Faiza Farah and Tsedey Seifu, founders of Afro Urbanites – based out of the beautiful Oakland, California. We’re an organization with an aim to make meaningful connections with urban people everywhere. We bring urbanites together through events, food, and culture. The purpose is to redefine what it means to be Afrocentric in the 21st Century. AU wants to expose the world to what we like to call the “New African”. This is a term that includes all people of the Diaspora. The New African is modern, contemporary, and innovative.
Favorite song lyric
Faiza: Whatever colors you have in your mind
I’ll show them to you and you’ll see them shine
– Lady, Bob Dylan
Tsedey: “ Nothing is perfect, man that’s what the world is
All I know is that I’m enjoying today
You know ‘cause it isn’t every day you get to give”
– Take a minute, K’naan
We’re inspired by
Faiza: Africa. Creative people. My neighborhood farmers’ market. Sunshine. Kindness. The smell of my mother’s hijab. Bell hooks. Nollywood. The ocean. Adia Whitaker
Tsedey: People, who are not afraid to execute their dreams, achieve their goals despite all challenges, be it socio economic, geographic, racial or gender, sexual orientation etc. I’m mostly inspired by people of color that lived and fought for the freedom and opportunities we are enjoying today.
Our icons past/present
Faiza: Eartha Kitt, Jean Michel Basquiat, Melvin Van Peebles, Patrice Lumumba, Oprah Winfrey, Miriam Makeba to name a few.
Tsedey: Nelson Mandela, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, and Beverly Johnson
Thenublack philosophy/mantra
Faiza: I live in the moment. Despite all of the destruction and pain around us, we have access, in each moment, to the grace, beauty, and wonder of life.
Tsedey: “…some of us are too talented to stay in cubicle 8 hrs a day”
Check us out