Blackman was founding director of Freestyle Union, a cypher workshop which uses a freestyling as a tool to promote social responsibility, was awarded, two prestigious fellowships. Blackman served as a fellow with the Echoing Green Foundation and as a fellow with the Open Society Institute (Soros Foundation) through which she launched Rhyme Like A Girl formerly known as ADI. A hip hop theatre pioneer, she founded the now-defunct Hip Hop Arts Movement (HHAM) while at Howard University in 1992.