Iyalorixa Melissa McHenry, she/her, is an educator with 20 years of experience teaching youth and adults alike. A native of Far Rockaway, NY, and a perpetual beach baby, Melissa honors her ancestors along the shores of the Atlantic Ocean. She is an ordained minister in the African Methodist Episcopal Church who was also initiated to Oshun in the Afro-Brazilian tradition of Candomblé-Ketu in 2007 and consecrated as an Iyalorixa in 2014. Melissa holds a BA in English from Queens College, CUNY; a Master of Arts in Teaching from Brown University; and a Master of Divinity in Social Justice Advocacy with a concentration in Africana and African American Religion at Drew Theological School. Her focus on Afro-Diasporic religiosity explores interfaith expressions of worship in Black cultures separated by space and time.