On Naming

So, why the name “Moremi ?” It starts with a brief story about my lineage, some lineages before that, and a myth before that. As a Black American, the relationship I have to the past is complicated. It is riddled with contradictions, violences, and triumphs. My mother’s family comes from Lake Village, Arkansas, and my father’s family comes from Eastern Botswana. It is my father’s family name, my own middle name, and the name of a Yoruba queen and folk heroine.

When I consider my converging African diasporic histories, Moremi feels like a connection and an acknowledgment. The Yoruba queen Moremi Ajasaro was a courageous woman who made a great sacrifice to bring her people to freedom. Using her strategic thinking, she made the most of her environment to transform the conditions she found herself in. Her story is one of putting strategy into practice, utilizing the technologies available to her to change outcomes, adapt, and move towards freedom.

Moremi is a powerful name, and my decision to name my business/org as such acknowledges this. Moremi is an offering to the communities I am a part of, an offering to the collective that utilizes the experiences, knowings, and connections that I have gained over my lifetime. In the spirit of Moremi Ajasaro, I make this offering to transform our current outcomes, honor black women’s legacy of liberation struggles, and help realize the freedoms we are all are striving for.