| About the 2025 award: $50,000 to support efforts to preserve, amplify and celebrate the creative, cultural and historical legacy of Black women in Pittsburgh's hip hop history. |
Dr. Amber Epps, also known as Dr. HollyHood, is an author, artist, lyricist and multidisciplinary Creatrix whose work explores spirituality, humanism, power and systems and truth. A longtime force in Pittsburgh’s music scene, her work advocates for documenting and creating space for women in hip hop through her music, event production and leadership. This work extends into public scholarship and speaking on gender and social change within the genre.
She co-founded the Pittsburgh Underground Music Awards, created PMS, an all-women hip hop showcase and founded LOCAL412, an initiative highlighting hip hop as an art form through events and exhibitions. As an artist she has opened for Rakim, KRS-One, GZA, Warren G, and Ja Rule and led hip hop programming for the Three Rivers Arts Festival and Deutschtown Music Festival.
Amber is the author of mushroom logic, vol. 1: doves cant cry. thats stupid. and wrote the introduction to Life Sentences: Writings from Inside an American Prison. Her visual art includes sculpture, assemblage, and installation; her installation Homage, exhibited at Pittsburgh International Airport, marked the first presentation of Black spiritual traditions in that space.
She serves as executive director of Write Pittsburgh, advancing storytelling as a tool for transformation, liberation and community building. She is also the founder of Fly Buffalo Consulting Group, owner of Arts & Crafts: Botanica & Occult Shop, and a professor of community engagement and project management. www.amberepps.com.