Through her music, Tiffani Marie assumes the persona of Artelia Green, named after her great-grandmother, who was a sharecropper and experienced the hardships of state-sanctioned violence. However, she also created a space for resistance through time travel and developed meaningful connections with the land. The group Artelia Green, now carrying the name of Tiffani's great-grandmother, strives to incorporate these realities into their music. Their goal is to fuse an understanding of one's social and political position with the act of living and manifesting a more determined future every day.

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Tiffani Marie, who identifies as a recovering academic, fully embraces this label, much like others in addict cultures, particularly in alcoholism. This label signifies an understanding that, even though one may be sober and have constraints around specific addictions or relationships with addiction, healing is an ongoing, contradictory, lifelong process. In a similar vein, Tiffani has spent over 18 years as an educator and more recently college professor, all while challenging the conventional concept of schooling. She advocates for its demise, so that society may access genuine opportunities for learning, what she refers to as "education." Tiffani underscores the distinction between schooling and education, emphasizing that education involves the transfer of values, wisdom, and ways of being that sustain life, while schooling often leads to adverse health outcomes and premature death for many.

 

The term "recovering academic" is aptly used by Tiffani Marie, as she remains part of the academic realm but utilizes her position to heal from the impacts of schooling. She also provides support to her colleagues and students, who will themselves become future educators, in the journey to shift away from schooling and embrace education. Her primary motivation has always been the well-being of young people, particularly Black children, and their respective communities.

 

Over the years, Tiffani's academic research has evolved to explore the impacts of racism, poverty, and socio-economic adversity on the health and well-being of Black children. To measure these effects, she employs various health indicators, including critical qualitative and quantitative wellness assessments, psychological measures, and telomere measurements—a biomarker for stress and cellular deterioration. These tools help her understand the buffering and profoundly generative effects of authentic education on young people’s health and well-being.

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Tiffani incorporates her innovative research findings into her music, making this wisdom accessible to a wider audience beyond academia. Her work is interconnected, providing educational pathways for people to understand their social and political positions and take control of their lives. She accomplishes this through her university teaching, podcasts, and filmmaking. All of these mediums incorporate her music, making high-level ideas relatable and beneficial to communities.

 

Furthermore, Tiffani's recent return to the music world is not a departure from her existing work; it's an extension of it. She has always used music as a medium for healing and transformation. However, now armed with her profound insights into the relationship between education, health, and community vitality, Tiffani has re-entered the music scene to spread messages of hope and healing to anyone who will listen.
 

Artelia Green's music serves as a conduit for incorporating culture, consciousness, and community—reflecting the profound findings from Tiffani Marie's doctoral research, which have been scientifically validated at a biomedical level. These findings demonstrate the potential for cell regeneration and cellular protection against the detrimental impacts of various oppressive systems. Through her artistry as Artelia Green, Tiffani Marie not only honors her great grandmother's legacy but also harnesses the power of music to strengthen community, raise consciousness and celebrate cultural ways of being.