For years, Jeli Benjamin, as he prefers to be called, has been inspiring audiences with stories of Black history and multi-cultural folktales. Jeli Benjamin weaves stories that entertain, inspire and educate. He blends a humorous style in all  his  folktales that will leave the listener with morals and new life lessons learned. Creatively, Jeli relates facets of historical events that have been omitted, understated and just plain misrepresented, thus, helping all people to know and understand the rich contributions the Black race has made to humanity.

Jeli Benjamin has told stories for elementary, high school and college students, seniors, as well as for people from civic groups, churches and Fortune 500 companies. He has made numerous appearances at the Chicago Public Libraries, Mayor Daley’s Book Club and the Chicago Public Schools. He has taught in the Chicago Public School Words37 Program. This is an after school program where high school students learn the Art of Storytelling.

Jeli Benjamin is the author of “Up from the Roots,” a yearly calendar celebrating Black history. He has published articles on the lives of such people as Marcus Garvey and Benjamin Banneker.

Mr. Giles is a member of the National Storytelling Network; Illinois Storytelling; National Association of Black Storytellers (NABS), Chicago Association of Black Storytellers (ASE) and Northland Storytelling Network.

"Have Story Will Tell” He is available to all age groups for inspiring workshops that teach the ABC’s of Storytelling. He entertains at family reunions, birthday parties, or wherever there is a need for a story to be told.