appreciation of your intelligent, provocative wisdom.”
— Audience Member, November 2020
You Don't Owe Anyone Pretty
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In this powerful storytelling performance, award-winning performer Kimberly Dark shares stories from her new book, Fat, Pretty, and Soon to be Old (AK Press, 2019), in order to remind us: “You don’t owe anyone pretty,” and “We are creating the world, even as it creates us.”
In this moving and hilarious show, Kimberly Dark invites her audience to live in the experience of the body, not the appearance of the body. |
Drawing from her own experience as a fat, queer, white-privileged, recently disabled, inevitably aging, gender-conforming “girl with a pretty face,” Kimberly Dark deftly blends storytelling and social analysis to reveal the presence of everyday appearance privilege (and stigma). Join her to explore how the architecture of this social world constrains us and how we might help one another break free.
Ask about adding a book-signing of the book that inspired the lecture: Fat, Pretty, and Soon to Be Old.
Ask about adding a book-signing of the book that inspired the lecture: Fat, Pretty, and Soon to Be Old.
"I found myself so completely engaged in your work. I was deeply impressed by both your skills as a writer and as a performer... You pull listeners in, lead them through fascinating turns and complications, so that they may come to understand the world more fully. You take them on such a rich journey, one that has so many rewards. I can't thank you enough for what you gave to our community and for spending several days with us. I know we are all the richer for the time you gave us."
— Dr. Ron Pelias, Department of Speech Communication, Southern Indiana University, Carbondale
— Dr. Ron Pelias, Department of Speech Communication, Southern Indiana University, Carbondale
Sex and Society—It's Time to Talk About It
In this program–including stories, insights and discussion–Kimberly explores the importance of discussing sex and sexuality–not just for the sake of interpersonal relationships, but for the political impact our personal choices hold. We can absolutely love men and masculinity (in all its forms) and still dismantle the systems that harm women, children and everyone else too. (Yes, of course we’ll discuss gender and gender identity too.)
For those interested in the politics of knowledge creation, Kimberly also discusses why we don’t talk about sex and sexuality more readily in the social sciences, given that our erotic urges are part of who we are; they influence the relationships and the society we create. Ask about a book-signing of the book that inspired the lecture: The Daddies. |
"Kimberly Dark's ethno-autobiographical performance work presents an innovate and highly original approach to a host of potentially contentious social issues, which are rarely addressed outside the college classroom. Seamlessly blending comedy and high seriousness, Dark immediately puts her audience at ease and thereby engages them in a profound and honest conversation regarding gender and sexuality."
— Dr. Andrea Herrera, Ethnic Studies Department, University of Colorado at Colorado Springs
— Dr. Andrea Herrera, Ethnic Studies Department, University of Colorado at Colorado Springs