AboutUs

AzizaRobinson-Goodnight

An avid artist, educator, activist, entrepreneur and community organizer, Aziza is a woman committed to shaping, reenergizing and creating systemic, sustainable changes. She knows that communities need artists and could not survive without a creative perspective. Sitting on multiple boards and advisory committees for city and community development, she sees firsthand how difficult and beautiful change can be. The daughter of Paul Goodnight, famed painter and entrepreneur best known for his vibrant depictions of Black culture around the world, andemployeeofthefamily-ownedbusinessColor Circle Art Publishing Inc., she was born into the arts, having grown up in the Piano Factory, a historical art-space well noted foritsartistlivingspacesandartsadvocacy.AgraduateofHBCU Hampton University, she has spent her time since graduation serving communities of color Boston has been the base for her activism from serving as Chair of the upcoming Frederick Douglass SculptureProject(2011-Present)tosittingontheexecutiveboardoftheBostonBranch NAACP as the Chair of the ACT-SO Committee(2012-2016),andnowthefundraisingchairfor Transformative Culture Project. Previously she taught Arts and Ethics and was the Director of Afterschool and Enrichment atDavisLeadershipAcademy,DirectoroftheJerichoRoadProject, and was the managing partner offormer“Gallery-Z”onDudleywhichisbothanartGalleryand communityteachingspace,whereyoungpeopleareattheheartofalldecisions.

Dr. Moore is an ethnomusicologist and Faculty Scholar for the Institute for Health Equity and Social Justice Research at Northeastern University with research interests in music and environmental justice, artists as essential health workers, and community-engaged teaching and research. Her public sector roles have included cultural diplomacy programming and HIV/AIDS education, and she is co-founder of Bersama Project (the Together Project), Indonesian nonprofit empowering artists to campaignagainst gender-basedviolenceandforLGBTQ+rights.

Photoscredit:VaniaArroyo

JordanRhyner

Jordan is Northeastern University Health Science undergraduate student and will graduate in May 2023. He has beenworkingclosely with Dr. Rebekah E. Moore as a Health Equity Intern through the Institute of HealthEquityandSocialJusticeResearchatNortheastern University since January 2021. With funding from the Office of Undergraduate Research and Fellowships at Northeastern, he investigated the potential for collaborations between artists and communityhealthcenters.

TaylorSmith,MPH

Taylor is theDirectorofEducationandTrainingat the Los Angeles Community Health Project overseeing the Overdose Education and Naloxone Distribution (OEND) program in collaboration with the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health’s Harm Reduction Division. She is passionate about harm reduction, substance use, and sexual and reproductive health. Working in community with marginalized peoples to imagine and create a more compassionate and equitable worldisherlife’spursuit.