April and Nina's Salon at the 5C Café

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April and Nina's Salon was recently held in its new location at the 5C Café on the southeast corner of Avenue C and East 5th Street in Manhattan. Queen Nejma Nefertiti served as guest MC, and also presented several of her signature performances.

Nejma Nefertiti

Other performers included singer/sonwriter Rony Corcos, pianist Trudy Silver, spoken-word artist Afua Kafi-Akua, and our own Nina Kennedy presented some Chopin on the grand piano. April Gibson offered a screening of her shortfilm There's a Place for Us: Dixon Place, and Brenda Alderman shared her recording of the song "Human."
Rony Corcos

 Donna Hope presented her portion of The Noshing with Nina Show's People's State of the Union, in which she discussed her concerns regarding the environment.

Trudy Silver

 Julie Sahlein shared a delightful poem about her cats, complete with photos on the screen which were met with Awww's from the adoring crowd.

Afua Kafi-Akua
April's MNN colleague Nicole Rodriguez, AKA Coach Nicole and host of Conversation P.A.C.E., shared a clip of her show. Talk show host Dietra Kelsey shared a clip of her new gospel show titled Whose Side Are You On?, a musical about gang and gun violence; and Angel Crawford, host of Let's Talk CannaBiz, gave a presentation on her various products available for purchase.

Coach Nicole Rodriguez


The staff at 5C kept us fed and happy. A special shout-out to Dewon and Tears for their service and support. The food was delicious and the drinks plentiful.
We look forward to announcing the second anniversary celebration of April and Nina's Salon later this fall.















Nina Kennedy is a concert pianist, orchestral conductor, and award-winning filmmaker. She holds a master’s degree from the Juilliard School. Her memoir, "Practicing for Love," is a 2021 Lambda Literary Award Finalist.

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