ala ochumare

ala’s first and most beloved label is that of mother. ala (shey/they) describes herself as a change-making, hood healing, liberation seeking, divination practicing person committed to creating Black Centered Spaces of liberation and joy, who wakes up every day and chooses to be a pro black, pro nap, pro-queer community co-creator. ala is one of the founding members and Principal Organizer of New Haven’s chapter of Black Lives Matter. She is also one of the creators and facilitators of Marsha P. Johnson Black and Brown Queer Camp also created and facilitated by Jahnice Cajigas. In addition to her work at the New Haven Pride Center, ala is an anti-bias and anti- racist Life Coach, Consultant, and founder of Liberating Us. Liberating Us has a central focus on healing, decolonization, abolition, and transformational justice. Part of that work was the creation and community offering of “ABAR 4 you,” a series of abolitionist, anti-bias, and anti-racist workshops, trainings, and consultation guides that shed light on our socialization into the systemic institutions of Racism, Capitalism, Patriarchy, Anti- blackness and, most importantly to ala, our collective transformation out of and the undoing of these systems.

ala is a graduate of the 2018 BOLD AMANDLA cohort, the CEIO Organizer’s Path, The City of New Haven Democracy School, and the Yale University and Southern Connecticut State University’s C.A.R.E. New Haven Health Leader program. ala is a recipient of the 2021 New Haven Pride Center’s Lion Award for service to her community, The 2021 Southern Connecticut State University Women and Gender Studies Conference’s Ingrid Washinawatok El-Issa Service Award, and The 2021 Southern Connecticut State University President’s Medal.