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Kufikiri Imara
Kufikiri Imara was born and raised on Huichin territory of the Ohlone people (Oakland, California). He grew up in a version of “The Town” very different from the one we see today. It was a place with a broader and more embodied sense of community. He grew up in a family and community environment that strongly emphasized social awareness and responsibility. His personal healing/spiritual journey led him to such moments as volunteering with the Green Earth Poets Society in NYC, bringing poetry to incarcerated African-American youth. He is one of the early members of the Entheogen Integration Circle, a support group in NYC with a focus on marginalized communities within the psychedelic community.
A friend of Sacred Garden Community (SGC), he continually works to deepen his craft as a facilitator focused on socially and culturally diverse communities. He was a member of the SGC team of facilitators, who partnered with the former OLP, in Jamaica, who offered instruction for the first of its kind above ground training for therapists engaging in psychedelic assisted therapy. A former member of the Decriminalize Nature Oakland (DNO) grassroots collective that worked to pass the landmark resolution, he then went on to head the DNO committee on Outreach, Education, Access, & Integration.
He continually works to create broader access to education and the opportunities to profoundly change one’s life for the better. He does so in part by lending his voice to advocacy for marginalized communities within the psychedelic community, for them to have greater access and self agency in their quest for individual, communal, and ancestral healing. Lending his voice as a featured speaker in the Horizons Media documentary film Covid-19, Black Lives, & Psychedelics he highlighted the hypocritical issues that exist within the psychedelic community around these lasting pressing concerns. Paying special attention to Oakland’s and the Bay Areas ethnically diverse and marginalized communities, he is actively working with individuals and organizations doing the work in their communities for a better tomorrow.
With efforts like facilitating a BIPOC Entheogen Integration Circle with the San Francisco Psychedelic Society (SFPS), he continues to work towards accessible choices for ethnically and socially diverse communities in their ability to heal themselves. Kufikiri Imara is known locally, nationally, and internationally as a thoughtfully engaged voice around the important issues of access, education, and inclusion as it relates to marginalized communities within the various ecosystems of the larger entheogenic emergent moment.
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Ayize Jama-Everett
M.Div, MA, MFA
Ayize Jama-Everett holds three Master’s degrees: Divinity, Psychology, and in Fine Arts, Writing. He blends these degrees in all his work, often identifying as a guerilla theologian, a community-based therapist, and an afro-futurist in the same breath. He’s taught at Starr King School for the Ministry, California College of the Arts, The University of California, Riverside, Western Colorado College, and several private High schools for over twenty years. His expertise includes working with adolescents, the history of substance use in the United States, the history of Sacred Plant medicines in the Maghreb, the religious roots of political violence from Ireland to the Middle East, educational arts pedagogy, and Afrofuturism.
He’s published four novels (The Liminal series )and two graphic novels(Box of Bones and The last Count of Monte Cristo). As an associate professor at Starr King, he teaches The Sacred and the Substance, a course that examines the role of conscious altering plants in religions around the world. He also coordinates the Psychedelics and the Seminary lecture series for Starr King, which invites luminaries from the Psychedelic world to discuss their orientations to faith and religion. He is the producer of a documentary about Black people and psychedelics entitled A Table of Our Own.
His shorter works can be found in the LA Review of Books, The Believer, and Racebaitr. He is a Board member of the Tupac Amaru Shakur Foundation, leading their initiative to look at the role of psychedelics in the mental health of People of color and poor people. Ayize also serves as a board member to Access to Doorways, a non-profit committed to increasing the number of Queer and BIPOC people involved in psychedelics at every stage.
Evan Gomez-Shwartz
Evan, an accomplished multimedia producer, navigates the crossroads of compelling storytelling and diverse project creation. His portfolio is rich with engaging narratives such as the thought-provoking "Death Inc" with its majority-Black cast, its Spanish language counterpart "PUM", and the award winning dark comedy "Confessions of a Well-meaning Man." Central to his body of work is "A Table of Our Own," a project that highlights his dedication to crafting significant content. In addition to his creative pursuits, Evan ardently advocates for the thoughtful and safe usage of psychoactive substances in personal, professional, and medical settings. With over a decade of industry experience, Evan continues to leave a distinctive mark on multimedia production, captivating audiences with his compelling projects.