Our Team

  • Iya Ọ̀ṣuntayọ Obatolu

    Felicia “Onyi” Richards is a Healing Artist, Priestess, and Teacher that utilizes sound, touch, word and movement to support the collective. Described as a leader, medicine-woman, fire-igniter, shamanic practitioner, nurturer of “the tribe,” and much more by her teachers, elders, and colleagues, Onyi has a keen ability to ground, harness, conduct, and hold space for The Divine in various directions, across multiple dimensions, and in deeply transformative ways. In both her personal and professional life, she synergistically blends an ability to detect, interpret, and channel energy with an understanding of the practical, mundane, and grounded elements necessary for engaging with it when it shows up. She holds space for and inspires a remembering of our collective birthright and the only constant in life: change.

    ONYI LOVE LLC

  • Sanyu Estelle Nagenda

    Sanyu Estelle is a Claircognizant ("clear knowing") Soothsayer ("truth teller") that is also known as "The Word Witch" because of her deep love for word origins (etymology) and word culture (philology).

    These natural inclinations are bolstered by an 11+ year practice of Daoism that began with three years of training in Qi Gong and Tai Chi with Master Zi of Dharma Health Institute; as well as a 10+ year relationship with Ifa, the indigenous tradition of the Yoruba people of now-Nigeria, culminating in membership at Ile Orunmila Afedefeyo in Los Angeles led by Baba Fesegun and his daughter Iya Fayomi.

    Sanyu identifies as a pigmented (80%), womoonist (as constant as the tides; word to Alice Walker), cissy (femme and fem), flexible asexual (it's a spectrum, seems unwise to call it), travel-apt (Earth is a country) and fashion forward (Funk Flag Flyage) SSJW (Sarcastic Social Justice Warrior).

    A "1st generationish" (long colonial story) US-American of Ugandan (father) and Belizean (Mother) descent, Sanyu was born, bred and buttered in Los Angeles on land traditionally stewarded by the Tongva. Land stewards of her hometown rightfully acknowledged, Sanyu is herself Black Seminole, Moskito, Maya (and possibly Huron + Chiricahua) through all her Great Great Grandparents on her mother's paternal side. Other than being directly Ugandan through her late father, may he remain in peaceful power in the realms of the Ancestors, Sanyu's African origins are also of Angolan, Cameroonian and Nigerian descent with trace DNA from literally all 4 "corners" of the Motherland.

    Sanyu is your forebears attainable unreality. Yet she is the intended of her Ancestors. Many dream up the future, but it belongs to their descendants. Thus, she is the best thing that came out of her Colonizer’s lineage. She uses their/her own ancestry to denounce their indoctrination into the invention of Whiteness through colonization. They are lucky to have her and they ensured not only that she is, but what she is.

    Sanyu’s website

  • Reva Aisha Santo

    Reva Santo is a multi-disciplinary artist and creative alchemist. She graduated in Film Studies from Columbia University, where she was awarded the Louis Sudler Prize in the Arts for her script Ash(é), and the Henry Evans Travel Fellowship to conduct arts-based research in the Caribbean. During her time there, she made the short film “Consejos de la Isla” or “Advice for the Island”, which was shown in a solo show at Studio 1.0.6. Gallery in Los Angeles, and most recently at “Who Owns Black Art: Questions of Cultural Ownership” curated by Zeal Press and Superposition Gallery. In 2017, she was selected to direct a visual poem “Wishes for Mom” for the Visible Poetry Project. The piece went on to be featured on “movingpoems.com”, shown at City Reliquary in New York, and in 2018 it was an official selection for Los Angeles Municipal Art Gallery’s Juried Exhibition. Her latest film "Trust Issues" was the recipient of the Panavision "New Filmmaker Program Grant", and debuted at Pan African Film Festival in 2021.

    Her social practice, Honey & Smoke, is a global artist community & platform focused on creating space for artists to meditate on the important themes of our time. Through events, workshops, and facilitated conversations, H&S fosters community and resources for artists to continue creating and engaging with intentionality, with the hopes of creating positive transformation for the world.

    Reva’s magic lies in her ability to pinpoint the emotional pulse of her inquiries, which tend to centralize the afro-diaspora and issues faced by marginalized communities. She creates transformative, alchemic works that heal and imagine new possibilities for the world. Her creative practice is predicated on an understanding that she is a continuation of her ancestors' greatest struggles, desires, and dreams.

    Reva’s website