Steven Rhashiyd Zinnamon
About Artist
Rhashiyd is a 57-year-old father of two – one son and a daughter. He has been incarcerated since 1995. Rhashiyd’s passion has always been rooted in music. Since is youth, he has used his gift with words to paint colorful portraits and snapshots of life through his lenses. Rhashiyd is an innovative visionary with a unique skillset, which he utilizes to reconfigure the narrative of how main- stream media portrays incarcerated men.
Rhashiyd is also a co-producer and sound designer for the critically acclaimed, award-winning podcast EARHUSTLE. He is a board member of Through The Bars, a Non Profit Organization that supports Restorative, and Social Justice: mentoring and training Incarcerated Men as well as Youth marketable skills such as Coding, Sound Design, Engineering, Production, Cinematography, Edit- ing, Script-Writing, and all other forms of content creation. He IS Music Direc- tor for The Artwork Initiative and a Co-Founder of Game4P.E.A.C.E.,as well as the Racial Justice Alliance.
In 2005, Rhashiyd began to address the real issues that plagued his community as well as himself. “I wanted to know what made me tick. I wanted to know where my core beliefs stemmed from, and what made me think the way I think, and made the sort of decisions that I made. I wanted to know the ulti- mate question of how I got here.” This is when Rhashiyd decided to dedicate hims life to being a service to others, change and personal growth.
In 2008, Rhashiyd began to work with At-Risk Youth and began to work with ju- venile diversion programs. In 2016, Rhashiyd was chosen out of 3,000 applicants
to participate in the OMCP (Offender Mentor Certification Program), from which he graduated and became a Certified Alcohol and Other Drug Counselor in 2017.
Rhashiyd has graduated and facilitated a plethora of Self-Help and Rehabilita- tive programs, including Y.O.P. (Youth Offender Program), Freedom to Choose, PEACEMAKERS Certification, P.E.P. (Peace Education Program), TIMELIST, S.A.A.G. (Self-Image Alignment Group), WESTCARE/OPTIONS Recovery Service, S.E.E.K. (Seeking to Educate Endangered Kids), O.M.C.P. (Offender Mentor Cer- tification Program), Parenting Mental Health Group, Depression Mental Health Group, Victims Impact, C.G.A. (Criminals and Gangmembers Anonymous), Free- dom and Choice, Life C.Y.C.L.E (Careless Youth Corrected By Lifers Experi- ences), F.B.B. (Fathers Behind Bars), B.R.A.G. (Balanced Re-entry Activity Group), Cage Your Rage, Alternatives to Violence. Rhashiyd continues to assist others now by providing opportunities to reconfigure the landscape through various outlets of media. “The most important thing we can do as responsible, accountable men is teach men how to become the best version of themselves, to go on to become successful men, with marketable skills.