ABOUT US

Meet the Team

The African Diaspora Alliance was founded by Moriah Ray and Jasmine Hall in 2015. Childhood friends, comrades, and scholars of diverse schools of thought Ray and Hall decided upon graduating from their respective universities in 2015 to spend the next 4 months studying abroad in Havana, Cuba. This experience changed their lives as they spent their time on the island not only researching but brainstorming what their sustainable contribution to their community would be. Inspired by Cuba’s Latin American School of Medicine (ELAM), the rich African history in Cuba, and examples of transnational solidarity, Hall and Ray came up with the idea of creating an African Alliance for activists, students, and educators from throughout the African Diaspora to connect. Since 2015 the seed that was planted has drastically grown and expanded thanks to the support of numerous community organizations, family members, and individuals who trusted and believed in the importance of reconnecting our global community.

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Jasmine Kayla Hall is the CoFounder of The African Diaspora Alliance and holds a masters in Public Health from The Keck School of Medicine of The University of Southern California. Hall’s academic work gives honor and reverence to ancestral knowledge as the original studies of the Universe. Her research interests include holistic and integrative medicine and examines race, gender, and Spirit as pre-conditions for the social determinants of health for African descendant communities. As a healer, Hall studies how African spiritual traditions have been transformed and transplanted across time and space. Hall uses naturopathic modalities of healing and believes that the health of communities requires a tethering of the body, mind, and Spirit which she brings to life in her work as the co-founder of The African Diaspora Alliance (ADA). Hall has co-created an African diasporic centered curriculum, facilitated several transnational events and exchanges between Cuba, Colombia, and the U.S. Hall has also spent substantial time living, working, and traveling throughout the continent of Africa and also studied at The University of Havana, University of the Arts (ISA), and San Alejandro de Los Artes in Cuba. Hall holds a B.A. in African and Black Diaspora Studies and Peace, Justice, and Conflict Studies from DePaul University. Hall’s work allows Black Liberation to be both imagined and actualized through cultivating transnational solidarity throughout African Diaspora communities.

Moriah Ray completed her undergraduate career at the University of Maryland College Park where she studied Government and Politics with a minor in International Development and Conflict Management. She completed her Masters at New York University in Latin American and Caribbean Studies where she completed her thesis titled Havana Twists: Negotiating Race, Power, and Hair of Afro-American and Afro-Cuban Women. Her thesis research examines topics such as transnational solidarity, black hair politics, and colonial legacies. Moriah has had various travel opportunities throughout the globe studying and researching the African Diaspora including Barbados, Cuba, Colombia, Mexico, South Africa, and various other countries.

Inem Richardson is an organizer, a daughter of the Nigerian diaspora, and a recent college graduate in Africana Studies and Comparative Literature from Barnard College. During her undergraduate years at Barnard, she studied abroad in Senegal and Ghana where she conducted research on neo-colonialism and connected with local and international Pan-Africanist organizations. She then studied in Brazil with the Critical Language Scholarship program. With funding from the Mellon Mays Undergraduate Fellowship and support from Barnard’s Emerging Filmmakers Mentorship Program, she spent a month in Burkina Faso documenting stories of French imperialism and the Burkinabè Revolution. As an organizer with the Los Angeles-based Chiapas Support Committee, she has participated in delegations to the Afro-Indigenous Garifuna Maroon communities of Honduras and to the revolutionary island of Cuba and studied with the Zapatistas in Chiapas, Mexico. She gives talks and workshops on imperialism, anti-imperialism, and Pan-Africanism. As a recipient of the Fulbright student award, she hopes to return to Burkina Faso in 2021 to continue studying the history of the revolution. She will continue working to build bridges between Africa and the African diaspora and to promote popular and political education.

Brienne Francois-Dugans is a Morgan State University graduate with a fervent passion for sports and sports rehabilitation. She completed her B.A in Physical Therapy in Spring 2019. During her time at Morgan State, Brienne served as campus events chair for Females United to Uplift Reshape and educate (F.U.T.U.R.E.) and Uplift Fitness Club (event chair/President). In her last semester of undergrad, Brienne had the opportunity to travel to Havana, Cuba along with professors and students from Morgan State and the African Diaspora Alliance. She describes her time there as "life changing,” which has inspired her to now work for ADA as a social media intern.

Tyannis Carter is the Co-facilitator of the Youth of the Diaspora Program in Baltimore, MD where she gets to work with students, discovering and learning about our history as it connects to our global narrative and history. In addition to working with ADA, Tyannis is a creative entrepreneur, a Mama, and a lover of art and music. She/They love anything involving social critique and Black feminist thought and theory. Additionally, she serves as the Administrative Assistant at the Center for Student Engagement at the Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA).

David Goitizolo Caraballo currently resides in the municipality Marianao in Havana, Cuba. He is a multifaceted telecommunications engineer who received his Ph.D from the University of Havana. He has worked in flying traffic control stations and currently works in the Cuban Biotechnology industry.In addition to engineering David’s passions are languages and outdoor excursions. He is fluent in English and is working hard to master German. David has climbed the highest mountains in Cuba and has backpacked throughout many parts of the Cuban countryside.

Libies Martinez is a linguistic scholar who completed her higher education at the University of Havana. She is fluent in English and has used her language skills to secure long-term positions in Cuba as a tour guide, and outside of the island in countries such as Fiji and Suriname. Libies also enjoys knitting and is a skilled hair-braider who is passionate about the history of the African Diaspora.