Ayana Contreras

About

Ayana Contreras is a cultural historian, radio DJ, and archivist. An avid collector with more than 8,000 vintage vinyl records, she hosts the Reclaimed Soul program on WBEZ and Vocalo Radio in Chicago. She is also a columnist for DownBeat magazine, and her book on post–civil rights era cultural history, Energy Never Dies: Afro-Optimism and Creativity in Chicago, is forthcoming from the University of Illinois Press.