Meet Collette

Collette Blakeney Watson is a writer, musician and communications strategist based in Phoenix, Arizona. Collette spent six years in the New York office of J. Walter Thompson Company where she earned the American Advertising Federation's MOSAIC Awards 2013 Grand Prize for Workforce Diversity Communications. She later served on the communications team of Black Alliance for Just Immigration (BAJI), advocating at the intersection of racial justice and immigrant rights. Today she serves as director of the Media 2070: Media Reparations project as well as Vice President of Cultural Strategy at Washington DC-based advocacy group Free Press, and co-founder of Black River Life Media.

Collette's art involves exploration of healing Black futures through music, film, digital art and community activations. Her voice is shaped by a loving, melodic and matriarchal upbringing under the South Carolina sun.

Her talents as a musician came to public attention in 2008 with her debut album "Experience Collette.” She went on to earn the 2010 John Lennon International Songwriting Competition and was featured in GAP retail stores' Born To Play concert series.

Following a successful Kickstarter campaign, Collette released the EP "Coco By Request" – and in the process, earned a nomination for Female Vocalist of the Year at SoulTracks.com.

Collette's music been featured by MusicChoice TV network, CentricTV.com, Okayplayer.com, SoulBounce.com, EBONY magazine, VIBE Vixen, Rolling Out and the web series Breakups x Makeups. She has shared the stage with Rachelle Ferrell, Talib Kweli, MC Lyte, Jon B., Dwele, Boyz II Men, Anthony David, Melanie Fiona, Amel Larrieux, Eric Roberson and Lauryn Hill among others.

Collette is a graduate of Washington, DC's Howard University, where she majored in Radio/TV/Film Production and sang with the exclusive eight-member vocal jazz ensemble SAASY under the direction of Egheosa Igbinoba, as well as go-go funk group Crossover Band. While at Howard, Collette also pledged Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc., the world's largest public service organization.

While pursuing music, Collette has also built a thriving career in creative communications with tenures at Maxim Communications Group, Wunderman Thompson NYC and three years at the helm of Front To Back Communications, a boutique sports philanthropy consultancy co-founded with Nubia Murray.

Collette has volunteered as communications chairperson for East Valley NAACP, Greater Phoenix Urban League Young Professionals and Columbia Urban League Young Professionals, bringing her signature brand of mission-driven creativity to a variety of community initiatives. She currently finds a political home in Mass Liberation Arizona.

In 2021, Collette became director of Media 2070, a project of nonprofit advocacy group Free Press dedicated to surfacing the history of anti-Blackness in the U.S. media system, and organizing a future that’s abundant with redress and repair. The project raised over $2.5 million during Collette’s 3 year tenure, and has been featured and mentioned by The New York Times, Editor and Publisher, Columbia Journalism Review, ESSENCE, Neiman Lab and many other publications.

As part of the Media 2070 team’s expansive work, Collette served as co-lead on the custom art installation Black Future Newsstand, which launched during Juneteenth week in Harlem in 2023. She also directed the short documentary film ‘Black in the Newsroom’ for Media 2070 project, going on to become an official selection of Indie Film Fest, Urban Mediamakers Film Festival, Denton Black Film Festival and Chandler International Film Festival. Winner of “Best Short Documentary” at Peachtree International Film Festival and Detroit Black Film Festival, the film follows the journey of journalist Elizabeth Montgomery as she faces hostility and anti-Blackness within a major newsroom. “Black in the Newsroom” has been screened at Penn State, San Diego State, Arizona State University and many other universities and spaces across the country.

Since 2016, Collette has served as co-founder and director of Black River Life, an Arizona-based creative studio dedicated to highlighting the interconnectedness of the African Diaspora. The Watsons’ were profiled by Capital B News and High Country News in 2023 as part of a report on Black migration and climate change in the Southwest, and are continuing to build the studio into a multimedia platform and community organizing hub.