Joel L. Daniels

An African American man, wearing a beanie and plaid button up shirt, sitting in front of a bank of windows. person: joel leon

Joel L. Daniels, also known as Joel Leon, is a Bronx born and raised performer, father, author and storyteller who writes and tells stories for Black people.

Joel specializes in moderating and leading conversations surrounding race, masculinity, mental health, creativity and the performing arts, with love at the center of his work and purpose. He is a Creative Collective NYC Creative Class alumni, winner of the BCA Bronx Recognizes Its Own Award in Poetry, and author of “Book About Things I Will Tell My Daughter” & “God Wears Durags, Too”, also his spoken word album “Soundtrack to a Riot” is up for Grammy consideration.

His TED talk on healthy coparenting has been viewed over 1.5M times. He’s worked with The Gates Foundation, HBO, Nike, Twitter, and the TODAY Show, and has been featured in EBONY, The Independent, Newsweek, Medium, BBC News, Sirius XM, Forbes, the Huffington Post, Blavity and others.

Joel currently works as the Creative Director at the NY Times T Brand Studio. 

He is repped by Folio Literary.