Ayana Contreras is an influential figure in Chicago’s arts, music and history scene. She was an early-career mentor to artists like Chance the Rapper and Noname. She even wrote a book about Black excellence here in Chicago.

“Growing up in Chicago and the Chicagoland area and being a Black person, there were so many fairy tales honestly that we heard, but those fairy tales were real,” she said.

She’s talking about the likes of musicians Chaka Khan and Mavis Staples, “Ebony” and “Jet” magazine founders John and Eunice Johnson, Uncle Remus founders Gus and Mary Rickette, and so many more. 

Contreras is an overall culture creator, a prolific DJ, a style-icon in her own right and has been the content director at WBEZ’s sister station Vocalo, a radio station she played a big role in creating. She talks with Rundown podcast host Erin Allen about why Chicago needed an urban alternative public radio station, her career in Chicago’s arts scenes and why afro-optimism is the antidote to afro-pessimism.