PRINCIPAL MEMBERS
ALLEN KWABENA FRIMPONG
Co-Founder of ZEAL, Allen Kwabena Frimpong a.k.a nii.a.k is a cooperative entrepreneur and conceptual artist who engages in cultural design to organize and promote solidarity economy as a lifestyle worth living. Allen’s body of work for over 20+ years as a capacity-building specialist practicing harm reduction towards liberation from a capitalist world has been providing support to philanthropic institutions and non-profits across sectors internationally with organizations such as the Harm Reduction Coalition, BCT Partners, Grantmakers in the Arts, art.coop, Community Foundation of New Jersey, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, Ford Foundation, Open Society Foundations, Borealis Philanthropy, Movement NetLab, and the Start Network in the UK. He is the current board chair of Resist Foundation, one of the oldest social movement worker self-directed public foundation in the United States, and his work on cultural design, solidarity economy, and networks is published in books like Decolonizing Wealth and Impact Networks as well as in the Stanford Social Innovation Review. One of his conceptual pieces, “Waves and Beats in Sankofa” was published in Vol. 1 Issue 2 of Rootwork Journal’s, “Navigating the Ocean”. He graduated with his master’s degree in Urban Planning & Affairs at CUNY Hunter College in New York City. He studied at the New York Jazz Workshop in Jazz Vocals and Piano. He is a graduate of UPenn School of Social Policy in the Arts & Cultural Strategy Executive Program.
ANSHANTIA “TIA” OSO
Tia Oso is a transformational organizer and strategist. A community engagement professional specializing in social change initiatives at the intersection of civic engagement, art, popular culture, media and communications. A dynamic and experienced social justice leader, Oso founded the Metro Los Angeles studio practice and has organized for over 10 years, leading campaigns to mobilize thousands of advocates for various issues in the public interest including civil rights, public art and arts education, immigration policy, voting rights, access and engagement, economic equity and gentrification, equity in the tech industry, human rights, and international solidarity. Tia’s work in social impact includes using popular education and messaging strategy to connect grassroots leaders with leading entertainers in music, sports and Hollywood for incredible initiatives such as Athletes For Impact, BLD PWR and other exciting campaigns connecting advocacy with culture shift.
TY WHITE
Ty White is an artist/creator, transformational leadership advisor, and spiritual and cultural educator from Phoenix, Arizona. She currently serves as the Membership Principal at ZEAL where she co-developed and co-facilitates a specialized artist development curriculum designed to cultivate the artist's true potential through the modality of creation. In addition to receiving her bachelors in Social and Behavioral science in 2013, being licensed and ordained as a minister, Ty is also pursuing a degree in Pro Consciousness Medicine (natural medicine) from Quantum University. Committed to life transformation, Ty has spent over 15 years servicing the community in the areas of healing trauma, life vision casting and empowerment to fulfill purpose. Ty specializes in root cause analysis and developing personalized curriculum for maximum goal attainment, while providing impromptu coaching and guidance for continued support along the journey.
FOUNDING MEMBER
WALTER CRUZ
Co-Founder of ZEAL and current studio member, Walter Cruz is a creative collaborator exploring how Black and brown bodies activate and take up space. Cruz has completed residencies and fellowships with The Laundromat Project and NurtureArt Gallery amongst others. As well as shown work in galleries and museums including The Museum of the City of New York, the Center for Political Graphics Los Angeles, Band of Vices gallery, Syracuse University and Longwood Gallery in The Bronx. Cruz has served as a visual designer for the Black Alliance for Just Immigration (BAJI) the Marsha P Johnson Institute (MPJI) and Breakthrough US. Formerly a member of the Black Lives Matter Network where he served as one of the original members of the network’s Arts + Culture Committee. Walter is graduate at the Maryland Institute College of Art's with an MFA from Mount Royal School of Art.
FOUNDING ADVISORY BOARD 2020-2022
Danny Dunson
Danny Dunson is an art historian, art advisor, curator and writer. Dunson graduated from the University of Illinois at Chicago, earning a BA in Art History from the School of Art & Art History. He is a 2016 Fullbright Grant recipient and Gilman Scholarship fellow. His research as an art historian has been primarily focused on figurative representations within African and African Diasporic Art.
Derrick Biney-Amissah
Derrick Biney-Amissah is Director of Information Technology and Facilities at the Joan Mitchell Foundation. He studied philosophy and fine art at Georgetown University and received an MFA in painting from Pratt Institute.
Duane Cyrus
Duane Cyrus is a performing and creative artist whose work explores the tenets of cultural values through dance and movement. His choreographic and directed works fluidly negotiate the physical capabilities and possibilities of the human body in motion and in conceptual environments.
Francine Tamakloe
Francine Tamakloe is a marketing project manager with an affinity for cultural storytelling, creative, and event production. Her superpower: Strategic Storytelling.
Gerard Anthony
Gerard Anthony is an entertainment attorney with a diverse skill set that he brings to his clients. He provides counsel on music, film, start up business, branding and licensed content matters.
Jessica Norwood
Jessica Norwood: Leader. Speaker. Author. Host. Nationally recognized as an entrepreneur, investor, brand builder and culture shaper, Jessica is also the co-founder of Project Runway.
Marie Vickles
Marie Vickles is a museum educator, independent curator, and artist. In her work as an arts educator she is concerned with the development of new ways to bridge the connections between creativity and community engagement.
Shawn Escoffery
Shawn Escoffery is a photographer who uses his passion for life and the built environment to uncover beauty in images of every day life often overlooked. Escoffery seeks to capture the unseen and open new worlds to the viewers of his work.
CHERYL R. RILEY
Founding Advisory Board member and Artist Advisor