Astrophysicist and artist Nia Imara founded Onaketa as an outgrowth of her commitment to create more educational opportunities for black and brown youth. Nia is a graduate of Kenyon College and UC Berkeley and was a prize postdoctoral fellow at Harvard University. A passionate advocate for black and brown students, Nia has led and participated in many initiatives to create access in science.

Dr. Brown holds an M.A. in African American Studies, Ph.D. in U.S. History with an emphasis in Early American, African American and U.S. Women’s history from The Ohio State University, and is a two-time Fulbright scholar. Her work examined the role of African spirituality in the history of resistance to slavery in Salvador Bahia, Brazil, and on post-apartheid resistance and justice movements in South Africa. As a passionate and committed educator, Dr. Brown has been teaching African American and Ethnic Studies at the community college level, and as a part-time faculty at UC Berkeley in Ethnic Studies for over 25 years. She has served in administration, including over 4 years as the Vice Chancellor of Academic Affairs and Student Success for the Peralta Community College District, and 10 years as the Chair of Ethnic Studies and Social Sciences at Merritt College. While at Merritt, she developed an annual study abroad program for underserved African American students, which has taken hundreds of students to Jamaica, Ghana, Cuba, and more to learn about the history and culture of these countries and globalize their understanding of the Black world. She also established two Africana Studies Centers at Merritt College and McClymonds High School, which hold an original digital and interactive curriculum on African and African American History that is bilingual and exceeds district ADA requirements. Dr. Brown is also founder and CEO of Global Academics, a non-profit organization that continues her study abroad program for underserved African American students.

LaNell A. Williams received her PhD from Harvard University as a NSF GRFP Fellow studying soft condensed matter physics/biophysics. Her research focuses on understanding the self assembly of RNA-Viruses, in particular, the Bacteriophage MS2. She graduated from Wesleyan University with her BA in physics, and she went on to receive her MA in physics from Fisk University before coming to Harvard. LaNell has also been heavily involved in programming with the National Society of Black Physicists (NSBP). As of January, she serves on the American Physical Society Council of Representatives representing the Forum on Graduate Students & the Forum on Early Careers. She's the founder of the Women+ of Color Project and hopes to encourage more BIWOC to pursue academic careers.

Nehanda Imara is a dedicated activist, organizer, environmentalist, and educator. She created the first Environmental Racism/Justice course at the Peralta Community College District. In her role as an organizer with Communities for a Better Environment (2007 – 2017), she engaged residents and youth in fighting environmental racism and for clean more sustainable environmental policies and programs. In 2009, she organized the first CBE “Love Yo Mama Earth Day” event, in collaboration with community partners in deep East Oakland, a community suffering deeply from the global ecological crisis. Nehanda was part of the leadership team at the inception of East Oakland Building Healthy Communities in 2009 and served on the interim steering committee. After leaving EOBHC in 2021, she joined the Black Cultural Zone as the Community Engagement Lead.

Ian earned his PhD in Astrophysics from Harvard University, where he used some of the world’s largest telescopes to investigate new worlds around other stars. As an undergraduate, he was an an active tutor for the Academic Excellence Program (ACE), which is dedicated to increasing the diversity of students earning their bachelors degrees in STEM. During grad school, he helped start and lead the Harvard chapter of the science outreach organization, theopenlabs.org, a graduate-run group dedicated to providing bite-size TED-style talks to the community about active areas of research.

His interests include STEAM (science, technology, engineering, art, and math) outreach, citizen science, and hosting star parties at different national parks with SETI (Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence) and NASA. In his free time, he enjoys going to see live music, playing beach volleyball, and getting lost on bike rides.

Ndidi Love is a strategist, business consultant, and housing advocate. Ndidi is rooted in community organizing and is currently based in the Bay Area. Originally from Long Beach, CA (with close connections to Fresno, CA) Ndidi has provided program development, direction and incubation support for numerous businesses, coalitions, networks, and policy advocacy campaigns on both local and state levels. Ndidi is the inaugural Chairperson of the Alameda County Measure A1 Affordable Housing Oversight Committee, a chartering member of the Afrikan Black Coalition, the Director of Operations for EastSide Arts Alliance, former Akoma Market Manager & Economic Development Manager for the Black Cultural Zone CDC,  and the Program Director for the OCCUR Black Business Capacity Building Program.

As a strategist, Ndidi has committed her talents to serving marginalized and oppressed communities by building strong, diverse coalitions and increasing resident access to civic engagement, participatory decision-making, and urban planning. Ndidi is acutely interested in working closely with communities to preserve cultural heritage, demand reparations, build strong economies, combat gentrification, and prevent displacement.

Oakland native currently living in NYC, Adia has dedicated her career to both leading creative strategy at top marketing agencies and serving her community through non-profit consulting. She brings that experience to Onaketa through vibrant storytelling of black and brown communities.

Within her adventure through the working world, her constant delight has been crafting!

Dr. Chima McGruder obtained his PhD from Harvard in 2023, where he studied the atmospheres of planets hundreds of light years away using a technique called transmission spectroscopy. He then continued his work, as a research scientist at the Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics. He is now in the process of transitioning from studying exoplanet atmospheres to our own. He is pivoting to the climate/environmental science sector.

Chima has tutored and taught many students at all different age ranges, from middle school students through undergraduates. He loves engaging with students and helping them find success through each student’s unique learning style. He has tutored all levels of math and physics. His goal is to make sure his tutees have engaging and fun sessions by adapting his tutoring style to the specific student.

Beyond academics, Chima does a variety of activities, such as flying single-engine planes, snowboarding, rock climbing, hiking, and running. He loves science fiction, and his favorite book series is the "The Expanse."

Gianni Sims is a fourth-year PhD candidate at Florida Atlantic University. Her research mainly focuses on understanding the seeding mechanisms of supermassive black holes (SMBHs) by studying the active galactic nuclei (AGN) occupation fraction in galaxies as a function of galaxy mass using data from the Deep-Drilling Fields Extended Chandra Deep Field South (ECDFS) Survey, XMM-Newton Survey (XMM-LSS), and Elais-S1 (ES1) Survey. This work aims to distinguish between different SMBH seeding mechanisms by quantifying their distribution in this extensive extragalactic survey. She is originally from Bronx, New York, and obtained her bachelor's degree at Penn State University. Gianni likes to read comic books and write poetry in her spare time.

Haley Carrasco is a medical student at Kent State University College of Podiatric Medicine. She is particularly interested in foot and ankle surgery.  She graduated with a BS in biology with a bioethics minor in 2022. Haley enjoys spending her time with friends and family as well as taking walks outdoors.

Astrophysicist Justin Myles received his PhD from Stanford University, where he helped analyze observations of over one hundred million galaxies to improve our understanding of the Universe. An advocate for STEM education, he hopes to help students cultivate their scientific and technical thinking skills in the interest of achieving their goals. Justin continues his astrophysics research as a postdoctoral fellow at Princeton University and volunteers for various student mentoring programs.

Karla Villalta is a first-generation immigrant from El Salvador, currently residing in Atlanta. She is a passionate dancer, poet, and mixed-media artist with a deep love for math and science. Karla believes that our identities are shaped by the diverse experiences and pieces that make us unique.

She earned her BA in Physics from Mount Holyoke College and an MS in Computer Science with a concentration in Data Science from the University of Massachusetts Amherst. With experience in the insurance industry, Karla has focused on developing predictive models for risk assessment and has dedicated her time to volunteer projects that leverage data for social good. She thrives on telling powerful stories through data.

Karla has tutored students from middle school to undergraduate level and finds joy in learning alongside them as they succeed. In her free time, she enjoys cooking, watching animated films, and creating collages. Karla is excited to support her students on their educational journeys :)