Meet Ya La'ford, an abstract artist who has worked for Nike, the NBA, and Maya Angelou.

• St. Petersburg, near Tampa Bay in Florida, is where Ya La'ford, a visual artist, resides.
• The Courageous 12, a group of black police officers who sued the city of St. Petersburg in 1965 for discrimination and won, are being honored with a sculpture in her latest project.
• Maya Angelou's art is permanently housed in the collection of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, where La'ford has contributed his talents.

Abstract artist Ya La'ford is in demand.

Her bookings for the next four years are fully secured due to her commissions in sculpture, installations, and gallery exhibitions.

La'ford, based in St. Petersburg, Florida, named current and former clients, including McLaren Racing, Orlando Magic, and Rossignol, during a phone call with CNBC. She has also worked for the NFL, creating commemorative gifts for team owners during the 2021 Super Bowl.

She explained to CNBC via phone that she produces site-specific installations featuring bold, geometric paintings that delve into themes of transformation, transcendence, and interconnectivity.

"She expressed her fascination with how geometric patterns can create an illusion of depth and movement," La'ford said. She works with various mediums, including painting, sculpture, installations, and video.

La'ford is a celebrity favorite with commissions by household names, but non-disclosure agreements prevent her from speaking publicly about many of them. A photograph of La'ford with Janet Jackson is among the images on her Instagram account, captioned "Birthday love."

She added, "Water finds its own level," and she has a Master of Fine Arts from the Art Institute of Boston and a Juris Doctor from the University of Florida's Levin College of Law.

La'ford was able to speak about working for Maya Angelou, who passed away in 2014. He created a tapestry quilted with words from Angelou's poetry. "She commissioned me to do a piece when I was in Houston, and it was such an entanglement of words, poetry, and the power of love and light," La'ford stated.

La'ford recounted a quote by Maya in an email to CNBC, stating that the greatest lesson he learned from her was that people should feel better about themselves and their goals after meeting him. He emphasized that people tend to forget what is said but remember how they feel.

She stated that geometry is a "universal language" and that she is "redefining ancient civilization, connecting the present space we live in and thinking about what lies ahead." Travel has inspired La'ford, who mentioned the Great Wall of China, Rome's Colosseum, and Egypt's temples as well as the people of Palenque, Colombia, who were officially freed from slavery in 1713, as monuments and cultures she is interested in.

La'ford believes that her artwork possesses healing powers, similar to a stone or talisman, and many clients meditate with her art in their homes.

I believe the magic of mark making lies in the ability to manipulate our space, perspective, and idea to engage with humanity and create an immersive experience that we can all share together.

A sculpture honoring the Courageous 12, a group of Black police officers who sued the U.S. city of St. Petersburg in 1965 for discrimination and won the right to police in the same way as white officers, is among her public art projects.

The sculpture, constructed of concrete, stainless steel, and bronze, will pay tribute to the bravery and resilience of trailblazing officers. It will be displayed on the site of the former police headquarters, with La'ford's geometric lines featured prominently. The sculpture is expected to be unveiled early next year.

La'ford has held artist's residences in Ogden, Utah, and Jacksonville, Florida, and exhibited at the Tampa Museum of Fine Arts and the Asia Contemporary Art Show. She has also created public art and worked for corporations, and her work is part of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation's permanent collection.

As a child, La'ford painted on the walls at her home in the Bronx, New York. "My mother was a second-grade teacher, and her walls became my canvas at a very early age. She let me create these epic installations. At the time, I thought I was just building a safe space for second graders to come in and feel welcome, not realizing I was laying the foundation for a career," she said.

John Dunkley, La'ford's grandfather, was a renowned Jamaican artist who is celebrated for his unique style and psychological underpinnings. His work, characterized by a dark palette and distinctive landscapes, was showcased in a 2019 exhibition at the American Folk Art Museum, which was hailed as a "revelation" by The New York Times.

As a child, I found that each of Dunkley's works contained hidden riddles that can only be solved and comprehended through the use of paint to create my own world, according to La'ford's statement on the Pérez Art Museum Miami's website.

La'ford described herself as being "in conversation with" abstract expressionist artists such as Mark Rothko, Cy Twombly, and James Turrell. One of her favorite Rothko pieces, "Black on Maroon" (1959), makes her cry, she said, "because I think there's this moment that art can capture, that echoes through the space of time."

La'ford stated that she aims to investigate the human condition, regardless of her employer. "We're discovering tranquility to excitement, exploring the positive and negative aspects of life," she said.