Biography
Nahshon Dion Anderson aka K.I.N.A As a pre-teen, she was her family’s scribe and lector, both reading and writing for her illiterate grandfather, blind grandmother, and dyslexic mother. When family friend Rodney Glen King was beaten by the LAPD and the aftermath played out in Nahshon’s driveway and front lawn, she then entered a Discovery Card-sponsored contest about conflict and community improvement. Her essay won $500 and she used the funds for a trip to visit New York City.
Raised in a cult, a career in the arts wasn’t encouraged. But inspiration appeared in Nahshon’s life at the age of thirteen when her high school drama class took a field trip to visit a classmate who worked on a show called “Family Matters.” She was fascinated by the antics of Steve Urkel, the show’s breakout character, who was brought to life by actor Jaleel White. But it was the behind-the-scenes activities of crew members that intrigued her the most, an impression that would later inspire her to pursue TV production.
Nahshon's improbable career trajectory accelerated in 1996 after meeting the late rapper/actor Tupac Shakur at her senior prom. When Nahshon approached Tupac about opportunities in TV and video production, Tupac suggested she should speak with the co-founder and president of his company Look Hear Sound & Vision Productions that was producing his music videos at that time. Following her graduation, she secured a summer internship at Look Hear Sound & Vision productions and soon after, enrolled at California State University Los Angeles with a declared major in Radio TV and Film.
Nahshon worked as an extra on the TV shows Moesha and “The Steve Harvey Show” while in college. She was a production assistant for Master P’s film “Da Last Don” and a late-night comedic production, “The Keenan Ivory Wayans Show.” She was the assistant to British Executive Producer Michael Davies at Buena Vista TV (Walt Disney). Nahshon was also production coordinator for Russell Simmons' “One World Music Beat” and the documentary film “1 More Hit” about rapper J. Swift's descent into drug abuse and recovery.
In 2012, Nahshon relocated to New York to follow her dream of becoming a writer. She began taking several writing workshops. For an excerpt of magnum opus unpublished memoir Shooting Range, she received a Bronx Recognizes Its Own Award (BRIO) award in 2014 from the Bronx Council on the Arts. She was published in the “Bronx Memoir Project” in 2014 and later collaborated with writer/editor Kate Gale (Red Hen Press) on a public memoir project on behalf of the City of Pasadena.
Nahshon’s writing history includes: “Quick N Shine” an essay in the Cold Creek Review (2018); “I Caught One,” an essay in the anthology Happy Hours: Our Lives in Gay Bars (2017); “Morphine,” a short story in the Emerge: 2016 Lambda Literary Fellows Anthology; “PTSD,” a short story in Prose and Lore: Issue 2: Memoir Stories About Sex Work (2013); and “Cock N Jock Tease” Prose and Lore: Memoir Stories About Sex Work: Issue 3 (2014). Nahshon is also a contributing writer for the Lambda Literary Review and has interviewed Pulitzer Prize Winner Dr. Jeffrey C. Stewart, New York Times best-selling author Michael Arceneaux, civil rights activists Darnell Moore and DeRay Mckesson and music journalist Gerrick Kennedy.
Nahshon is a former New York State Council on the Arts grants advisory panelist and served as a juror for Scholastic Art & Writing Awards and Lambda Literary Awards. She is also a former member of the Individual Artists Advisory Panel for the New York State Council on the Arts. In 2019, she was awarded a SU-CASA Teaching artist residency from the New York Dept. of Cultural Affairs and facilitated a creative writing workshop for senior citizens. She's the recipient of numerous grants, fellowships, artist residencies, and awards. Nahshon is currently developing a documentary, based on her literary journey of over a decade regarding arts and cultural institutions and individuals that have supported her since 1996.
Nahshon's pronouns are He/She and they/them
Raised in a cult, a career in the arts wasn’t encouraged. But inspiration appeared in Nahshon’s life at the age of thirteen when her high school drama class took a field trip to visit a classmate who worked on a show called “Family Matters.” She was fascinated by the antics of Steve Urkel, the show’s breakout character, who was brought to life by actor Jaleel White. But it was the behind-the-scenes activities of crew members that intrigued her the most, an impression that would later inspire her to pursue TV production.
Nahshon's improbable career trajectory accelerated in 1996 after meeting the late rapper/actor Tupac Shakur at her senior prom. When Nahshon approached Tupac about opportunities in TV and video production, Tupac suggested she should speak with the co-founder and president of his company Look Hear Sound & Vision Productions that was producing his music videos at that time. Following her graduation, she secured a summer internship at Look Hear Sound & Vision productions and soon after, enrolled at California State University Los Angeles with a declared major in Radio TV and Film.
Nahshon worked as an extra on the TV shows Moesha and “The Steve Harvey Show” while in college. She was a production assistant for Master P’s film “Da Last Don” and a late-night comedic production, “The Keenan Ivory Wayans Show.” She was the assistant to British Executive Producer Michael Davies at Buena Vista TV (Walt Disney). Nahshon was also production coordinator for Russell Simmons' “One World Music Beat” and the documentary film “1 More Hit” about rapper J. Swift's descent into drug abuse and recovery.
In 2012, Nahshon relocated to New York to follow her dream of becoming a writer. She began taking several writing workshops. For an excerpt of magnum opus unpublished memoir Shooting Range, she received a Bronx Recognizes Its Own Award (BRIO) award in 2014 from the Bronx Council on the Arts. She was published in the “Bronx Memoir Project” in 2014 and later collaborated with writer/editor Kate Gale (Red Hen Press) on a public memoir project on behalf of the City of Pasadena.
Nahshon’s writing history includes: “Quick N Shine” an essay in the Cold Creek Review (2018); “I Caught One,” an essay in the anthology Happy Hours: Our Lives in Gay Bars (2017); “Morphine,” a short story in the Emerge: 2016 Lambda Literary Fellows Anthology; “PTSD,” a short story in Prose and Lore: Issue 2: Memoir Stories About Sex Work (2013); and “Cock N Jock Tease” Prose and Lore: Memoir Stories About Sex Work: Issue 3 (2014). Nahshon is also a contributing writer for the Lambda Literary Review and has interviewed Pulitzer Prize Winner Dr. Jeffrey C. Stewart, New York Times best-selling author Michael Arceneaux, civil rights activists Darnell Moore and DeRay Mckesson and music journalist Gerrick Kennedy.
Nahshon is a former New York State Council on the Arts grants advisory panelist and served as a juror for Scholastic Art & Writing Awards and Lambda Literary Awards. She is also a former member of the Individual Artists Advisory Panel for the New York State Council on the Arts. In 2019, she was awarded a SU-CASA Teaching artist residency from the New York Dept. of Cultural Affairs and facilitated a creative writing workshop for senior citizens. She's the recipient of numerous grants, fellowships, artist residencies, and awards. Nahshon is currently developing a documentary, based on her literary journey of over a decade regarding arts and cultural institutions and individuals that have supported her since 1996.
Nahshon's pronouns are He/She and they/them
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