Beloveds, we welcome you to a space for us by us, where you can imagine, love, and bask in your authenticity. We are ever growing, healing, learning, and repeating. We hope you can find solace, agency, and community in our village.
blakQuity, a Black and woman-led transformational collective that helps build communities and spaces where Black and Brown people can thrive and revolutionize their communities. kdjwkfkkjwkqw
our story
blakQuity was birthed with the vision of wielding the power of the black collective using the knowledge, power, and resources within ourselves to make powerful changes in our communities. While we started on a mission to combat deep and palpable divisions across our society through education and consulting, we knew we had a much bigger mission at hand.
We hold the collective power to transform the systems that oppress, dominate, separate, and dehumanize us. True power is found in taking charge of the transformation of our own community. This is why we are taking a bold direction to focus on our Liberation and Solidarity fund.
The Liberation and Solidarity fund is a transformative venture by blakQuity to honor and modernize solidarity-based support social systems used by our ancestors. This approach has worked for centuries and celebrates community, collectiveness, and love. Our model supports solidarity economics and realizes the great impact and resilience that can be grown from unlocking access to community-centered transformation.
With this fund, we are empowering Black and indigenous communities to take back control of our resources so we can self-determine and self-define who we are now and who we want to be through the power of the pen and the power of the purse.
Our team is working tirelessly to realize this. Stay tuned for updates on this transformative initiative. Our future vision for the fund is a network of interconnected, culturally competent local, regional, and global leaders who are accountable to the communities they serve and are willing to boldly shift power to eradicate the root causes of poverty and injustice in partnership with the community.
We use public speaking as an opportunity to facilitate courageous conversations on intersectionality, womanism, and dismantling oppression globally. We would love the opportunity to empower your audience with the knowledge of how to play their part in the Black and Brown liberation movement.
Book Jamila to speak at your next event.
blakQuity offers racial equity coaching for organization teams and individuals who are looking to be more intentional in their racial equity work. Our coaching philosophy centers accountability, self-awareness, building a personal racial equity analysis and strategies for navigating interpersonal and organizational dynamics.
We support inclusive leaders in defining their own success and creating a plan to get there, while providing accountability and partnership along the way. Our coaching style equips emerging and executive leaders to facilitate honest and productive racial dialogue in ways that foster relationships and help everyone be seen, heard, and valued.
To determine the best coaching structure for our client , we ask that participants fill out this intake form.
*Note that coaching is only available for our current clients.
our north star is liberation
How We Define Liberation
When we use the language of “liberation” and “liberatory ways of being,” we refer to values, mindsets, beliefs, and practices that nurture well-being and decrease suffering for all life. We practice liberation by weaving together teachings from various spiritual traditions, therapeutic modalities, and social movements. Through this study, we practice reshaping:
• From individualism and fear toward interdependence and oneness
• From hierarchies of human value toward unconditional dignity and worth
• From a felt sense of scarcity toward a felt sense of abundance and enoughness
• From defensiveness and defended-ness toward openness to and gratitude for change
To express these liberatory ways of being in our organizational consulting, we build on the centuries-long history of Black and Indigenous worker-owned cooperatives, Black power and social justice movements, mutual aid networks, Black communities, and our grandmas’ kitchen tables. As a worker-owned coop, we translate lessons from these cooperative experiences into tools that can support organizations of all structures in practicing liberation.
Approach: blakQuity builds the infrastructure for Black economic justice by creating community-rooted strategies that redistribute resources, shift power, and advance collective well-being. Through cooperative models, systems design, and political education, we support Black communities in reclaiming control of their futures and building economies rooted in care, accountability, and liberation.
what we do
blakQuity works locally, nationally and globally across sectors and issue areas to provide transformational culture development, training, strategic planning, community engagement and consulting services that:
Revitalize Organizational Cultures through collaborative learning and action, training, coaching, learning and development, and resource sharing, We mobilize organizational change processes that build the capacity to dismantle institutional and structural racism and practice racial equity. We approach this from the top down by supporting leaders in creating a plan that encourages accountability and partnership.
Provide Community-Centered and Owned Development plans and programming to produce social impacts and bold transformative change.
Generate Action and Policy research that centers leadership and solutions from communities most closely impacted by decision-making processes. We support this effort by producing our own independently generated projects and initiatives that align with our values.
Public Speaking. We educate through public speaking and facilitate courageous conversations on intersectionality, womanism, and dismantling oppression globally.
tribe
We are a cadre of kinfolk united to promote community and the advancement of the Black and Brown Communities. The blakQuity brand is built upon a strong foundation for achieving Black liberation through the power of economics and a strong sense of community. Our tribe consists of people of culture who hold a robust body of wisdom and a deep commitment to our values as an organization.
“Integrity and values are the core of my existence and guide my decisions and how I build community and create consensus.”
Jamila comes from powerful trailblazing women such as her Great Grandma Lou, an entrepreneur, and landowner, in the Jim Crow South to her Aunt Lula, a Freedom Rider, detained at Mississippi’s Parchman Prison for integrating public transportation. They instilled in her a deeply-rooted commitment to community, solidarity, and social justice.
At 19, Jamila experienced Africa for the first time; she witnessed absolute beauty and poverty, and both looked like her. She learned about pre-colonial history and culture and felt one with the land and people. After university, she returned for almost a decade, learning from and with solidarity-based communities and African women cooperatives. Jamila realized that anti-black racism was exported and packaged international development. She advocated against anti-black racism in development, which led her back to D.C. to use her platform for influence. In 2020, she transitioned from development to starting blakQuity, an aspiring Black liberation cooperative.
Jamila serves her community in various ways, including volunteering with local Mutual Aid networks, mentoring students through College Bound, volunteering with her church and several local organizations, supporting HBCUs, and active racial equity, justice, and Black liberationist. She co-founded the Geraldine N. Coleman “A Seat at the Kitchen Table” College Scholarship fund to honor her late grandmother and provides scholarships to first-generation college-bound seniors from Washington, D.C.
Jamila is a local political leader, elected to the Advisory Neighborhood Commission for Ward 8A in November 2020 for a two-year term, and chairs the 2022 Commission. She is also a trusted advisor serving in various leadership positions and programs such as the Hampton University 2020 Forty Under 40, an Elected Term Member at the Council on Foreign Affairs, Senior Advisor for the Women of Color in Advancing Peace & Security Network (WCAPs), and more.
Jamila holds a bachelor’s degree in Business Management from Hampton University and a Master’s in Public Administration with a concentration in Economic Development and International Affairs from Indiana University. Jamila and her sister Aisha were raised by their mother in Fredericksburg, VA, and their father in Washington, D.C.
Ashley Seales serves as the master of words and storyteller. Ashley also provides consulting services for political campaigns, grant writing, and workforce policy development. Ashley brings with her over a decade of legal experience.
Originally from Washington, D.C., Ashley received her B.A. from Hampton University and received her J.D. from Indiana University School of Law. Upon graduating from law school, Ashley spent time understanding the law from every aspect. She learned how to make the laws while drafting legislation on Capitol Hill, then went on to interpret the laws while clerking for the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals. However, the majority of Ashley’s career has been dedicated to practicing employment law from both the plaintiff and defense side.
Ashley has worked on complex class action litigation stemming from civil rights violations and with individual plaintiffs to negotiate employment agreements and severance packages. Additionally, Ashley drafted workforce policies, conducted training, and counseled clients on a variety of employment-related issues while representing the third-largest school district in the country. These experiences have equipped Ashley to be a well-rounded and fierce advocate for her clients.
When she’s not working, Ashley enjoys reading, watching comedy shows, cooking, and spending time with her friends.
Imane Soubiane believes in the power of connection to transform communities. Raised in multilingual, multicultural environments, she learned early that solidarity and resource-sharing are the foundation of resilience. That belief has shaped her career, where she has supported governments, funders, and grassroots groups across Africa, the U.S., and the Middle East to build programs that respond to community priorities.
As Programs and Project Manager at blakQuity, Imane has co-led more than 10 community development initiatives focused on housing, workforce development, and climate equity. She has stewarded over $1.5 million in grants and contracts, coordinated more than 300 stakeholder meetings, and written dozens of policy memos that informed housing advocacy in Washington, DC.
Her earlier work includes managing a $500K public diplomacy portfolio for the U.S. Embassy in Chad, where she led more than 40 public programs and cleared all outstanding audit findings through new systems. At Ecobank, she helped design a micro-loan initiative for women entrepreneurs, and as an AmeriCorps tutor, she raised reading levels for 40 percent of her caseload of students in DC public schools.
Fluent in English, French, and conversational Arabic, Imane is also a WEF Global Shaper and trained facilitator. She brings an intercultural lens and a commitment to long-term equity, working to ensure Black and African-led organizations secure the resources and partnerships needed to thrive. For Imane, this is more than a career—it is her contribution to building systems of collective liberation.
Amos Kulumba serves as blakQuity’s guru on Policy and Advocacy Initiatives. He brings an extensive educational background, experience in the government and non-profit sectors, and a heart to support Black, Indigenous, and oppressed people. Amos’s cultural perspective as a Ugandan-American who grew up in Montgomery County, MD is invaluable to our organization.
He recognized his passion for serving his community through influencing public policy early on in his career. He began his career working for the NAACP Washington Legislative Bureau where he consulted, provided operational support, and reported to the senior vice president of Public Policy. His current role is working for the DHHS (Department of Health and Human Services) in a supervisory role with a focus on health policy.
Amos graduated from Ashford University with a BA in Communications and went on to earn his Masters in Organizational Management, Communications, and Leadership. He is currently continuing his quest for higher education as a Public Policy Doctoral student at Walden University.
Amos continues his community advocacy by serving on several non-profit boards in the Washington D.C. area. Amos dedicates time to his beloved Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, the Greater Washington Urban League Young Professionals, and the Gwanga Mujje DC Chapter. When he is not working, Amos enjoys his free time as an avid reader and sports fanatic.
Lauryn N. King has over a decade of accounting and auditing experience. Lauryn earned her MBA from Hampton University, and sharpened her expertise and skills at a top accounting firm before transitioning to a Real Estate Investment Trust. After recognizing her passion for helping others and the danger financial illiteracy has imposed on her community, she began serving local nonprofits and political campaigns with their treasury needs. She expanded to helping small business owners and King Crown Financial Solutions was born. To Lauryn, a positive impact on the economy and financial literacy in her community starts with foundational small business owners and she’s determined to use her skills for the benefit of those around her.
Lauryn’s expertise lies in managing accounting systems, improving financial and organizational structures, accurately assessing profitability, among other things. Lauryn is thoughtful, innovative, and strategic; she uses these qualities to provide simple solutions tailored to your individual needs.
A little country girl with a big city heart born and raised in Fredericksburg, Va., Alexsandra was raised within a family of strong, independent, and goal-driven women that contributed to her drive of perseverance. Her free spirit and creative niche structure her unique style of Project Management and Event Planning skills. With over two decades of combined experience, Alexsandra has networked and worked with notable creatives, coordinators, and artists along the East Coast. She joined blakQuity in early 2022 as Senior Project and Event Ideator.
Alexsandra embraces an unexplainable joy when volunteering with local and surrounding state nonprofit organizations in many ways, including fundraising, mentoring students of all grades within the school systems, including behavioral support, supporting HBCUs, and supporting active racial equity and justice organizations. Alexsandra holds a bachelor’s degree in Business Management from Virginia State University and pursuing a Master’s in Project Management from Strayer University. In her free time, she enjoys crafting, listening to music, planning small family events, traveling, and spending time with family and friends.
donate
We rely on donations to continue our work towards creating a #LeadFreeUSA. Your donation can make a big difference in our ability to raise awareness, advocate for environmental justice and civil rights, and support our community.
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partners
We prioritize our partnerships and engagements with communities, organizations, coalitions, philanthropy, and government agencies that are committed to undoing systemic inequities; shifting power and organizational practices, programs, services, and policy advocacy strategies; and that control and shape systems and services that directly impact the ability of Black and brown communities to realize their full power and live healthy lives. We actively seek and welcome opportunities to work with partners focused on equitable and inclusive relationships.