MEET OUR HOST!
Kim-Char Meredith
A note from the Shore Road Open Mic team:
we wrote this page because Kim-Char would never write it about herself. She is one of the primary reasons this event exists, and the community we are building here would not be the same without her.
Kim-Char Meredith
Some people walk into a room and the room gets louder.
Kim-Char walks into a room and the room gets kinder.
That is the simplest way to describe what she does at Shore Road Open Mic.
She makes space.
- For the first timer who has never played a song in front of anyone.
- For the songwriter who traveled to be here, whether from down the street or from far beyond Naperville.
- For the person who came alone and isn’t sure where to sit.
- For the parent holding a guitar case for their kid.
- For the regular who has been coming since day one.
Every one of them walks in and finds that there is already a place for them, because Kim-Char has been thinking about them before they arrived.
Kim-Char is an award-winning singer-songwriter with 18 albums to her name and a career that has taken her from small rooms to festival stages to opening for Melissa Etheridge and more. (we also said “WOW” that’s a lot of albums).
She is the Music and Creative Director at Unity in Naperville — the space that hosts Shore Road Open Mic — and the founder of Mālama Kekahi — the Organization that funds and organizes our program.
She has spent decades championing creative people and building places where their work is heard.
The reason We think she is the right person to host our events is simple. Kim-Char cares.
She cares about the person on stage and the person in the third row.
She cares whether a first-timer feels seen and whether a seasoned artist feels respected.
We can’t think of a better person to facilitate Shore Road Open Mic so it continues to feel warm and welcoming to all.
Come meet her.
You’ll see what we mean.