Cassandra Harris-Lockwood CHL, recently received the prestigious 2025 Lifetime Achievement Award at the Young Gifted and Black 21st Anniversary gala at the Terrace at the Park in Queens, NY on February 25, 2026.
Cassandra is founder of the news magazine that you are currently reading, and was originally the in print publication, The Utica Phoenix. Both were/are publications of For The Good, Inc., which she also founded in 2002.
CHL was recognized for her impressive contributions as an Artist, Activist and Cultural Visionary. During Women’s History Month 2026 we want to recognize and celebrate her work including being the CEO of For The Good, Inc and Phoenix Radio.
Born in Washington, D.C., in 1951, Cassandra Harris-Lockwood’s life has been a
vibrant tapestry of music, theater, the natural world, healing and community
activism. Educated in PWS and growing up in rural Upstate NY, Cassandra rose to
state level student leadership and class president in the mid 60’s. She attended
Woodstock and three weeks later matriculated into and is a graduate of Kirkland
College (’74) with a degree in Fine Arts and Dance.
Cassandra’s artistic and activist spirit was shaped by the turbulent 1960s—fueled
by the Civil Rights, Anti-War, Black Power and Women’s Movements. All the while, seeking
deeper understanding of the spiritual and natural world.
Confronting the patriarchy; Cassandra successfully broke a major barrier in
employment and wages by becoming the first female construction worker in New
York State while on summer break from college.
At Kirkland, she was one of the founders of the Women’s Center and later earned
scholarships at the Alvin Ailey Dance Studio, the Dance Theatre of Harlem, and
the George Faison School of Dance.
During her summer internships in dance in NYC, she drove a horse and carriage
through Central Park, becoming the first woman licensed to drive Hansom cab in
NYC.
Cassandra’s professional journey began on Broadway, where she worked as a
production assistant for Raisin, the Tony Award-winning musical adaptation of
Lorraine Hansberry’s A Raisin in the Sun. She went on to contribute to the
productions of Bubbling Brown Sugar and The Wiz and starred Off-Broadway in
Alice Childress’s Wine in the Wilderness. Alongside her stage career, she studied
voice and acting in New York City, honing the multidimensional artistry that
would define her life’s work.
While in NYC, Cassandra took the opportunity to train in Metaphysics, the Healing Arts, shiatsu and Martial Arts; as well as honing her skills in playwrighting.
Music has always been Cassandra’s heartbeat. Her love for performing began in
kindergarten with Sr. Christine Marie’s rhythm band and deepened as she learned
to play the flute and sang in chorus through elementary and high school. Dance
recitals and school stage productions were a part of her early life. Her relationship
to Jennifer, the daughter of the Fred and Skippy Mitchells, the Black couple who brought Jazz to Utica, provided her to with the opportunity to obtain an ease and familiarity with perfromance and the stage.
She taught herself to play guitar in her early teens, inspired by Joan Baez, Odetta,
and Buffy Sainte-Marie. She began as a folk singer, then sang protest songs in the late
60’s, and then played in the Folk Mass when she returned home in 1979. Years later, as a mother to her son Gabriel, she began writing children’s music; writing songs that celebrate, nature, imagination and social awareness. Her original music composition continues on today, performing as the Hummingbirds and Friends. She sings in the choir of Old Historic St. John’s.
Returning to Utica in 1979, Cassandra combined her artistic calling with a deep
commitment to social justice. Hired by the not for profit firm Corn Hill People United as Lead Organizer, Cassandra began a life dedicated to working for justice and helping
people to overcome poverty by their own means. CHPU is where she learned desk top publishing cutting and pasting columns for the newsletter, Corn Hill Speaks. In 1996 she brought Juneteenth to Utica.
In 2002 she founded For The Good, Inc., a nonprofit dedicated to arts, education,
community development, and self-sufficiency. In that same year she launched The
Utica Phoenix, the city’s first Black newspaper and the Study Buddy Club in
conjunction with Hamilton College. The Phoenix gave voice to often-overlooked
stories and continues to thrive online as one of Central New York’s leading
independent news sources.
Cassandra’s creative energy has also fueled decades of original theater work. In
1984, she produced Utica’s first independent Black theater production—A Raisin
in the Sun—she later wrote and produced and outstanding community-based
musical, The Wizard of Was. Her more recent works include video productions for
Christmas and Juneteenth, marking the production of the first Black television
broadcasts in Utica.
Drawn to the country by her love of nature and animals, especially horses, enabled
her to achieve a lifelong dream of owning horses. In the year 2001 her mare,
Amazing Grace, won the jumping championship at the Lake Placid Fall shows.
Today, she and her husband keep two Missouri Foxtrotters on their small farm in
Clinton, NY.
From performing liturgical music to producing community theater and writing
songs that honor saints and make children laugh and sing, Cassandra Harris-
Lockwood embodies the power of art as service. An artist, singer, writer, producer, healer
and visionary, she continues to use every medium—music, theater, sculpture, and
journalism—to uplift and inspire.
