Cj Priester is an African-American artist and educator born and raised in Brooklyn. She received a formal education in Fine Art and Art History from the Fashion Institute of Technology. After graduating from F.I.T. she went on to get her MA in special education at the Long Island University (Brooklyn). Her work blends painting, digital art, and collage with Afrocentric realism. Centered around themes of self-love, mental health awareness, and what it means to be a Black woman in America Cj Priester's artwork accentuates the lips and noses of African American women, while regularly amalgamating parts of their bodies with elements of nature to make a statement about the origins of life, the tough trials, and tribulations embedded into Black history and the purity present within us all.