The Team
We are earth builders, song healers, facilitators, artists, designers, dancers, and practitioners interrupting oppression holistically.
Aaron Johnson
Program Director, Song Healer
Aaron Johnson (he/him) is an earth builder, teacher of closeness, and activist. He graduated from the California Institute of the Arts in 2007 with a Bachelor of Fine Arts. He has made a lifelong commitment to use the skills he possesses to end racism. In addition to using intimacy and closeness to blackness as a primary means to that end, the tools he frequently uses are speaking, teaching, singing, photography, filmmaking, and minimalism. Aaron leads a mentoring program called Turn It Up Now that focuses on elevating the power, talent, love, and work ethic of youth. He believes that deep connection is one of the most powerful tools one can use in dismantling racism.
Alillia
Song Healer, Artist
Alillia Johnson is a multi-dimensional visual artist, an alchemist of sound, singer, songwriter and sound-healer who brings her growth in her self-love journey, life path, grounding in the Divine and connection with our planet to the center of her work. They explore themes such as black love in every iteration, the preciousness of chidren of the African Diaspora, healing, self-care, transmuting trauma, and living with mental health challenges. They have been singing on stage since the age of nine and holding space in workshops, song circles, and grief rituals for over a decade. Alillia carries a tradition of acapella devotional singing and is currently writing original songs.
Travis Johnson
Song Healer, Artist
Travis Johnson has spent the last 3 decades developing his craft as a creative and uses his art to explore the human experience by touching on the whimsical, silly, serious, and sometimes painful side of life. He uses the subtle nuances of classic western world iconography to tell a highly illustrated and visually rich narrative.
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Along with his visual art, Travis has spent the last 25 years singing throughout the US on various tours with his family singing group Fivacious. He continues to share his music as a solo act through out the US. Travis was born in Southern California, where he grew up with his 5 siblings in the Mojave Desert. He is currently based out of Olympia, WA.
Dr. Jeen Rooks
Facilitator
Originally from Savannah, GA, Dr. Jeen Rooks (she/her) emulates the same, deep love for home cooking, art, and history that Savannah is traditionally known for. Her life's work is to provide space and cultivate safety for those that need it and this echoes through her service as a chiropractor, pleasure activist, dancer, and somatic healer.
In Dr. Jeen’s experience, when we are able to find a place of rest and safety within our bodies we cultivate an internal environment that promotes the opportunity to integrate and heal trauma/activating patterns. She is excited to cultivate a village that welcomes the uncomfortable edges of the human experience, welcoming grief and shadow to the table for open discussion.
Leah Vendl
Design, Marketing, Production
Leah (she/they) is a multi-modality designer backing liberatory movements with digital, emotional, and physical systems of care. She collaborates with movement leaders and visionary organizations to bring out their visual identities and create digital infrastructure that supports them to live out their values. She designs using deep listening, somatic intuition — and music, when the moment calls for it. She is invested in backing People of the Global Majority-led initiatives with her skillsets and life design. When not thinking about marketing, you can find her offering community support through her Relationship Design practice, teaching partner dance, DJing, and organizing for social dance communities.
Ben Wilson
Advisor
Ben Wilson is the CEO and Founder of Color of Sound, a nonprofit founded to improve the lives of people of color through racial healing, housing, land access, economic opportunity, and reparative justice. He has recently retired from a 30-year career in digital health and healthcare IT. Ben now serves on four additional nonprofit boards, including President of the Board at Climate Action Pathways for Schools, and Board Member for the Jefferson Land Trust, The Jefferson County Farmers Market, and the Olympic Housing Trust. Ben lives in Port Townsend with his wife Suzanne and his adult children live in Seattle. Ben graduated with a degree in Political Science from Stanford and both an MBA and a Master’s in Public Health from UC Berkeley.
