Meet the Team

Chianda has over 15 years of experience as an administrative professional and has been with BOP for over 3 years.  Chianda is an active member of the Center of Grace Ministries in West Oakland,  serving in multiple capacities.  She is the mother of two children in highschool.

Through her administrative work at BOP, Chianda is excited to be an asset to the growth and development of BOP, and is delighted to be a part of the BOP family.

Ni’Keah has always had a passion for Black youth and families. A San Francisco State University alumnus , Ni’Keah was initially introduced to BOP through her field of study– Child and Adolescent Development with a concentration in Policy, Advocacy and Systems.

Ni’Keah came to BOP as a volunteer with no prior organizing knowledge or experience. Despite her lack of experience, once here,  she knew that indulging in this work full-heartedly was her responsibility.

Inspired by Black people’s resilience against power structures and other adversities, Ni’Keah believes that by prioritizing genuine relationship building and understanding first,  she can help her community rediscover its power.

For Ni’Keah, BOP is a welcoming, safe space that fosters dedicated people, through engaging with the community. Through her work with BOP and beyond, Ni’Keah hopes to ultimately help unveil the innate    power of  Black people in both children and adults.

Jessica is a Minnesota native with a passion for social justice and cultural interpretation.  A mother of two, Jessica came to California in 2013 in order to reconnect with family.

For 10 years, as the Education Systems Navigator at the Cultural Wellness Center in Minnesota, Jessica worked to further enhance her skills of strategic planning, collective communication, shared authority and motivational speaking. Jessica has worked to dismantle unequal systematic approaches in housing, employment, education and criminal justice institutions for many years.

Jessica embraces and is guided by the elders within her community. These relationships  aid her in recruiting and organizing Black parents, to encourage their involvement in schools, and influencing policy, procedures, and paradigm shifts. Ultimately, Jessica’s passion to help Black people recognize the power and potential they possess led her to BOP. Through BOP Jessica hopes to continue her journey of achieving equitable access for Black people.

Jasmine is a Sacramento native who has lived in the Bay Area for over 11 years. She began her collegiate journey at San Francisco State  where she was an editor for the university magazine; Xpress Magazine. From SF State she achieved her BA degree in Journalism with a minor in Africana Studies.

In 2016 Jasmine’s academic turned organizing journey landed her in the humble West Oakland offices of the small but mighty Black Organizing Project. At the time, the 7-year -old organization was in the thick of the now,  internationally recognized Bettering Our School System (BOSS) Campaign , to eliminate school police in the Oakland Unified School District (OUSD). For 6 years, Jasmine worked alongside BOP members, staff, and the larger community to make history  in Oakland and the country, by making OUSD the first district in the country to eliminate a school police department.

Her passion for reading, writing, and her people  — and a student of bottom-up grassroots organizing–has allowed her to serve at BOP in many capacities. She understands that  centering the expertise and lived experience of the  most impacted folks in the process of creating solutions and demanding change–  is at the heart of organizing . She believes that storytelling is a catalyst for change and uses her writing to shift the narrative and to push the status quo to not only ensure that Black people have a platform to uplift their voices and experiences, but to enact real change . She is excited to continue to push the world to radically imagine  what is possible for her people through her work with BOP, while also reaffirming and celebrating the beauty of Blackness.

Indigo is a founding BOP member from Oakland and has been a part of the organization since the age of nine.  She was first introduced to the organization along with her father — who is also a founding member and has been committed to the organizing and the work ever since.  From an early age, Indigo had been passionate about her community and how she can help make effective change. Growing up in the bay and going to high school in Clayton Valley ( considered a Bay area suburb)– she feels that she can easily relate to youth and community members who grow up in different cities across the Bay, that have to adapt to the varying cultures.

She is strongly influenced by her Black and Brown upbringing where she intends to use her own lived experience as a way to relate and share perspectives. In 2018, she participated in Center For Third World Organizing’s (CTWO’s) Movement Activist Apprenticeship Program (MAAP) where she spent time in New York and Miami ,and  was able to add valuable lessons and experiences to her organizing tool belt. She is currently a sophomore at Mills College in Oakland, where she is majoring in Ethnic Studies and minoring in Urban Education.She enjoys skateboarding with her dad and changing her hair and nails to match her mood on her time off.

For the last 20 years Sanyika Bryant has worked as an organizer in different formations on a wide array of issues ranging from transportation justice, tenant rights, police brutality and more. He got his start in organizing as a member leader in the Bus Riders Union in Los Angeles and has gone on to work at Causa Justa Just Cause as a Tenant Rights Organizer for 11 years. He is also a longtime member of the Malcolm X Grassroots Movement, serving in various positions in the organization’s leadership.

Sanyika’s work is rooted in self-determination and his political ideology is New Afrikan Revolutionary Nationalism. He sees his work as his personal contribution towards ending all forms of oppression and is committed to helping others build a world where everyone is truly liberated.

Sanyika was born in Chicago, Illinois, and was raised in Los Angeles, CA. He is the oldest of 6 and considers himself to be the 3rd parent in his family. He moved to Oakland in the fall of 2009. He has a passion for history and creativity and spends his free time studying history and making art.

Desiree is a Mother and San Leandro native, who from a young age- recognized her passion and calling to social justice and Black liberatory work. She attributes her early acclimation to the criminal INjustice system and the context of “life as a Black person in this society”, to her father, who is a Mississippi native and no stranger to the prison industrial complex. Desiree was personally impacted by school pushout and criminalization of her Blackness from as young as elementary school and those experiences have led her to organizing work in Oakland and eventually to her becoming a member of The Black Organizing Project in 2016. During her struggling years of dealing with school push out and expulsion– she found refuge in various artistic outlets, most notably writing, and was accepted into the Young Writers Workshop of UC Berkeley in 2009. 

It is with her writing and storytelling of experiences with school pushout and over policing of Black/Brown youth, that she finds healing from her own experiences and aims to help members of her community prevail and positively impact the oppressive systems in this country to create real change – despite their circumstances.

Desiree’s passion for systemic change has been catapulted since becoming a mother and she lets her dreams for a better future and schools for her kids motivate her to never give up. In addition to social justice work, Desiree is a big advocate for transformative self healing and is a big believer in the power of Meditation and the importance of Ancestral praise. She is also an advocate for Crystal Healing and is the owner of a Metaphysical Healing Boutique.

Alexandria grew up in a family that’s women in one way or another were involved in a fight for justice. Therefore she was one of the children who used to sit in on meetings and see what it looked like to sit down with people and strategize ways to solve problems at a very young age. Alexandria then become involved in organizing during her middle school years where she became involved in an organization where they developed a fight that deeply mattered to the young people they fought for a curriculum that was racially inclusive & just as well as leading undoing racism trainings among youth , registering people to vote across the country , sitting on a senate youth advisory council to be a voice for the youth in matters pertaining to curriculum. Alexandria is a mother and very family oriented and hopes to teach her daughter the valuable lessons that we can all learn about from the power of organizing.

Malaika Parker has worked toward the creation of a racially just SF Bay Area for 25 years.  Malaika has demonstrated her commitment to BIPOC communities by working diligently to address issues of police accountability, racial justice in education, environmental justice and race-based inequities in the child welfare system.  Malaika is the founder of Hummingbirds Urban Farming Collective, a  project that works at the intersection of race and ecological justice,  promoting food sovereignty and an ancestral connection between Black children and the communities that raise them.  Malaika holds a Master’s degree in Social Justice and Equity in Education from San Francisco State University. In 2020, Malaika was awarded a  Women of Color LeadStrong Fellowship.

Ebony’s path is grounded in the integrity of Spirit and guided by her Ancestors. Her calling is to be of service to those marginalized by the brutality of oppressive systems. As a Black woman, Ebony prioritizes her advocacy, organizing, teaching, consulting, and healing guidance work to uplift Black people and Black communities. In addition to supporting marginalized people to navigate, resist, and heal from structural violence; Ebony recognizes this work is incomplete without asserting methods of accountability for abusive systems. Her practice has always been accompanied by efforts to partner with those around her to develop and implement protocols of systemic accountability to address issues of bias and discrimination. A hallmark of Ebony’s practice is challenging the status quo and inspiring people to initiate and create healthier ways of existing. Principles from the Black radical tradition like self-determination, intersectionality, collective empowerment, sovereignty, and love inform her perspective and guide her approach.

Erica is a Bay Area native with roots in the South and East Coasts, and memories of the vibrancy of local neighborhoods that embolden her  community pride. Her background is within local community-based organizations and healthcare administration which over the years has helped her form a deeper understanding and greater compassion for our community and the fight against systematic injustice. What she enjoys most about working in community spaces is the  human experience and  the awareness of how each one of us can be a change agent beginning with small steps forward.

Time has shown her that it is important to align your walk with your life’s work and she finally gained that alignment during the pandemic, starting her own organic products business and now being a part of the beautiful BOP collective. She gives thanks.

“May the road rise up to meet you.”

Falilah “Aisha” Bilal has worked joyously for over 30 years creating innovative, relevant evidence based strategies to transform, empower and develop individuals, systems, organizations and contemporary thought.

Ms. Bilal’s work is centered in healing practices, empowering youth and families, and self-discovery.  Ms. Bilal specializes in the field of youth development, healing informed organizational development, and strategic fundraising consultation.

Falilah “Aisha” Bilal was raised by parents who are pioneers in the Black Power movement of the 1960s, which instilled within her a foundation dedicated to helping others and a love for all humanity.  At 14 years old, Ms. Bilal participated as a youth leader in healing retreats with the Black Woman’s Health Project, where she was introduced to basic healing techniques, group facilitation skills, and participated as a teen leader guiding inter-generational healing experiences.  Ms. Bilal continued to deepen her skills as a youth leader by participating in numerous youth programs and leadership trainings.  She has established as a leader in field of responses to Gender Base Violence and personal/collective healing.  As a leader in this field, she was invited to present at the United Nation’s Beijing Plus Five World Conference on Women’s Issues.

Currently Ms. Bilal directs her own consulting company where she provides trainings, curriculum development, healing experiences, coaching, and executive leadership to local and national agencies, companies and programs. Previously, Ms. Bilal served as a Senior Trainer with the National Black Women’s Justice Institute and a Radical Healer with Flourish Agenda.  She served as the Executive Director for M.I.S.S.S.E.Y. raising over 2 million dollars in funds to support sexually exploited children and young adults.   She has worked for numerous Bay Area agencies including World Trust, Alameda County Sheriff’s Department, Oakland Bay Area CARES Mentoring Movement, GirlSource, Office of Family, Children and Youth, City of Oakland, and the Young Women’s Freedom Center.

Ms. Bilal holds a M.A. in Counseling Psychology from the California Institute of Integral Studies and a B.A. in Theater Arts and Child Psychology from San Francisco State University.

Ms. Bilal is the mother of 2 children and spends as much time as possible in Mt. Shasta! Ms. Bilal provides innovative, visionary and dynamic leadership! Falilah brings love, skills, passion, expertise and dedication.