Q&A with Le’Deana Brown, magazine founder and cultural connector

Of eight people depicted on the “Keepers of Culture” mural at the Stutz building, Le’Deana Brown is more of a behind-the-scenes facilitator than a marquee star.

Painted in 2021 by Ashley Nora and commissioned by cultural development firm GangGang, the mural features comedian Mike Epps and actress Vivica A. Fox—two entertainers who grew up in Indianapolis and built high-profile careers.

Rapper Antonio Maxey, poet Mariah Ivey, saxophone player Rob Dixon, actress Deborah Asante and late radio host Amos Brown are Indianapolis icons represented on the wall with Epps and Fox.

Le’Deana Brown didn’t earn her spot by being in the public eye. She’s a keeper of culture thanks to 17 years of editing Midwest Leak magazine, a publication Brown launched while she was a student at Butler University.

On Saturday, Brown will celebrate the release of the magazine’s 124th issue (as well as her 39th birthday) with an event at Midwest Leak Reading Room, 5860 Michigan Road. The 9 p.m. event also will feature Indianapolis-based rappers Maxey, Kittii Red and Swoe performing with the Brothers Foottman band.

Although the new issue of Midwest Leak magazine will be the publication’s last one printed on paper, Brown plans to continue to report on the topics of culture, community, entertainment and entrepreneurship online only at midwestleak.com.

As Brown notes, it’s been years since the work of Midwest Leak has been confined solely to the printed page. Midwest Leak began promoting March 17 as “317 Day,” or an occasion to support Indianapolis businesses, in 2015. Brown serves on the organizing committee for Black: A Festival of Joy, an annual summer event that highlights the strength of the city’s Black community. And a video studio at Midwest Leak Reading Room, a facility that’s been open less than a year, is the setting for the Indianapolis version of dating show “Pop the Balloon or Find Love,” which is a viral hit for host and rapper 2Kold.

Brown spoke with IBJ about magazines she read as an adolescent, why she opened a community gathering space and what it’s like to be part of the “Keepers of Culture” mural. This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

How has Midwest Leak evolved through the years?

I survived as an entertainment magazine, but my passion evolved beyond entertainment. I wouldn’t call it just an entertainment magazine anymore, even though that’s how it started. It really highlights entrepreneurship, entertainment and community. If you drill all the way down, it’s about entrepreneurship, because I was taking the time to explain to people, “Your music should be a business. Your music doesn’t have to be a bill.” I took it upon myself to help people develop ways to earn income from their music and to provide a marketplace and a platform for them.

When you were a teenager, who were some of your favorite musical artists?

It’s hard to say “favorites,” because I listened to so much. I listened to everybody. Every week, I would go and get whatever new CDs came out. It didn’t have to be a favorite person. I was a collector. And I got every new magazine.

It would be better for me to say my favorite magazines as a teenager. Sister 2 Sister was my absolute favorite. I thought I was going to go work there when I got out of school. I love Jamie Foster Brown, the publisher of that magazine.

I was known as the girl on the school bus with all the new CDs and magazines, reading XXL, the Source, Vibe, Black Beat, Word Up! and Right On!

Why should people on the coasts or in bigger cities pay attention to culture and community in Indianapolis?

We’re the heart of everything. The middle is the heart, you know, so they have to come through the middle. And they are influenced by us, whether they recognize it or not. If you look at a lot of the major artists, you can find the Midwest rooted in them.

I had this conversation with Coach K [Kevin Lee, the Broad Ripple High School alum who’s the co-founder of hip-hop label Quality Control Music]. He’s from here, and I said, “You’re in Atlanta, but I feel like Indiana influences everything you do.”

Mike Epps is connected to a lot of things on every coast. You can still see the influence of Michael Jackson. My niece sings “Thriller” every day.

In 2024, you opened the Midwest Leak Reading Room. What happens there, and why was it important for you to have a public-facing brick-and-mortar operation?

I call it a community resource and recharge center. We read there, of course. We have a bookstore. We have our merch there. We have live recording for podcast shows, and we have community conversations and meetings. We also let people have private events, photo shoots and video shoots.

It was important to have that space because I recognized that people need community. I need community. I need to be around my people, and we need the opportunity to love on each other. I used to have events every week and multiple events a week. Sometimes I would see the same people at those events on Monday night, Tuesday night, Friday night and Sunday night. I would say, “I see some of you guys more than I see some of my family members.” Then with COVID, we hardly saw anyone at all.

It felt necessary to have a space for people to gather and just feel good energy. And I don’t want to be in a nightclub or at a bar, which is where I had to host most of the events for it to make sense. With my own space, I can have my fashion show, or I can let someone come to sell their new product or let a book club meet. It’s a place where the underlying message is not, “Go get drunk,” but it’s rooted in community. It feels good.

People in Indianapolis can see you represented larger than life every day on Ashley Nora’s “Keepers of Culture” mural on the north side of the Stutz. What did it mean to you to be included in that group of Indianapolis icons?

Wow. It’s monumental. It’s historic. It’s like cementing my place. It’s putting a name on what I’ve been doing all along. I never called it that, but it’s a great way to word it because that really is what I do. I am a keeper of the culture, and the people that I’m next to are all so amazing. It’s an honor to be next to them.

It’s an honor to be the subject of Ashley Nora’s work, to be honored by GangGang and their work. Plus the historic Stutz building. It’s a multifaceted honor all the way around. And I am never the one to shine a light on myself. I’m always trying to use my light to shine on other people. It took someone else to decide to do that for me, and that means a lot, too.•