Entrepreneur / Community Leader of
Eritrean-American Community Center of GA
Yonas Abraha is a respected community leader, entrepreneur, and advocate for Eritrean unity in Georgia. Born in Eritrea and raised through hardship, he immigrated to the United States as a teenager, carrying a deep commitment to service, discipline, and faith. Over three decades, Yonas has built a life rooted in resilience, business leadership, and community empowerment. He is a long-time small-business owner and manages multiple ventures, including Oakland City Food Mart. From 2022 to 2025, he served as Chairman of the Eritrean-American Community Center of Georgia, where he strengthened governance, expanded programs, and fostered a culture of unity, tolerance, and youth development.
Poet, Author & Educator at
Stanford University
Aracelis Girmay is the author of four full-length poetry collections including the recently published GREEN OF ALL HEADS. She is also the editor of the anthology So We Can Know: Writers of Color on Pregnancy, Loss, Abortion, and Birth as well as How to Carry Water: Selected Poems of Lucille Clifton. Named a finalist for the Neustadt International Prize for Literature (2018), and a recipient of the Academy of American Poets Fellowship (2025) and the Whiting Award (2015). girmay is on the editorial board of the African Poetry Book Fund and teaches at Stanford University.
Jeweler / Educator
Jeweler and educator Sewit Sium has been crafting living history in the form of jewelry all of her life. Her work explores the animacy of objects — when her pieces are worn, they are activated, their ongoing story and felt sense of meaning brought to life.
Writer / Novelist
Bsrat Mezghebe is a writer from Washington, D.C. Her debut novel, I Hope You Find What You’re Looking For, released by Liveright in February 2026, delves into the secret lives of three women on the eve of Eritrean independence. Her essays about identity and migration have appeared in Guernica, The Paris Review, and the anthology Well-Read Black Girl. Bsrat received an MFA in Creative Writing from New York University and the Harper-Wood Creative Writing and Travel Award from Cambridge University.
Digital Archivist & Content Creator
Tezez Tapes
Tezez Tapes is a project dedicated to preserving and sharing Eritrean music that has shaped generations, with a particular focus on cassette tapes from the 1980s and 1990s. By carefully digitizing tapes and sharing this music online, Tezez Tapes bridges the gap between analog listening and today’s digital world, connecting older generations with younger ones across the diaspora.
Director
The African Language House
Daniel launched African Language House in 2026, an online language learning platform dedicated to African languages. ALH partners with educators across the African continent to develop a standardized curriculum for learning African languages and making those languages more globally accessible. To date, ALH has four languages on its platform: Tigrinya, Amharic, Swahili, and Hausa as well as a fifth course on learning to read and write the Ge’ez script.
Daniel currently works as a Senior Data Scientist with 9 years experience working for major companies such as Boeing, Johnsonn & Johnson, and Kenvue. He holds two Master’s degrees one in International Affairs and another in Statistics.
Sports Manager
HAWI Sports Management
Merhawi “Hawi” Keflezighi is the founder and President of HAWI Management, a sports agency with a focus on management of elite track and field, road racing, and endurance athletes. Over his 20 year career, Hawi has represented over 60 athletes, including Olympians at every Summer Games since 2012, numerous medalists at World Marathon Majors, and leading influencers and ambassadors. His outside the box approach to development of key strategic partnerships make him one of the more innovative athlete representatives in the world of athletics today. HAWI Management clients have made appearances, raced, and paced at dozens of events in the USA and across the world.Daniel currently works as a Senior Data Scientist with 9 years experience working for major companies such as Boeing, Johnsonn & Johnson, and Kenvue. He holds two Master’s degrees one in International Affairs and another in Statistics.
Founder/Representative
Habesha Health
Almaz Nigusse Bland is the founder of Habesha Health and ANB Counseling Services, where she provides compassionate, culturally attuned mental health care for adults across California. She specializes in sleep and relationship challenges, offering practical, evidence-based support that helps clients build healthier, more grounded lives.
As a speaker, Almaz brings warmth, clarity, and a community-centered approach to conversations about mental wellness. Through Habesha Health, she is committed to increasing access to culturally relevant health education for Habesha communities across the diaspora by identifying community needs and developing tailored, accessible resources.
Journalist / Storyteller
Azieb is a senior creative leader, arts strategist, and writer, passionate about the power of culture to connect people, unlock hidden stories, and spark radical change. From 2019 to 2025, she led the Bernie Grant Arts Centre in London, UK, helping it become a nationally recognised home for bold, Black-led creativity. During her tenure, she secured Arts Council England National Portfolio status for the first time in BGAC’s history, founded the Tottenham Literature Festival and BGAC Windrush Festival, and developed exciting partnerships with brilliant organisations including Talawa, Dance Umbrella, LIFT, Greater London Authority, National Youth Theatre, Punchdrunk, and major funders such as Paul Hamlyn Foundation, Freelands Foundation, and Barings Foundation.
Prior to BGAC, Azieb was Senior Programmer for Contemporary Culture at Southbank Centre, London, where she led Africa Utopia, an annual festival celebrating African and diaspora arts and ideas.
She also played a key role in expanding the Women of the World festival (WOW), including its international editions in Somaliland, Nigeria, and Baltimore, USA. She has served as a trustee of LIFT, an Artistic Advisor to Manchester International Festival, a patron of the SI Leeds Prize, a member of the Mayor of London’s Black Cultural Events Advisory Group and co-curated the International Read My World festival in Amsterdam (2023).
Azieb began her career as a journalist, writing for The Guardian for over a decade and contributing to The Times, Stylist, and Vogue UK. She is the editor of Fashion Cities Africa and the author of My Fathers’ Daughter — reprinted in 2022 as part of Bernardine Evaristo and Penguin’s Black Britain Writing Back series. She believes that truly ambitious work must be inclusive and collaborative. Her specialist areas include creative ambition, vision, artistic strategy, artistic development, racial and gender equity within the arts, and embedding diverse practices.
Reporter
Minnesota Public Radio (MPR)
Feven Gerezgiher is an award-winning journalist based in Minneapolis. She works as a reporter and producer at Minnesota Public Radio, where she creates stories for radio, digital and video, with a focus on serving younger audiences. Feven’s journalism career began with a high school journalism camp. A decade later, she joined the “Racial Reckoning: Arc of Justice” radio project covering police trials and community reactions following the murder of George Floyd. She has a background in political campaigns and community engagement. Between 2018 to 2019, she spent 10 months volunteering, studying Tigrinya and drinking boon in Eritrea. Prior to MPR News, Feven freelanced for the Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder, Minnesota Native News and other local and national outlets.
Actress / Theatre Artist
Atlantic Theater Company / NYU
Banna Desta (She/they) is an Eritrean and Ethiopian-American writer for the stage and screen who crafts stories about and for the African diaspora. She is the author of The Abyssinians (Audible); Midnight in Abyssinia (La MaMa’s CultureHub); Red Taxi; Bygone Fruit which premiered at the 2024 Women in Theater Festival and Pining which premiered at Rattlestick Theater and was published in Samuel French in 2019. Her work for the stage has been supported and workshopped by Atlantic Theater Company, The Apollo Theater, National Black Theatre, The New Group and the Dramatists Guild Foundation. She has held residencies at SPACE on Ryder Farm, Art Omi, Marble House Project and Tofte Lake Center. She was a staff writer for the BET+ series First Wives Club (Netflix Top Ten). She has assisted multiple television series in both the writers room and on set, including FOX’s Filthy Rich, NBC’s This Is Us, and AMAZON’s Harlem. She has held fellowships with Sun Valley Writers Conference, Marcie Bloom Fellowship in Film and The Gotham Film and Media Institute. She is a writing professor and arts educator at NYU, Rehabilitation through the Arts and Harlem Children’s Zone.
Director/Producer
Take Flights Films LLC
Nazenet Habtezghi is a journalist-turned-filmmaker whose work centers the intimate and communal narratives of the Black Diaspora, bringing hidden histories and silenced voices to screen with rigor and care. Her 2023 directorial debut, Birthing A Nation: The Resistance of Mary Gaffney (Paramount+), reimagined the defiance of an enslaved woman who resisted forced reproduction, earning a duPont–Columbia Award, a Gracie Award, and nominations for an Emmy and NAACP Image Award. That same year, she co-directed The ABCs of Book Banning (Paramount+) exploring how censorship shapes the future; the film was nominated for an Academy Award and a Critics Choice Award. She also directed American Problems, Trans Solutions (WORLD Channel/WNET), following Black trans leaders navigating housing, economic justice, and migration—a project honored with a Gold Anthem Award and GLAAD nomination. As a producer, Nazenet has contributed to Netflix, HBO, and PBS documentaries, including High on the Hog: Season 2, Storming Caesars Palace and Creating the New World: The Transatlantic Slave Trade.
Ariam Alula serves as Partnerships & Fundraising Coordinator at the Eritrean Youth Mentoring Program (EYMP). Since 2018, EYMP has provided culturally grounded mentoring for over 130 Eritrean-American youth ages 10–17, helping them build confidence, develop leadership skills, and form meaningful connections within their community. Ariam first joined EYMP as a mentor, serving two years before returning as a core team member.
A New York native and world traveler, she brings a background in journalism, media consulting, and patient advocacy communications. She has produced and co-produced live community events, including a podcast roundtable and an intergenerational conversation with Eritrean author, war veteran and historian Alemseged Tesfai in Washington, D.C. Ariam is committed to amplifying community stories and creating spaces where diaspora voices are centered and preserved.
Armana is a first-generation Eritrean American passionate about building community, creating meaningful connections, and promoting wellness. LOMI—meaning “today” in Tigrinya- is an organization she launched just two months after moving to the DMV, whe she quickly felt a disconnect and noticed a lack of spaces designed for authentic, intentional connection. Armana intentionally blended her love & commitment to wellness with the professional skills she developed in Marketing & entreprenuership, to curate purpose-driven events that serve her community and bring to life the spaces she always wanted to experience. In just one year, LOMI has reached and supported over 1,000 Eritreans across the U.S., Canada, and Europe through a variety of events, including wellness walks, health-focused webinars, social mixers, and interactive gatherings. LOMI in Motion, the health and wellness arm of LOMI, focuses on creating inclusive opportunities for connection—especially through community walks that bring together parents and individuals alike. Through these experiences, we’ve helped people connect and reconnect, building intentional relationships that are both meaningful and lasting. LOMI is proud to curate spaces rooted in authenticity, care, and genuine community building. It’s been amazing to see our LOMI community grow!
John Gebretatose is a performer, director, and producer based in Minneapolis and the founder of Good Camel Comedy Theater. He served as Co-Executive Director and Director of Diversity and Inclusion at HUGE Theater beginning in 2016, where he led efforts to expand access and representation in the improv community.
He is also the founder of the Black and Funny Improv Festival, which has grown from Minneapolis to multiple cities. His work centers on improv, storytelling, and using humor to speak truth to power. John creates spaces where people can take risks, be seen, and tell honest stories without a script.
Through performances, classes, and community-based programming, he focuses on building connection, developing new voices, and making improv more accessible, culturally responsive, and rooted in care.
