layla june west

I’m Layla June. I am an attorney, writer, and artist shaped by Black intellectual traditions, legal training, and creative practice.

A proud HBCU graduate, my work takes many forms: public speaking, facilitation, editing, consultation, and visual documentation. Whether in a classroom, boardroom, studio, or community space, I bring rigor and enthusiasm as I draw on legal reasoning, Black feminist thought, and creative intuition.

I speak, teach, and create—across mediums, across histories, and across intersections.

I was trained in law, educated through Africana Studies, and formed in community spaces where both protocol and politics matter. These spaces taught me a simple truth: ideas have consequences. I have worked alongside journalists, organizers, artists, and educators, often in moments of transition, growth, or conflict, where clarity and trust are required.

I support people and institutions who need help thinking, deciding, or creating under real conditions. Sometimes that looks like facilitating a room. Sometimes it looks like teaching, writing, or making images that hold attention and meaning. Often it involves helping people hear each other more clearly.

As a Black queer thinker and facilitator, my practice is grounded and relational. I am motivated by intellectual curiosity and cultural responsibility, not by urgency for its own sake. I am serious about pleasure and rest, and therefore value work that is paced, thoughtful, and built to last.

I am currently based in Chicago and work locally and nationally.