Olori Everett
Membership Committee Chair
Olori Everett is a Brooklyn-born seasoned professional with a passion for education and community empowerment. Olori has dedicated her career to making a positive impact in various fields. With a strong foundation in special education and early intervention, Olori has demonstrated a commitment to supporting individuals with diverse learning needs. Her previous work in this area has helped shape policies and programs aimed at enhancing educational opportunities and accessibility for all. Olori currently serves as the Operations Administrator/Asset Retention and Recovery Specialist for a prominent commercial lending firm in New York City. Her dedication to excellence and attention to detail have made her an invaluable asset to the organization. Beyond her professional endeavors, Olori is an avid enthusiast of cooking, music, and textiles. Whether experimenting with new recipes in the kitchen, exploring diverse musical genres, or indulging in the rich textures of different fabrics, she finds joy and inspiration in the creative process.
With a lifelong commitment to learning and growth, Olori continues to seek opportunities to make a meaningful difference in her community and beyond. Her diverse experiences and unwavering dedication serve as a testament to her enduring pursuit of excellence and positive change. Olori is also a priestess of Yemoja.
Nicholas J. Mangone
Programs Committee Chair
Nicholas J. Mangone is an Aborisa first starting in 2017 through Isese Ifa and more recently transitioning to Lukumi Ocha Ifa. While not growing up in the tradition, he is grateful to be the only known Orisa worshiper in his family having brought back the culture into his lineage.
Nicholas received his BA in Applied Sociology from Rowan University in 2016. During his studies, Nicholas was exposed to several perspectives on progressive/radical politics and Black/African history, politics and culture that transformed his understanding of himself and the world. He participated in many grassroots student rights and community activist organizations allowing him to become a mentee of original Black Panther party members, Anti-death penalty activists, Philadelphia MOVE organization members, progressive/radical activists and drug policy reformers.
Nicholas is currently a Certified Peer Recovery Support Specialist working at a non-profit that assists parents in their recovery from substance use to develop healthier families. Additionally, he is certified as an Acupuncture Detox Specialist (ADS) through the National Acupuncture Detoxification Association (NADA) following in the footsteps of Walter Bosque Del Rio, Mutulu Shakur and the original Lincoln Detox program in the Bronx, NY. Nicholas is also a musician in the Afro Borikua music genres Bomba and Plena.
Overall, Nicholas is dedicated to the upliftment and freedom of his people by any means necessary through the mediums of spirituality, healing, music and social movement building.
Nia Waqiah Ali
Communications Committee Co-Chair
Nia Waqiah Ali is a non-initiate who has been following and studying the Yoruba tradition for the last six years. Her journey has come with its challenges but she has managed to stay the course in order to remain a part of the beautiful and enriching Orisa community. She comes with an eagerness to learn and connect the dots within her ancestral lineage and align herself with the Orisa. As a person who did not grow up in the tradition she brings a unique perspective and willingness to grow. She is looking forward to expanding her experience and knowledge within the tradition.
By profession Nia is a dedicated musician, performance artist and creative. Her various interests, content ideas , politics and vision help to shape her expression. She obtained a BA from Rowan University (2015) and has since served as an educator and entrepreneur within the arts. She also has her own health and beauty business that she runs called “The Inevitable Purpose.”
Nia resides in southern New Jersey where she works as a substitute teacher in the Camden county area. As the chair of the membership committee, she plans to help expand the Orisa CDC’s reach and impact through sharing her experiences and encouraging others to push forward in the face of any adversity that may come on one’s Orisa devotee path. Her vision is to see a community where old and new Orisa devotees can thrive in harmony.
Ifaponmile Faseye (Niana)
Communications Committee Chair
Ifaponmile Faseye (Niana Moore), has been in the Isese tradition since 2016 and was Initiated to Ifa in 2020. She is an Omo Awo and a child of Sango. In 2014 Ifaponmile Faseye (Niana), graduated with a B.A in Art and Art HIstory from the University of Maryland, College Park, where she was first introduced to the Orisha via an academic art history context. In 2019 she graduated with a Masters in Urban and Regional Planning from UCLA, where she dually concentrated in Design/Development and Housing and Economic Development. Using an equity-based framework, Ifaponmile continues to work in the field of affordable housing development and seeks to use her skill set to serve the Orisa community and other traditionally underserved communities. She is a registered yoga and meditation guide with interest in using herbalism and energy work to help others heal themselves. Ifaponmile splits her time between the DMV (D.C., Maryland, and Virginia metro area) area where she grew up, and Los Angeles where she currently resides. Ifaponmile, has been in the Isese tradition since 2016 and was Initiated as an Iyanifa in 2020.
Kofi Bernard
Communications Committee
Kofi Bernard was born and raised in the Lukumi branch of the Yoruba Spiritual tradition in Brooklyn, New York. He is the son of esteemed elder and founder of the Egbe Iwa rites of passage program, Iya Oloriwaa. Kofi was initiated to Obatala on June 5, 2004, and was a member of the first graduating class of Egbe Iwa in 2003. He is also an eight-year veteran of the New York City Fire Department and lives in Brooklyn with his eight-year-old daughter, Drew.
Amanishakhete James
Finance and Fundraising Committee
Amanishakhete received her BA in Sociology from Fisk University. During her studies, Amanishakhete founded and led an African cultural awareness group focusing on Africa and the Diaspora. She also researched and studied public health with a focus on Black Women.
Amanishakhete is currently a herbalist and founder of Ancient Healing Teas, a company that primarily offers natural alternatives to common women’s health disparities including fibroids, cysts and infertility. Amanishakhete is a world traveler and has traveled to over 15 different countries studying natural health and wellness from an African perspective.
Overall, Amanishakhete is dedicated to the upliftment of her people through wellness and culture through the mediums of herbalism and activism.
Darasia J. Selby
Coach
Darasia Selby is an educator, writer, healer, and community organizer in Philadelphia. While earning her BA in African-American Studies and Religion from Temple University, she was introduced to the Afro-Cuban Lukumi Tradition and was initiated to Oshun in 2009. Since then, Darasia has deepened her studies in the Ifa-Orisa Tradition and initiated in the Isese Tradition of Nigeria to Egungun in 2012 and Ifa in 2014 and continues to study and practice within both of her Ifa-Orisa spiritual lineages, as well as Hoodoo, the spiritual tradition of Black people in North America.
Darasia earned a MA in Liberal Arts, with a focus on Africana Religions, from Temple University; has trained as a Certified Clinical Hypnotherapist, and is currently matriculating through a graduate program in Clinical Nutrition and Herbal Medicine from Maryland University of Integrative Health with the long-term goal of collaborating with other activists and health care providers to start a People’s Clinic in the spirit of Mututu Shakur and the Black Panther Party.
As a community organizer and healer, Darasia leads an ile (spiritual house) in Philadelphia that is committed to the spiritual, cultural, and political growth and liberation of Black people throughout the Diaspora and is a long-time member of the Malcolm X Grassroots Movement.
Joseph T. Quinones
Founder and Chairman of the Board
Joseph T. Quinones (Obakanla) is the founder and board chairman of The Orisa Community Development Corporation he was born in Harlem, New York, is a military veteran and a graduate Temple University School of Business and graduate of the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School of Business’s MBA program in 2003. He is also the CEO of the Obara Realty Group (www.ObaraRG.com), a real estate investment management, and development firm operating based in Philadelphia, and also Atlanta, Nigeria, Ghana, and Atlanta.
His mother, Marjorie Quinones (Sango Gunmi), was the first African-American to be initiated as a priest of the Yoruba religion in America in 1963. Everyone in Baba Joe’s family is Olorisa, with his brother David (ibaye) having been initiated as Obatala in 1966, and his sisters, national best-selling author Karen E. Quinones and Kathleen (Kitty), who are biologically and spiritually Ibeji, having been initiated as Yemonja and Osun in 1970. Karen and Kathleen are the first biological Ibeji initiated in the USA. As a consequence of his elder sisters and brother being initially baptized Catholic, Baba Joe was the first African-American born into the Traditional Yoruba religious faith.
Baba Joe was initiated by Babalorisa Lloyd Weaver (ibae) to Aganju on May 26, 1979. His mother is the progenitor of Ile Ase, which was founded by Lloyd (ibae) and Stephanie Weaver and with over 250 priests initiated is the largest, most active, and respected African-American Orisa Ile (house) in the country. Some of Sango Gunmi’s most noteworthy godchildren and protégées include Lloyd (ibaye) and Stephanie Weaver, and she was an adjubona and Orisa grandmother to esteemed elder, Oseye Mchawi, who, along with Iya Stephanie Weaver, is one of the two spiritual matriarchs of Ile Ase.”
Contact Orisa CDC
Use this form for direct contact. Your message will be replied to as soon as possible.
