Adaku Utah (born 1984) is a Nigerian sixth-generation Igbo traditional healer, speaker, writer and artist whose work focuses on gender, reproductive, race, youth and healing justice Civil rights movements for social change. She is the cofounder of Harriet's Apothecary, an alternative healing community, and a 2015 Create Change Fellow.

Life

Adaku Utah was born in 1991 in

Lagos Lagos (Nigerian English: ; ) is the largest city in Nigeria and the List of cities in Africa by population, second most populous city in Africa, with a population of 15.4 million as of 2015 within the city proper. Lagos was the national ca ...

with father from

Abia State Abia State ( ig, Ȯha Abia) is a state in the South-East geopolitical zone of Nigeria, it is bordered to the north and northeast by the states of Enugu, and Ebonyi, Imo State to the west, Cross River State to the east, Akwa Ibom State to the ...

, and mother from

Imo State Imo State ( ig, Ȯra Imo) is a States of Nigeria, state in the South East (Nigeria), South-East geopolitical zone of Nigeria, bordered to the north by Anambra State, Rivers State to the west and south, and Abia State to the east. It takes its n ...

, both from southeastern Nigeria. Utah is descendant of herbalists, and farmers who dealt in herbal treatments and ancient care, she was chronically ill as a child growing up and had to be treated with herbal medicine to better outcomes over orthodox medicines. Utah received a BSc in Biotechnology and Psychology from

Pennsylvania State University The Pennsylvania State University (Penn State or PSU) is a Public university, public Commonwealth System of Higher Education, state-related Land-grant university, land-grant research university with campuses and facilities throughout Pennsylvan ...

. As an activist, she has worked with organizations including the Illinois Caucus for Adolescent Health, Black Lives Matter, Black LGBTQI+ Migrant Project, The Movement for Black Lives, Yale University, Planned Parenthood, Astraea Lesbian Foundation for Justice, Black Women's Blueprint, and the Audre Lorde Project. As a performance artist, she had worked with Decadancetheatre and founded Soular bliss. Utah, who refers to herself as a queer, lives in

Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

, New York.

Recognition

* 2012: Sexuality Leadership Development Fellowship of the Africa Regional Sexuality Resource Centre. * 2012: Center for Whole Communities Whole Thinking Fellowship Award. * 2012: Featured Nominee for Girl Tank and MTV Voices 10,000 Names in 100 Days. * Chicago Foundation for Women's Jessica Eve Patt Award.

References

1984 births 21st-century Nigerian LGBT people American people of Igbo descent Nigerian LGBT people Living people {{Nigeria-artist-stub