About
Meaning
NAYAH:
An ancient word that appears in Indigenous languages around the globe, often seen as feminine and spiritual. The meanings vary by culture but all align with our values and purpose.
African origins: lustrous
Arabic: raw
Australian: renewal
Hindi: one who leads
Indigenous Hawaiian: flow
Kannada: gentleness
Malawi: righteous one
Marathi: ethics
Sanskrit: foresight
Swahili: goals
Urdu: original, new
Purpose
We learn by doing, & teach through sincerity
using community centered design to model and share new ways of creating meaningful impact for people and the planet.
Mission
Build True community power, shared wealth, & holistic well-being
for minoritized people, by creating and supporting intergenerational places and companies that positively impact in both process and in outcomes.
Team
Julissa Contreras Creative Media Director
Visualizing for:
The creation space for minoritized voices to echo their true power through storytelling, advocacy, and action.
Nicole Rodriguez-Dayton Program Director
Advocating for:
Victims of systemic injustice who have the passion to imagine and the courage to create a more progressive future. I mobilize entrepreneurs who want to make a social impact by facilitating startup business operations.
Nicole Lobo Chief of Staff
Strategizing for:
Healthy organizational leadership and company culture alongside change makers and builders whose visions help shape better companies and a better world.
Katie Longmyer Partner
Fighting for:
Creatives and entrepreneurs with community-focused values and ideas through building non traditional pathways for those that do not receive the same opportunities as others.
Miguel Mckelvey Partner
Maximizing for:
Those who have powerful and meaningful ideas, and are brave enough to explore their full selves on their journey to manifestation.
Qiana Patterson Managing Partner
Investing for:
A world where any of us would be happy to be born into at random, regardless of race, class or gender.
Jillian Ricciardi Entrepreneur in Residence
Creating for:
Emerging leaders who have no platform, but have a dream and need a chance, by connecting their concepts to funding, operations, and non-traditional business strategies.
Michel Rojkind Partner
Innovating for:
The shaping of a better world through design that promotes justice and human dignity.
