Iyalorisa Kemba Mchawi, aka Sister Kemba is the author of Growing Up Yoruba, a book for teens and parents in the Yoruba Lucumi religious tradition, and is the eldest daughter of esteemed Ile Ase matriarch Oseye Mchawi. Sister Kemba has 34 years of Yemonja and is also a revolutionary pan-Afrikan socialist.

Her recent social activism includes being co-founder of Water for Justice, a social justice organization that formed three summers ago during the George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and Ahmaud Arbery protests in support of the struggle for justice and equality for Afrikan people.

Sister Kemba is also chairwoman of the Uhuru Sasa Alumni Collective, a network of alumni who attended Uhuru Sasa Shule, an African-centered independent school in Brooklyn, New York, in the 1970s and 80s. Sister Kemba was also the founding president of Oloshas United Atlanta, a branch of Oloshas United, which served as an educational network of Yoruba Lukumi practitioners throughout various cities in the United States and other places.

Currently, Sister Kemba is completing a second master’s degree in Africana Studies at Georgia State University. She takes pride in working closely with new and veteran spiritual leaders and cultural activists in the community and networking with like-minded people about Afrikan diasporic history, education, and liberation.