Daralyse Lyons, aka the Transformational Storyteller, is a journalist, an actor, and an activist. She has written more than two dozen full-length books, a handful of short stories, and countless articles, and performed in various plays and improv comedy shows. A member of the National Association of Black Journalists (NABJ) and a summa cum laude graduate of NYU, with a double-major in English and Religious Studies and a minor in History, she is passionate about exposing the painful side of history, the side that is not written by oppressors. Through her studies, she has come to see the beautiful and overlapping philosophies of Judaism, Islam and Christianity and wonders why people so often use religion as a battering ram, instead of a source of solace and support. 

 

After writing an award-winning children’s book (I’m Mixed!) about embracing her multiethnic heritage, Daralyse found her passion and her purpose educating others about the need to embrace all aspects of themselves. Since then, she has written and spoken extensively on the subject of diversity. She is a TEDx speaker, an award-winning author, VP of the Philadelphia Chapter of the NLGJA and the recipient of a 2023 PA City & State Impact Award, acknowledged as one of 75 of the most impactful individuals in the entire state of Pennsylvania.

 

She is the creator of the On Being Biracial and Demystifying Diversity Podcasts, the author of Demystifying Diversity: Embracing Our Shared Humanity, and a trusted resource in the space of DEIB education and thought leadership. 

 

As a Biracial woman, she has made it her mission to stand for a more integrated world. As a sexually fluid person, she has had to find her place amidst a multitude of communities that attempt to erase her orientation and has been a voice within the darkness. Her perspective is one that looks to acknowledge the past while refusing to become incapacitated by it and her experiences have empowered her to use her seemingly disparate backgrounds as catalysts for cross-cultural understanding.