Ayo Tometi
Presented in partnership with Dominican University's Center for Cultural Liberation
Ayọ (fka Opal) Tometi is one of the most influential human rights leaders of the century according to TIME magazine. As one of the three women co-founders of Black Lives Matter digital platform and chapter-based network, her name is etched in history. Hailed as a feminist freedom fighter, Ayọ is respected for her track record of uniting communities, and for her thought leadership on race, immigration, and gender. In 2019 she completed nearly a decade of service as the Executive Director of the Black Alliance for Just Immigration (BAJI), the first immigrant rights organization for people of African descent in the United States.
Ayọ is a trusted advisor and serves on the board of Atlantic Fellows for Racial Equity and the International Living Futures Institute. She has graced the cover of magazines because of her achievements and received numerous recognitions including an honorary PhD, being named most influential women of the century by USA Today, TIME Magazine, and Most Influential People by Forbes, Marie Claire, Glamour and Cosmopolitan magazines. Ayọ was also honored by the City University of New York (CUNY) with a scholarship in her name to support immigrant students pursuing law degrees. In 2019 she also received the Coretta Scott King Center Award and Douglass 200 Award, and is currently featured in a video installation at the Smithsonian’s National Museum for African History and Culture for her contributions in thought-leadership for the betterment of the diaspora.
As the daughter of Nigerian immigrants, Ayọ has set her movement sights on an even bigger struggle: uplifting Black lives worldwide. In 2020 she founded Diaspora Rising, a new media and advocacy hub dedicated to strengthening the bonds amongst members of the global Black family. Additionally, she's focused on other social enterprises. With nearly two decades as a human rights champion, she still feels her work has only just begun.
Moderator: Sophia Duffy, Associate Professor of Psychology
Sophia Duffy is a Black Caribbean American daughter of Belizean immigrants. She is an associate professor of psychology at Dominican University. Sophia teaches courses on assessment and treatment approaches with a particular emphasis on culture, Indigenous practices, and decolonization. She also teaches specialized courses on the neuropsychology of complex trauma covering topics such as intergenerational trauma, traumatic memory, the brain as a social organ, and more. Her research focuses on broadening our understanding of college students’ experiences of complex trauma exposure, including the intersection of interpersonal, developmental, historical and oppressive traumas. Moreover, Sophia is interested in the creation of a trauma-informed university where policies, procedures and pedagogy development utilize an equity-based, trauma-informed framework to ensure the promotion of student wellbeing and decrease risks of re-traumatization via covert and overt oppressive and colonized practices. Sophia works with students in the Complex Trauma Research Lab where she has mentored several student projects and engaged students in conducting and presenting research. Sophia is also a licensed clinical psychologist with a private practice serving mostly adults and some children impacted by trauma. She provides supervision to early career and training trauma therapists. Her approach to therapy is rooted in decolonized, culturally grounded practices that recognize the importance of ecology and history and focus on the promotion of wellbeing.
Sophia received her BA from the University of Southern California in 2004, an MA in Special Education from Cal State Dominguez Hills in 2007 and a PhD in clinical psychology from DePaul University in 2012. Sophia lives in Oak Park with her three children ages 10, 7 and 4. When not at Dominican or with clients, Sophia loves to bake!