Nwaka Onwusa, (nwaka@nwaka.co) joined the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2019 and served as Chief Curator and Vice President of Curatorial Affairs. Before that, she worked in various roles at The GRAMMY Museum at L.A. Live, where she  started working at the box office. By the time she left the GRAMMY Museum, she was the lead curator with more than 20 exhibits to her credit, including “All Eyez on Me: The Writings of Tupac Shakur,” “Jenni Rivera, La Gran Señora,” and Nwaka has also curated satellite and traveling

exhibits experienced by audiences across the U.S. and in the UK. Her exhibit at the Rock Hall, “It’s Been Said All Along: Voices of Rage, Hope, and Empowerment,” received Best Exhibit of 2020 by the Ohio Museum Association. She was also featured in Rolling Stone Magazine's June 2021 Future of Music Issue for her bold take on amplifying diverse voices in arts & culture. Nwaka served as lead curator for the critically acclaimed exhibit, Wake Me When I’m Free: Tupac Shakur in 2022, where she worked closely with the Amaru Estate. And in 2022, Nwaka was identified by UC Riverside as a 40 under 40. Her passion for music now spans across all genres and around the globe.

“For Nwaka Onwusa, music does much more than evoke emotions. Music, she says, is an integral part of the human spirit. Lyrics and rhythms are woven into daily life, culture, politics, and history. As chief curator and vice president of curatorial affairs at the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, Onwusa works to capture

and exhibit this essence for more than 560,000 annual guests who visit the Cleveland-based museum.” -

Sandra Baltazar Martinez (UCR)