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Aisha Diori | |
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Born | 8 September Africa, West Africa |
Occupation | Community Mobiliser, Special Events Director, Educator, Performer, Talk Show Host, Comedian, Event MC, (Women's Face), and "Iconic Mother" in Ball culture. |
Period | 1990's to present |
Notable works | Mother of the House of Iman, an all-women's House, founder of the Kiki Ballroom Scene: an HIV prevention intervention for LGBTQ youth in Ballroom culture, House of Prodigy Godmother, and Overall Mother Latex through GMHC. Events Specialist un all facets of events, Cultural Commentator, Pan Africanist, Performer, Cultural Influncer, and Host Mina TV Africa. |
Website | |
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Aisha Diori (born 8 September in Africa, West Africa) is an Events Director, Community Mobiliser, HIV/AIDS Preventionist, educator, Talk Show Host, Event MC, Pan-Africanist, and has been named "Iconic Mother" in Ball culture. [1] [2] Her father is Abdoulaye Hamani Diori, a Nigerien political leader and business person, and her mother is Betty Graves, the first Ghanaian / Nigerian woman to own a travel agency in Nigeria.
Diori holds a Bachelor of Arts in advertising and marketing communications from Fashion Institute of Technology where she graduated magna cum laude. Diori's HIV prevention work with LGBTQ youth in Ball culture, an LGBT subculture, has been influential in the field of public health. [3] She is the founder of the KiKi Ballroom scene [4] and is considered an expert in engaging this historically difficult-to-reach population. [5] [6] [7] [8] Her expertise is requested for grants and program development, [9] [10] [11] and research and curriculum development.
Diori worked at the Hetrick-Martin Institute as a Director of Health and Wellness, [12] and is the Mother of the House of Iman, a WBT (women, butch and transgender) people house in New York City. [13] In February 2014, Diori joined the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture in Harlem as Special Events Manager, and continues her involvement with LGBTQ people in the House ball community. In Aug 2018, Diori joined the MINA TV AFRICA in NYC as a host for their Award Winning ABS Show covering trending news in Africa and the World.
Aisha Dori was born in Nigeria to her father and Betty Graves whilst her father was in exile. [14] She has a brother named Chris, who was also born in Nigeria.
Diori was an AmeriCorps VISTA volunteer through the Council of Churches of the City of New York. She developed programming for inner city elderly people.
In mid-1997, Diori attended the Mooshood Ball and became interested in the gender nonconformity and queer pageantry. The Ball was not simply a gay dance party; according to her blog [15] "It was full of safer sex messaging, freedom, pageantry sexiness, beautiful feminine women, strong handsome butch women…" [16] Diori approached Arbert Santana, [17] [18] who was then the Mother [19] of the House of Latex and an LGBT and HIV awareness activist. Diori connected with fellow Fashion Institute of Technology classmate Ricky Revlon. [20] Revlon, who later became Diori's "gay father", [21] along with Santana who later became Diori's "gay mother", helped her into the House of Latex, [22] [23] changing her commitment to the LGBTQ community.
Diori began working as an outreach worker at the Gay Men's Health Crisis (GMHC), hosting HIV prevention balls to curtail the number of newly HIV infected youth. Diori began participating in "walking" balls. Under the guidance of her gay parents, Diori was advised to walk in the Women's Face and Big Girls Runway categories [24] for her first ball, The Black Pride Ball. [25] Diori won the top prize in both categories. Her interests in the ballroom culture shifted from being a participant to being a community organiser and intervention specialist. Diori received the title of "house-mother" [6] from The House of Latex, due to her commitment to ballroom culture, a title she held for nearly five years.
In late 2007, Diori opened the House of Iman, pairing safer sex and prevention messages that specifically targeted the Women, Butch and Transgender (WBT) [26] [27] ballroom scene. Aisha infused progressive safer sex and educational messaging with pageantry. The House of Iman, a name that pays homage to Diori's Nigerian heritage, continues to be a source of leadership in the WBT community.
Acknowledging that youth were not best served in the mainstream ballroom scene, Diori and Santana created the KiKiscene , a ballroom-infused HIV prevention intervention and movement focusing on LGBTQ youth ages 12 to 24, where the young people vogue, hang out with friends and get connected to HIV testing, counseling and healthcare services. [28]
In February 2014, Diori began working for the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture in Harlem as Special Events Manager. Diori has secured successful rentals, created robust public programs, created grassroot fundraising and events for the Schomburg. She curates and manages the Schomburg First Fridays event series.
Aisha also has an entertainment spin to her existing experience in events. She is a comedian and event MC for many events within the Black Diaspora such as (Miss Nigeria USA pageant, Nigeria Ent Awards, African Diaspora Awards, Afropolitan NYC, Africa Restaurant Week, Schomburg Center Comic Book Festival Cosplay, BAM Black Comix Festival, MASCARA Trans Day Of Remembrance Conference, First Fridays at the Schomburg, One Africa Music Week NYC, Afro beats To The World at PlayStation Theater 2019, NYC Black Pride NYC to name a few). She has also created a fun comedic character named “Ms. Ayodele”, who is a no holds barred sassy Nigerian Mother/Aunty who gives unsolicited advice on YouTube. You can also catch her on The Abs Show on Mina TV Africa where she and her co-hosts bring you up to speed on popular culture topics in Africa.
Aisha also has an entertainment spin to her existing experience in events. She is a comedian and event MC for many events within the Black Diaspora such as (Miss Nigeria USA pageant, Nigeria Ent Awards, African Diaspora Awards, Afropolitan NYC, Africa Restaurant Week, Schomburg Center Comic Book Festival Cosplay, BAM Black Comix Festival, MASCARA Trans Day Of Remembrance Conference, First Fridays at the Schomburg, One Africa Music Week NYC, Afro beats To The World at PlayStation Theater 2019, NYC Black Pride NYC to name a few). She has also created a fun comedic character named “Ms. Ayodele”, who is a no holds barred sassy Nigerian Mother/Aunty who gives unsolicited advice on YouTube. You can also catch heron The Abs Show on Mina TV Africa where she and her co-hosts bring you up to speed on popular culture topics in Africa.
Diori fostered the creation of a social conscious collective of creatives to create a Charity called Africa Everything . It promotes an Annual Afro beats Diaspora event fundraiser, a collective formed to promote and empower the Black African Diaspora with music, culture, and unique event experiences. Funds raised are invested in helping foster educational programs and initiatives all over West Africa.
Diori [43] has run social awareness campaigns at Hetrick-Martin Institute and GMHC including the You Are Loved campaign [44] [45] and the No Shade campaign, highlighting the importance of self-love and self-efficacy among LGBTQ youth. She also created Crystal Meth Campaigns, [46] Soul Food Programs campaign, [47] Transgender Health and Condom Kit campaigns targeted at LGBTQ communities, and promotional materials for outreach and program advertising through GMHC. Diori created advertising materials and event planning for Department of Health, Public Health Solutions.
The GMHC is a New York City–based non-profit, volunteer-supported and community-based AIDS service organization whose mission statement is to "end the AIDS epidemic and uplift the lives of all affected." Founded in 1982, it is often billed as the "world's oldest AIDS service organization," as well as the "nation's oldest HIV/AIDS service organization."
Heritage of Pride (HOP), doing business as NYC Pride, is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization that plans and produces the official New York City LGBTQIA+ Pride Week events each June. HOP began working on the events in 1984, taking on the work previously done by the Christopher Street Liberation Day Committee organizers of the first NYC Pride March in 1970. HOP also took over responsibility for the operations of NYC's Pride Festival and Pride Rally. It was that first march that brought national attention to 1969's Stonewall Riots. The late sixties saw numerous protests and riots across the United States on many social injustices and from general political unrest including the war in Vietnam.
The Ballroom scene is an African-American and Latino underground LGBTQ+ subculture that originated in New York City. Beginning in the late 20th century, Black and Latino drag queens organized their own pageants in opposition to racism experienced in established drag queen pageant circuits. Though racially integrated for the participants, the judges of these circuits were mostly white people. While the initial establishment of Ballroom mimicked these drag queen pageants, the inclusion of gay men and trans women would transform the Ballroom scene into what it is today: a multitude of categories in which all LGBTQ+ people may participate. Attendees "walk" these categories for trophies and cash prizes. Most participants in Ballroom belong to groups known as "houses", where chosen families of friends form relationships and communities separate from their families of origin, from which they may be estranged.
Wolfgang Busch is a multiple-award-winning documentary filmmaker, director, producer, cinematographer and editor. He was inducted into the Queens Business Hall of Fame for his company Art From The Heart Films for "Best LGBT Business" and into the LGBT Music Hall of Fame. For his social and artistic activism for the Black and Hispanic LGBT Ballroom community, aka Harlem Drag Ball community, Wolfgang received a Humanitarian award for his documentary How Do I Look, and the "Keep The Dream Alive" Martin Luther King Humanitarian award from the straight Black community.
Kevin Burrus, also known as Kevin UltraOmni is an American mentor, speaker, LGBTQ activist, and film producer who founded the ball culture House of Omni in 1979–which was renamed the House of UltraOmni in 1990–and has chapters across the country. He has become an authority on ball culture and has spoken in interviews about the movement. Omni is also the assistant director for the documentary How Do I Look, produced by Wolfgang Busch which aims to correct misperceptions about ball culture.
Founded in 1982, the House of Xtravaganza is one of the most publicly recognized "houses" to emerge from the New York City underground ballroom scene and among the longest continuously active. House of Xtravaganza members and the collective group is recognized for their cultural influence in the areas of dance, music, visual arts, nightlife, fashion, and community activism. House of Xtravaganza members continue to be featured in popular media and travel the world as ambassadors of voguing and the ballroom scene.
Bali White is a researcher and writer interested in African, environmental, and gender studies. She is currently a Research Fellow at the National Institutes of Health (NIH). As trans woman, she is also a community organizer and advocate addressing transgender identity, legal, health care and social concerns at the national, state and local levels. Her research and activist work around transgender advocacy and ballroom community youth has been influential in the field of public health. She previously served on the National Advisory Board for the Center of Excellence for Transgender Health and managed the CDC-funded initiatives for young trans women and MSM in the ballroom community at the Hetrick-Martin Institute.
"Kiki" is a term which started in ballroom culture, and later popularized in LGBT+ culture currently, is loosely defined as a gathering of friends for the purpose of gossiping and chit-chat, and later made more famous in the song "Let's Have a Kiki" by the Scissor Sisters.
Gay Men of African Descent (GMAD) is the largest and oldest African American organization dedicated exclusively to the well being of Black gay men. GMAD was founded in 1986 in New York City by the Reverend Charles Angel. The group worked to address the unique issues to Black gay men in America through educational, social, and political mobilization.
The African-American LGBT community, otherwise referred to as the Black American LGBT community, is part of the overall LGBT culture and overall African-American culture. The initialism LGBT stands for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender.
Kiki is an American-Swedish co-produced documentary film, released in 2016. It takes place in New York City, and focuses on the "drag and voguing scene [and] surveys the lives of LGBT youth of color at a time when Black Lives Matter and trans rights are making front-page headlines". The film was directed by Sara Jordenö and considered an unofficial sequel to the influential 1990 film Paris Is Burning, the film profiles several young LGBT people of colour participating in contemporary LGBT African American ball culture.
Ivan Monforte is a Mexican performance artist based in New York. His work aspires to start a dialogue for disenfranchised members of the LGBT community about sexuality, love, sex, and loss.
New York City was affected by the AIDS epidemic of the 1980s more than any other U.S. city. The AIDS epidemic has been and continues to be highly localized due to a number of complex socio-cultural factors that affect the interaction of the populous communities that inhabit New York.
The House of Aviance is one of the "legendary/iconic" and major vogue-ball houses in the United States, with its base in New York City. It was founded in Washington, D.C., in 1989 by voguer/dancer, record label owner (CEO/A&R), nightclub host, music artist and secretary Mother Juan Aviance—one of the nightlife personalities of New York City. Since its founding, the House has played an integral part in U.S. and world ball culture, especially U.S. nightlife.
Kia Michelle Benbow is an American fine artist. Her most well known series, 24, is a sociopolitical commentary on the effects of growing up as a young woman of color with HIV. She is a former Mother of the Royal House of LaBeija.
Kenyon Farrow is an American writer, activist, director, and educator focused on progressive racial and economic justice issues related to the LGBTQ community. He served as the executive director of Queers for Economic Justice, policy institute fellow with National LGBTQ Task Force, U.S. & Global Health Policy Director of Treatment Action Group, public education and communications coordinator for the New York State Black Gay Network, senior editor with TheBody.com and TheBodyPro.com, and co-executive director of Partners for Dignity and Rights. In 2021, Farrow joined PrEP4All as managing director of advocacy & organizing.
Social and political activism to raise awareness about HIV/AIDS, as well as to raise funds for effective treatment and care of people with AIDS (PWAs), has taken place in multiple nations across the world since the 1980s. As a disease that began in marginalized populations, efforts to mobilize funding, treatment, and fight discrimination have largely been dependent on the work of grassroots organizers directly confronting public health organizations as well as politicians, drug companies, and other institutions.
Hector Xtravaganza was a member of the House of Xtravaganza and well-known figure in the NYC ballroom life, entertainer, fashion stylist, and public advocate for HIV/AIDS and LGBTQ+ organizations.
Janet Inez Weinberg was an American LGBTQ activist, advocate for people with HIV/AIDS and advocate for disability rights, based in New York City. She was a fund-raiser and executive for social service organizations including Gay Men's Health Crisis (GMHC), Educational Alliance, and the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Community Services Center.
The Indy Bag Ladies is an activist organization that raises funds for care and treatment for individuals with Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (AIDS) in Indianapolis, Indiana. Along with fundraising, the Indy Bag Ladies raise awareness of safe sex practices to in order to prevent sexually transmitted infections (STIs), and increase visibility and promote equality for LGBTQ+ individuals in Indiana through education and advocacy. The Bag Ladies are mostly men whom dress in ostentatious outfits to provide entertainment while raising money for the Indianapolis LGBTQ+ community.