Colombian-American futurist Martha Diaz (MD) is an award-winning social entrepreneur, media producer, educator, archivist, and curator committed to advancing equity and human rights through Hip-Hop culture, media, technology, and storytelling. In 2010, she founded the Hip-Hop Education Center, where she serves as Executive Director, Chief Curator, and Archivist. Over three decades, she has bridged the Hip-Hop entertainment industry, public arts and education sectors, and academia—connecting initiatives across cultural and educational institutions. A global thought leader, community organizer, and mentor, MD has chronicled and archived Hip-Hop history through groundbreaking exhibitions, research, and curricula. She founded the pioneering Hip-Hop Odyssey (H2O) International Film Festival in 2002 and co-founded the Hip-Hop Association, catalyzing a global movement to legitimize Hip-Hop as a platform for education, expression, and social change. She curated the first Hip-Hop film series at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and served as a guest curator at the Museum of the Moving Image and The Schomburg Center. Her media credits include Where My Ladies At? (2007), Black August: A Hip-Hop Concert (2010), Nas: Time Is Illmatic (2014), Dear Mama (2023), and Living Proof: Dr. Khalid’s Black History Mobile Museum (2024). A graduate of NYU’s Gallatin School and Tisch’s Moving Image Archiving and Preservation Program, MD has worked on archival projects with Parkwood Entertainment, the Tupac Shakur Estate, Ralph McDaniels’ Video Music Box, The Paley Center for Media, and A&E’s Hip-Hop Treasures. She has taught at NYU and Virginia State University and was a visiting scholar at Virginia Union University. She has advised The Hip Hop Museum, Cornell Hip-Hop Collection, and Massachusetts Hip-Hop Archive. Currently, MD is a Senior Producer at The Alliance for Media Arts + Culture and lead consultant for the first U.S. Digital Archivist Apprenticeship Program. Her fellowships include NYU Catherine Reynolds Fellow, Columbia’s A’Lelia Bundles Scholar, Harvard’s Nasir Jones Fellow, USC Annenberg Civic Media Senior Fellow, and Senior Fellow at the Smithsonian’s Lemelson Center.
